65279epression Essay Example For Students

65279epression Essay Numerous wellbeing experts arrange sadness as a state of mind issue that influences apersons considerations and emotions. An individual with bipolar (scenes of gloom) or manicdepression, swings uncontrollably from rushed highs to desensitizing lows. An individual with unipolardepression (at least one scenes of sorrow) encounters just the lows. The two kinds ofdepression cause significant burdensome scenes described by somber states of mind, peevishness, sadness,pessimism, outrage, uneasiness, antagonistic vibe, blame and a conviction that their wretchedness will neverA major-burdensome scene can happen at any age, however is normally first experienced bypeople in their late twenties. Significant sorrow is twice as regular in ladies as in men. A few factors that can expand a people weakness to a scene of sorrow arechronic physical ailment, liquor, cocaine and different medications, the passing of a friend or family member, or separation. Every so often labor hastens a significant burdensome scene, which is called postpartumdepression and can run from gentle to serious. One well known individual we as a whole realize who experienced gloom was Abraham Lincoln. HeI am currently the most hopeless man living, If what Ifeel were similarly circulated to the entire human family,there would not be one bright face on earth. Regardless of whether I will ever be better, I can't tell; I awfullyforebode I will not. To stay as I am is incomprehensible. I should kick the bucket or be better, it appears to me. The sooner an individual understands that the person in question is discouraged the simpler it is to break out of thedownward winding. Various self improvement techniques can help the somewhat discouraged. More seriousand determined types of wretchedness will require proficient treatment. Here are some self-helpstrategies: Exercise and weight lifting will help your brain just as your body. Do things you appreciate side interests, exercises, sports. Comprehend your issues, and set aside effort to be separated from everyone else (chill time) a dayGive yourself a break-dont be basic or negative about yourself (Im appalling orSelf-assist bunches with finding a thoughtful audience. Some expert medicines are psychotherapy, stimulant medications, specialfluorescent light, and stun therapy.(The Encyclopedia of Health, Depression 37-38)Depression can be put under a few hypotheses, the Behavioral and Cognitive becauseof ecological conditions. The Psychoanalytic Approach due to the oblivious mindand youth encounters. The Humanistic Approach due to self-improvement and freewill. The Behavioral Neuroscience Approach in light of the fact that there could be something intellectually off-base. The Sociocultural Approach since it has to do with conduct, thought and feelings. My own involvement in sorrow has been insignificant. I have had my awful states of mind butthey have been short. My fundamental issue with despondency was after the introduction of my subsequent youngster. Isuffered from post pregnancy anxiety yet it was mellow. I concur that activity and remaining occupied aregreat for working through misery. I strolled as my principle exercise and I worked in the yard alot. I figure you can beat discouragement in the event that you truly need to. Book reference:

Philosophy of Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Theory of Nursing - Essay Example The attendants ensure that thinking about people, plays hooky partition, status, race and culture. In the quick changing condition of society that has progressively gotten multicultural, nursing points of view towards individuals or patients, originating from differing socio-social foundation, becomes crucial element of human services ideal models. Thus, medical attendants need to take particular consideration to comprehend the multifaceted qualities to grow better medical attendant patient relationship. They should teach uplifting mentality and liveliness among patients and their family. In the contemporary condition of propelling innovation and globalization, wellbeing and condition issues should be re-imagined to address the difficulties of the time. The organic determinants of wellbeing like age and hereditary examples are central point that can be successfully met through conventional methodology of social insurance framework. Clinical mediation and social changes are powerful proportions of avoidance in such cases excepting age related sicknesses which the early consideration and change of way of life extensively defers the procedure or ailments. The socio ecological variables that are unsafe to wellbeing have become immense worry for the general population. Smoking, drugs, inexpensive food and so forth are outside components that are generally seen to contribute towards maladies like malignant growth, stroke, heart ailments and stoutness. An all encompassing methodology and aggregate activities from government and non government offices must be embraced to make mindfulness among the individuals. Comprehension and change in social mentality towards issues goes far to encourage better wellbeing related outcomes. My own way of thinking of nursing is principally engaged towards government assistance of the patients actualized through educated decision, comprehension and sympathy that advances common trust and certainty working with the patients. Medical caretakers speak to the exclusive expectation of lawful, moral and good thought inside the area of nursing standards and are furnished with

How to Financially Plan for Death

How to Financially Plan for Death How to Financially Plan for Death How to Financially Plan for DeathNo one likes to think about their death or the death of a loved one, but that type of thinking can leave those left behind in some pretty dire financial straights.Death might be one of the worst parts of life. Beyond the terrible hole left by the departed, there can be enormous costs as well. While it might seem inappropriate to think about the financial aspect of death, its much better to plan for it in advance. Or else when the day does come, itll be even worse, as you or your family will have to face major financial hardship in addition to the emotional hardships.Situations like these  are how people end up taking out a bad credit loan they cant really afford or putting their car up for a title loan with a 300 percent APR. Thankfully, there are steps you can take to prepare for the inevitable. And we spoke to the experts to find out what those steps are.The earlier you purchase life insurance, the better.  No one likes to think about their own mort ality or the mortality of their family members. But it’s going to happen one day. And that means you should start preparing, even if it’s a bummer.Unfortunately, many people don’t make a plan in time.“Death is one of the costliest events that everyone will experience at some point, but no one actually wants to think about,” explained Kelsey Allan, an insurance specialist with TermLife2Go (@TermLife2Go). “In fact, about one-third of people who havent bought life insurance have not done so because they dont think about death. Unfortunately, putting something out of mind cannot prevent the inevitable, so the wise thing to do for your loved ones is to invest in life insurance.“Here are some striking facts about the costs of death, and how to prepare for it:70 percent of US households would not be able to keep up with living expenses if the primary wage earner passed away.Average funeral costs range between $7,000 and $10,000â€"and thats not even considering your loved ones living expenses after the funeral.The younger you are, the more affordable life insurance will be.You can purchase either term insurance to cover you for a specified period of time, or whole-life insurance to cover you as long as you pay your premiums. Term life insurance tends to be cheaper but must also be renewed, often at an increased cost.”Burial insurance can help cover funeral costs.But traditional life insurance isn’t the only insurance to consider when it comes to mortality.“One issue individuals often overlook is having an insurance policy, to address final expenses, and funeral costs,” warned Matt Schmidt, CEO of Burial Insurance Pro. “Traditional life insurance policies may take weeks or months to pay out the death benefit, and this would not help your family out with the immediate need to pay for final expenses. Or if a person has money put aside in, let’s say, a savings account, the family may not be able to legally touch this account until the estate is s ettled. A basic burial insurance policy is designed to pay out in 48 hours, and to address these concerns.”Life insurance isnt just for parents either.Finally, there’s one of the worst tragedies a parent can imagine: the death of a child. Psychologically, it can feel like taking precautions for that possibility makes it more likely to happen, but that’s not the case. When it comes to life insurance, the earlier the better, as Lisa Ryerson, regional vice-president of Appreciation Financial, outlined for us:“I truly believe that once a newborn gets his or her social security number then their parents should get them a life insurance policy. It will set the child up for college funds, retirement, living benefits, and life insurance for the future. It is so inexpensive for babies to get life insurance.  The cost of life insurance increases as we get older and our health declines as well, making it more challenging and in some cases the person can be considered uninsurable.Some life insurance policies can benefit the living.“I have met many families and never once have I met someone that was upset with owning life insurance when a family member dies, said Ryerson. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true and I have met too many families that did not have life insurance and some of their stories are heartbreaking such as losing their home, financial stress (especially during the grieving process), and overall the complete financial ruin that can come with the loss of a loved one.“Life insurance products have improved so much over the years and its much more than just a death benefit. There are living benefits that truly help people so they dont have to die to access some of the benefits and address some of the real basic needs that people have. The fact remains that we are living longer than ever before but with that comes challenges with health and other costs. Our products help make sure people dont put themselves in a financial bind.When it comes to death, America is underinsured.According to Ryerson, Far too many people do not have life insurance. America is grossly underinsured. She also shared these astounding statistics: According to a life insurance survey, 64% of Americans do not have life insurance at all. The majority of life insurance in this country is owned by the top 10% of income earners, and as they pass their heirs reap the rewards. We want to reverse that trend, not to make people rich through life insurance but rather to ensure that families dont become poor because they didnt have it in place.“Without life insurance, your family could end up homeless because they wont be able to pay the mortgage. Children could end up ‘losing’ both parents when one parent dies because the surviving parent will need to focus on bringing in an income and will not be able to be present with their children. Survivors will be left with a lot of debt. One of the worst and yet best parts of my job is delivering a death benefit, because although families are going through great a pain after death, it pales in comparison to families that are grieving and financially struggling at the same time. Death is a part of life and by being prepared you can be sure that your heirs will be taken care of.Decide your beneficiaries and plan for specific expenses.“Figure out who and what you would like to be covered if something were to happen to you, advised Ryerson. Mortgage, childrens college expenses, burial expenses, debt, etc. Its important to remember that when someone passes away there is a grieving period which typically means time away from work. There are also additional expenses that come with death so its a ‘double whammy’ because income is lost and additional expenses are taken on. I would shoot for 10 times your income as a good rule of thumb when it comes to insurance. That gives your family a 10-year buffer to either pay down debt or have income accessible to them for that time period.”No one want s to think about the worst parts of life. But if you prepare now, things will be a lot better if and when they do happen. Without a plan, your family could end up scrambling for money after youre gone, relying on predatory no credit check loans and cash advances to get by.You cant stop death forever. But you can, and should, prepare for it. To learn more about planning your finances for the long-term, check out these related posts and articles from OppLoans:Emergencies and Divorce: How to Plan For Worst-Case ScenariosFrom Budget to Baller: 6 Tips to Grow Your MoneyGood Personal Finance for the Long TermDo you have a financial plan in place for when you die? We want to hear from you! You can find us  on  Facebook  and  Twitter.ContributorsKelsey Allan is the outreach manager for  TermLife2Go (@TermLife2Go), specializing in life insurance, personal and family finance, and related subjects. She has been featured in Readers Digest and HowStuffWorks as well as other media outlets.Lisa Ry erson is a co-founder of Women of Wealth  (WOW) and a Regional Vice President at  Appreciation Financial. She has been in the financial industry for 4 ½ years. She founded WOW because she really wanted to empower and lift other females to achieve their goals. The legacy that she is committed to leaving is philanthropy. She was rookie of the year at Appreciation Financial in 2015 and the first female to be inducted into the $50k/month club. Her future goal is to fundraise 2-million dollars for cancer research. Lisa is married with two amazing sons. She loves to laugh, travel, and give back.Matt Schmidt is the owner of  Burial Insurance Pro. Burial Insurance Pros helps families all across the United States obtain affordable burial and final expense insurance policies that would assist their families at the time of death.

Latin American Music And Its Impact On America - 915 Words

Latin Americans are considered as minority in the USA because they have a great diversity regard with race, culture and language. They helped build this country since their cultures have been adopted in this country and them also apport help to this country. Latin Americans have made a lot of contributions to the USA such as military, language, fine arts, literal arts, music, politics, food and others. Economic Music Hispanic’s music had a great impact in USA. Nowadays, Americans listen to Hispanics’ music. Hispanics’ music now is part of American’s culture. These changes in USA began around of 19th century, when Hispanics immigration increases in the USA. One of the big changes in music occurred around 1940s, when Americans began to recognize the efforts of Cuban-American musicians. One of the Cuban bands was Cugat. It was known better Orchestra ‘based in New York’s Waldorf Astoria’ which had a great visual and musical style. Another Cuban band was Machito who were dominated as one of the best New York’s scenes at that time. Thanks, to those bans Americans adopted some of Cubans’ dances and performances such as rumba, mambo and cumbia. Americans used and still using the Cuban instruments like bongos and maracas to create their rhythms. Later on, Americans created Jazz by African Americans with the influenced of Cuban’s music. Additionally, there are other countries who had their influences in music in the USA, for example Mexicans. Mexicans helped to develop the Tex-MexShow MoreRelatedEssay On Salsa1201 Words   |  5 PagesCuban music to that of Puerto Rico and the combination of the jazz culture of New York City. Salsa means ‘sauce, meaning that the name was derived from a strongly flavored sauce. The name was appropriate since salsa music is a ‘sauce’ because of the mixture of other styles of Cuban music with a Puerto Rican influence Salsa dance was born after the slaves were given freedom to dance to their rhythms on the streets. Those people who performed these dances were known as ‘sonterios. The music had aRead MoreEssay on The Impact of Latin American Immigration on America1553 Words   |  7 Pagesentrepreneurial system. People from many countries have migrated into the United States. Most recently, the migrants have come from Central and South American countries. These Latin American countries influence America’s society culturally and economically through their language, traditions, and workforce. From the 1990s to the present time, immigration from Latin American countries has more than doubled. Mexico is one of the leading providers of immigrants to the United States. According to the United StatesRead MoreEssay on U.S. Influence on Latin Culture989 Words   |  4 PagesUnited States intervention within the affairs of Latin American politics in the beginning of the twentieth century, and since the advent of a U.S. effort towards the modernization of Latin America, influences aimed at empowering communities and bringing about democratic movements among Latin American countries have been accompanied by various forms of exploitation and cultural decimation (Leonard, 1999). Efforts at modernization of Latin America have been carried out partly in opposition to theRead MoreLatin American Culture Essay examples1050 Words   |  5 PagesLatin American Culture Latin America represents 1/10 of the worlds population, and geographically can be located from the land extensions of Mexico, until the Patagonia at Argentina. Some of the most relevant elements of todays culture in Latin America are; Religion, Values, Attitudes, Social structure, Social stratification, Language and Gift-giving hospitality. The predominant religion throughout history in Latin America has been Catholicism. From big cities to small villages, churches, basilicasRead MoreLatin American Music And Latin America Essay1926 Words   |  8 PagesLatin America consists of Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions of the southern United States, composed of many different countries, each with their own heritage. However, one thing that relates among these countries, is their music. Over centuries, Latin American Music has been molded and transformed by the European, African, and indigenous people of the region. From the beginning, the music has had â€Å"distinctive tonal and rhy thmic quality that derives† from each of these groups (Morales). FromRead More Latin America Essay949 Words   |  4 PagesLatin America Distinguishing cultures from one another has become increasingly difficult as various societies continue to intertwine and share their aspects of popular life. Constant exposure to US and other world cultures has changed the cultures of Latin American countries somewhat, but much of society remains unchanged. Moving to the United States from Latin America alters life a great deal, and keeping touch with one’s original culture may sometimes seem unimportant or simply impossibleRead MoreEssay On Brazil Economy770 Words   |  4 Pages#1 Brazilian Economy For my Latin American country I chose Brazil. The Labor force in this country varies by occupation. The main three occupations, according to the CIA World Factbook, are agriculture, services, and industry.  Some import commodities are machinery, electrical and transport equipment, chemical products, oil, automotive parts, and electronics. Here are some of the trading partners: Some export commodities are transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, andRead MoreChallenges Facing Indigenous Latin Americans850 Words   |  4 Pagesthe past four decades in improving both the living and the political conditions for many of Latin America’s indigenous peoples. Chase Smith discusses five major challenges facing Indigenous Latin Americans. Three of which will be discussed in this report. Firstly, there are many challenges regarding territory and resources. Smith states that since the beginning of European colonial domination in the Americas, that Indigenous peoples have suffered and protested the continual loss of access to theirRead MoreAmerica, Mexico, The Caribbean, And South America Make Up Latin America Essay1070 Words   |  5 PagesCentral America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America make up Latin America. Approximately 640 million people reside in this region. Latin America is the largest foreign supplier of oil to the United St ates. It is the United States’ fastest growing trading partner, as well as its biggest supplier of illegal drugs. Latin America is also the largest source of U.S immigrants, both documented and not. The life expectancy for females is 72 years of age and the life expectancy for males is 79 yearsRead MoreGeorge Reid Andrews Afro Latin America1584 Words   |  7 PagesGEORGE REID ANDREWS: AFRO-LATIN AMERICA In this paper, I would arguer that the history of USA is intertwined with the issue of Blacks – their enslavement and freedom but it has not as yet been focused that this subject has far greater impact in Central and Latin America, thus the greater impact of blacks in Central and Latin America would be the main theme or argument of this paper. This book, Afro-Latin America by George Reid, is the first attempt to focus on this side of the African Diaspora

Top Teacher of the Year Essay Samples Secrets

Top Teacher of the Year Essay Samples Secrets The Teacher of the Year Essay Samples Game 1 trick is to join at them all so they'll begin sending you promotions straight away. You would just like to sleep in or remain in your apartment and don't need to visit class or go out drinking with friends and family. After all, a little one enjoys every minute with their loved ones. You'll begin missing home less. If you are confronted with this kind of a question, make sure that you leave enough room to write knowledgeably and enthusiastically about that particular program. At length, students take the things that they have learned to finish the draft independently. If you're looking for a teaching job you'll be able to get assistance from website to create an attractive cover letter for you. Something about the current job and the employer information, if any, need to get mentioned also. The increase and prospect of an institution is dependent on its teacher quality. If you've vi sited the school, reference your visit to demonstrate you've made an attempt to learn more in regards to the school. Long-term impact is particularly persuasive. Invariably education would be required. Top Teacher of the Year Essay Samples Choices These regions are great and important for each human being. You have arrived at the proper spot. There's a location for them all. At the exact same time, it teaches students the simple writing skills they should know, and later on assist them improve the writing skills they've learned over time. Also tell the reader how you could be about the teacher. Now, needless to say, you can't expect your teacher to offer you detailed essay feedback where they're then likely to mark your work later. Within the next few paragraphs give specific examples of how your teacher has turned out to be worthy of this kind of award. The review of applications identifies 12-15 semifinalists that are invited to create a formal presentation on a pre-assigned subject, and to respond to questions as a piece of an interview procedure. These points which you're asking the man who's reading your work to consider may appear quite basic to you when they're taken at face value, but they could genuinely help you to avert some of the simplest errors of essay writing. It enables them to dig deeper into a particular subject, and in the procedure understand such topic in depth because, essentially, you cannot write about something in case you don't understand it well. As a consequence, the very first time I can specifically remember being requested to compose an essay was the very first year of high school in English at the time of about twelve. The Teacher of the Year Essay Samples Trap It's surprising how quickly comp points can accumulate! My meager earning is currently pathetic after the expenses that have teaching e ffectively. There are lots of areas of personal targets. Today, you're going to discover several examples of personal targets. The Supreme Approach for Teacher of the Year Essay Samples The essential feature is it's extra totally free chips and credits added to the starting balance at no cost. This is done so you've got more time to unwind and play without the load of worrying about your final choice. Now you might be pondering regarding the reason I said at the beginning of this article that nothing changes, well the reason is this. You want today and nights to have a deep breath and recharge. The Principles of Teacher of the Year Essay Samples That You Will be Able to Learn From Starting Immediately In addition, it's developing a positive effect on the education sector too. Demonstrate why it is you're suited to a specific field for a consequence of your education, experience, abilities, and enthusiasm. Following that, you might want to give students a more sophisticat ed handout about structuring an argument. Now, students depend on mobile and cellular apps for internet research and learning. Organize reading lessons around themes, so that as students learn how to read, they are preparing to take advantage of this skill by tapping into a big reserve of knowledge on a wide variety of topics. I am predicted to differentiate my instruction to fit the requirements of my 24 learners. Likewise certain subjects need various techniques of teaching aids and a parent may know only 1 method and could therefore train their child with an outdated tactic that might not reflect the present trends. Students already understand how educators value the heart of excellent writing, and the potency of writing as a way of improving a student's communication writing skills generally.

Poverty Eradication Plan Free Essays

string(130) " Action Plan as a national planning framework to guide detailed medium term sector plans, district plans, and the budget process\." The Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), Uganda’s equivalent of a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), serves as the country’s main development strategy and planning framework for fighting poverty. Government’s overriding aim as espoused in PEAP is reducing the total number of people living in absolute poverty to less than 10% of the population by 2017 (MFPED 2001). PRSPs are national planning frameworks for low-income countries. We will write a custom essay sample on Poverty Eradication Plan or any similar topic only for you Order Now They are a requirement for all countries that would like to access concessional loans through the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) or to benefit from debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. They are also the main framework around which most bilateral donors are to build their cooperation (WHO 2004). Developed in 1997, prior to the advent of the PRSP initiative by the World Bank, PEAP is widely acknowledged to be a home-grown plan with clear national ownership and leadership. Since its formulation, PEAP has undergone two rounds of revision. The first round of revision was in 1999/2000 and it gave rise to PEAP 2001. The second round was in 2002/2003 and gave rise to the PEAP 2004. PEAP 1997 was structured around four areas: a) macroeconomic policy, b) institutional framework for poverty eradication, c) policy framework to increase incomes of the poor, and d) measures to improve the quality of life of the poor (MFPED 1997). Following the introduction of the PRSP initiative, a mutual agreement was reached between the Government of Uganda and the World Bank to retain PEAP as Uganda’s PRSP with some improvements such as widening consultations on the plan and broadening its scope to include detailed diagnosis of poverty in the country. * What’s New * Site Map * Site Index * Contact Us * Glossary ————————————————- Top of Form Bottom of Form * Home * About the IMF * Research * Country Info * News * Videos * Data and Statistics * Publications Uganda and the IMFSend your comments on PRSPs and IPRSPs to prsp@imf. rg See also: Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)Free Email NotificationReceive emails when we post new items of interest to you. Subscribe or Modify your profile| | | | Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan Summary and Main Objecti ves Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Kampala, Uganda March 24, 2000 Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are prepared by member countries in broad consultation with stakeholders and development partners, including the staffs of the World Bank and the IMF. Updated every three years with annual progress reports, they describe the country’s macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in support of growth and poverty reduction, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing. This country document is being made available on the IMF website by agreement with the member country as a service to users of the IMF website. | Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view Annex Tables and Chart 1 (212 KB) Contents 1. Introduction Uganda’s planning framework The revision of the PEAP2. National vision and overall goals   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reducing bsolute income poverty: Raising educational achievement of Ugandans Improving the health of the people Giving voice to poor communities3. The Poverty Eradication Strategy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Creating a framework for economic growth and transformation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Good governance and security Actions which directly increase the ability of the poor to raise their income s   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Actions which directly improve the quality of life of the poor4. Macroeconomic stability, medium- and long-term expenditure implications of the PEAP   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Macroeconomic stability and the macroeconomic framework   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework Using the PAF to prioritise public expenditure Poverty priorities and the PAF Additionality Accountability of PAF resources The overall allocation of expenditures within the MTEF   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Intermediate output targets in the medium-term Long-run targets and costings Long-run resource availability5. The Monitoring StrategyAnnex Table 1: Goals, targets and indicators in the PEAP 2000 Annex Table 2. 1. Uganda: Selected Economic and Financial Indicators, 1996/97–1999/2000 Annex Table 2. 2. Uganda: Fiscal Operations of the Central Government, 1996/97–2002/2003 Annex Table 2. . Uganda: Balance of Payments, 1996/97–2002/03 Annex Table 2. 4. Uganda: Monetary Survey, 2000–3 Annex Table 3: Summary of Medium-Term Expenditure Framework | Contents1. IntroductionThis paper is a synthesis of the main features of the Government of Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP). The PEAP has guided the formulation of government policy since its inception in 19 97, and is currently being revised. Under this plan, Uganda is being transformed into a modern economy in which people in all sectors can participate in economic growth. This implies a number of conditions: * The economy requires structural transformation, including the modernisation of agriculture, the development of industries which build on demand and supply linkages from agriculture, and continued institutional development in the legal and financial sectors. * Poor people must be able to participate in this growth, both by expanding smallholder agriculture and by increasing employment in industry and services. * Economic growth must be sustainable, high quality and broadly based. The non-material aspects of poverty must be addressed; participatory studies have shown that insecurity, illness, isolation, and disempowerment are as important to the poor as low incomes. Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) is established on four major pillars: * Creating a framework for economic growth and transformation * Ensuring good governance and security * Directly increasing the ability of the poor to raise their incomes * Directly increasing the quality of the life of the poor. The revision of the PEAP in 2000 draws on the progress made since 1997, including the development of sector-wide approaches, the participatory research carried out by the Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Project (UPPAP), the constraints identified in the Poverty Status Report, and the development of costings of public actions and monitorable indicators in key, poverty-oriented sectors. It will also place a greater emphasis than the 1997 document on the actions which promote private sector development and therefore contribute indirectly to poverty-reduction. The revised PEAP is Uganda’s Comprehensive Development Framework. Uganda’s planning frameworkThere have been a number of initiatives to strengthen the planning process in recent years. This includes major consultative exercises concerning Uganda’s long term goals and objectives, such as Vision 2025, describing national aspirations, and the 1997 Poverty Eradication Action Plan as a national planning framework to guide detailed medium term sector plans, district plans, and the budget process. You read "Poverty Eradication Plan" in category "Papers" In turn, detailed sector-wide plans and investment programmes have reached varying stages of completion, set within an overall medium term expenditure framework. A programme of strengthening district capacity to prepare medium term expenditure frameworks is also underway. The modern approach to planning involves ensuring that the right framework has been established to enable effective programming, implementation and monitoring. Chart 1 describes the flows and relationships between different plan/policy processes in Uganda. The most important point to note is that these elements interact in an ongoing process. Uganda’s over-arching national planning document is the Poverty Eradication Action Plan, signalling poverty eradication as the fundamental goal of the Government. Chart 1 shows the relations between the PEAP and other plans. The PEAP is not a blueprint for sector activities. It provides a framework for the development of detailed sector plans and investment programmes. Implementation of the PEAP demands sector-wide programming to determine sector objectives, outputs and outcomes expected from sector expenditures, and the activities which the expenditures will fund in order to achieve the desired outputs and outcomes. Quick guide to planning processes|   | Vision 2025:| an overview of long term goals and aspirations by the year 2025|   | The PEAP:| the national planning framework on which to develop detailed sector strategies|   | Sector Planning:| technical specifications of sector priorities, disciplined by hard budget constraints|   | District Planning:| implementation plans for sector strategies based on local priorities / needs|   | MTEF:| annual, rolling 3 year expenditure planning, setting out the medium term expenditure priorities and hard budget constraints against which sector plans can be developed and refined|   | District MTEF:| setting out the medium term expenditure priorities and hard budget constraints Against which district plans can be developed and refined|   | Annual Budget ; District Budgets:  Ã‚  Ã‚  | annual implementation of the three year planning framework|   | Donor; NGO; private sector:| participating and sharing information / ideas in developing sector plans and budgets|   | Participatory processes:| bottom-up participation of districts in the planning and monitoring process, as well as participatory poverty assessments, providing essential feedback on progress towards poverty eradication goals| Thus the 1997 PEAP has guided the preparation of detailed sector plans. Capacity constraints within line ministries, which have been a serious limitation in sector planning, are being overcome by support from our donor and NGO communities in a spirit of partnership and teamwork. In recent years, major advances have been recorded in production of the Ten Year Road Sector Develo pment Programme, the Education Strategic Investment Plan and the Health Sector Plan, and the Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture. Also underway are plans for the energy sector and the justice sector. Eventually all sectors will be covered by up-to-date, resource constrained sector plans and investment programmes which focus on achieving the goals of the PEAP. In turn, the PEAP and the sector plans set the framework for preparation of district plans (although these are still at an early stage of development). Under Uganda’s decentralised system of governance, the local authorities are responsible for determining the implementation plan for sector programmes based on local priorities. Involvement of communities in the planning framework is also being strengthened. Under the Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Project (UPPAP), the second phase will include dissemination of the perspectives of the poor in order to help guide policy at both national and district levels, and there will be further work in nine pilot districts to enhance community-level participatory planning and monitoring capacities. It is important to note that the relationship between both the PEAP and sector plans, and between sector and district plans, and between district and lower local council plans, is an iterative one. The PEAP sets the framework for other plans, but is also a product of those plans. For example, the current PEAP revision reflects the policy statements made in various sector plans, and tries to balance the sector objectives within a national framework. In turn, revisions of sector plans should take note of national priorities and constraints as outlined in the PEAP in refining their own sector strategies. The National Planning Authority, according to its mandate in the Constitution, will have the role of ensuring that the different plans are consistent. The same principle applies to the relationship between sector and district plans. While medium term plans establish a policy framework and desired outputs and outcomes, they are meaningless unless disciplined by hard budget constraints. Therefore another critical element of the planning framework is the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF). Since 1992, MFPED has been developing an MTEF, which is presented to Cabinet as part of the annual â€Å"Budget Framework Paper† (BFP), covering three fiscal years. Preparation of the annual BFP includes detailed discussions with sector working groups each year to monitor performance of current programmes and projects. These discussions identify implementation bottlenecks, inefficiencies in existing operations, and potentially unsustainable imbalances in the size of the recurrent and development programmes. The discussions also take account of any upcoming policy initiatives in order to ensure that all new policies are comprehensively costed to reveal the full extent of their fiscal implications, and in order to propose how the Government’s expenditure programme can be adjusted in light of new policy priorities, both within and between sectors. The important point is that, in the medium term, public resources can be redeployed in accordance with changing strategic priorities; it only requires development of the capacity and willingness to reprioritise spending needs and reallocate expenditures in a disciplined way. More recently, there have been attempts to broaden the consultation of the BFP process by increased discussion with donors, especially on the sectoral priorities of Government expenditure and on the consistency of Government assumptions regarding external financing with actual donor financing plans. Steps are also being taken to involve civil society in the consultation process. An abbreviated version of the BFP (the version that goes to Cabinet before the expenditure allocations are approved by Cabinet) is published in the annual â€Å"Background to the Budget†, and a detailed summary of the composition of expenditure for all sectors for the three year MTEF is published as an appendix table in the Budget Speech document. In 1999, a start was made on extending the BFP process to the districts, when training workshops were organised for the local Governments. Technical expertise is being provided by the central ministries to help district administrations to prepare their own three year expenditure planning frameworks consistent with resource availability. Government hopes that in due course this capacity can be extended to lower level local councils. The final element of the planning framework is an assessment of the impact of plans and budgets on civil society and beneficiaries, shown at the bottom of Chart 1 as â€Å"civil society†. There are a variety of monitoring techniques, such as technical assessments of project/programme performance, statistical surveys, and more participatory methods to complement the traditional household survey methods such as the Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Project, which is attempting to bring the voice of the poor into national, district, and lower level planning. The results of monitoring activities provide feedback at all levels of the planning system. The revision of the PEAPWhile the basic principles behind the 1997 PEAP remain valid, there have been significant developments since its preparation both in outcomes—such as the huge increase in educational enrolments—and in the preparation of sectoral plans and the information available about poverty. Hence, to remain relevant, the plan has to be revised. It is envisaged that the revision of the PEAP will be a regular process carried out every two years, drawing on the results of the Poverty Status Report which will also be prepared every two years. Preparation of the revised PEAP remains a highly participatory process. Government recognises that the planning system does not consist of decision-making by a single institution at the centre. Rather, the system involves the interaction of a number of processes within an overall framework. As such, the process is much more dynamic and responsive to changes in policy priorities and/or resource constraints. The involvement of a much larger number of agencies in the planning process makes it important that planning linkages are clearly specified and understood. Substantial effort is being made to improve the partnership process in Uganda. As mentioned above, participatory approaches have increasingly been adopted both for sector plan preparation and monitoring and appraisal exercises. In revising the PEAP we have summarised and consolidated the results of previous consultations and research findings. The revised PEAP builds on an ongoing process of consultation. An initial â€Å"discussion draft† was circulated to a wide range of stakeholders to stimulate dialogue and debate. Later drafts incorporate the results of this wide consultation. In order to ensure reasonable levels of participation in preparation of the revised PEAP, the editorial team prepared a Participatory Action Plan. This includes consultations at the central government level as well as with local governments, with donors, with Parliamentarians, and with civil society, as well as the development of adequate feedback mechanisms to ensure that all stakeholders have contributed effectively to the drafting process. General consultative workshops: the revision process includes two major consultative meetings involving wide representation of stakeholders (politicians; ministries; donors; NGOs; private sector; civil society; urban and local authority representatives, media). The objective of these workshops is to review current drafts and to provide detailed comments on policy issues arising from the drafts. Regional meetings for district officials: MFPED, working with the Ministry of Local Government, has already undertaken some regional work to explain the PEAP, UPPAP findings and budget issues. District officials will be presented with drafts of the revised PEAP at a series of regional workshops. As mentioned above, the CSO Task Force will also be promoting discussion of PEAP related issues within districts and communities. Donor consultations: in addition to participation in the general consultative workshops, the current draft has been presented at the Donor Consultative Group meetings in March 2000. Political consultation: In addition to attendance at the general consultative workshops, another meeting for members of all Parliamentary sessional committees was held in February 2000. This will be followed by further briefing sessions for specific sessional committees on issues relevant to their sector. Feedback mechanisms: It is very important to ensure that there is adequate time for written responses and contributions. Drafts have been widely circulated for the consultative workshops in February and April. There will be active follow-up, especially at the district level, to ensure that written responses are received from every district and sector ministry. Building on existing consultative processes: Issues raised during the revision process will not only be followed up at the general consultative meetings, but also raised through existing consultative fora (such as the sector working groups for the budget framework process; NGO consultative meetings; and regular donor meetings). Contents2. National vision and overall goalsPoverty has many dimensions including low and highly variable levels of income and consumption, physical insecurity, poor health, low levels of education, disempowerment, a heavy burden of work or unemployment, and isolation (both social and geographical). Drawing on recent evidence (including household surveys and the Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Project), the PEAP highlights the many dimensions of poverty in the Ugandan context. It recognises the importance of increasing income to poor households, and places a high priority on eradicating income poverty. It also views ignorance as a particularly constraining feature of the lives of poor people, and is concerned to improve literacy and educational achievement among the population at large. Health is another central concern for the poor, and the Government has established clear goals for improving the health of Ugandans. It is essential that poor people have an effective voice in the design and implementation of public policy. The objective of the PEAP is to marshal public effort at improving these dimensions of household wellbeing. Reducing absolute income poverty:Income levels are low in Uganda, and large sections of its population are unable to buy the basic necessities of life—food, clothing, and shelter. Low incomes also lead to poor health and limited education. Consumption poverty levels are high. In 1997, 44 percent of the population was estimated to consume less than what is required to meet the basic needs of life. Low rates of economic growth, and the effects of civil disorder, are important historical factors causing poverty in Uganda. Incomes are also highly unequally distributed, which reduces the impact of economic growth on poverty reduction. At the level of the household, poverty is related to rural residence (specifically to living in the north or the east), to land shortage, to low levels of education, to being headed by a female widow or by someone old, and to limited access to markets. Unequal sharing of resources within the household reflects not only cultural factors but unequal access to education and physical assets such as land, in which women are disadvantaged. Poverty also reflects society-wide phenomena including insecurity, the quality of public services, the availability of productive employment, macroeconomic stability and the functioning of markets, health information, and the technical information available throughout society. But there are clear signs of improvement: * The proportion of Ugandans in consumption poverty fell from 56 percent in 1992 to 44 percent in 1997. Average real household consumption rose by 17 percent over the period, and rose in every year (this is confirmed in the national accounts data). * The expenditures of the bottom 20 percent rose even more: those of the bottom 10 percent rose by 29 percent, and those of the of the next 10 percent by 23 percent over the period. * A major factor in the reduction of poverty was the benefit f armers gained from the increase in coffee prices, reflecting the combined effect of the boom in world coffee prices and the liberalisation policy, which passed the price increase on to farmers. There was no systematic trend in inequality in the 1990s. But although inequality is not definitely getting worse in Uganda, it would be desirable to reduce it. These data are encouraging: incomes are rising without a significant increase in inequality, and therefore poverty is falling. However, not all groups participated equally in the growth in incomes. Although poverty fell in all regions, average incomes grew faster in the regions which were initially better off. So although overall inequality did not increase, regional inequality increased significantly (Table 2. 1). Table 2. : Household consumption gains by region| | Region| Percentage of population in consumption poverty| Percentage growth in real consumption|    | 1992| 1997| 1992–1997| | Central| 45. 5| 27. 7| 21. 4| West| 52. 8| 42. 0| 15. 9| East| 59. 2| 54. 3| 11. 0| North| 71. 3| 58. 8| 14. 4| | The income group which benefited most dramatically was cash crop farmers, reflecting the increase in cash crop prices. Poverty in this group fell from 60 percent to 44 percent between 1992 and 1996 (Table 2. 2). Income poverty among food crop farmers remained largely unchanged (falling marginally from 64 percent to 62 percent). Table 2. 2 Household consumption gains by economic sector| | Sector of household head| Share of population (%)| Percentage of population in consumption poverty|    | 1992| 1996| 1992| 1996| | Food crop| 47. 2| 44. 2| 63. 7| 62. 2| Non-food cash crop| 23. 4| 26. 7| 60. 1| 43. 7| Manufacturing| 3. 7| 3. 3| 44. 8| 27. 4| Trade| 6. 7| 6. 9| 25. 9| 19. 4| Government services| 6. 8| 5. 5| 35. 0| 28. 0| Not working| 4. 3| 4. 9| 60. 2| 63. 4| | Participatory data from the UPPAP indicate that many communities consider that poverty is increasing. This probably reflects two differences from the household survey. First, the participatory assessment was confined to poor, mainly food-producing communities, which gained the least from recent improvements. And the perceptions of poor people covered in the UPPAP were probably based on a broader view of poverty, encompassing more than simply low income. The Government of Uganda considers that absolute poverty must be eradicated. It has set itself the objective of reducing the headcount of income poverty to 10 percent of the population by 2017. Raising educational achievement of UgandansThe PEAP aims to raise educational achievement of the Ugandan population, especially among children of poor households. The significance of education is that it increases incomes and economic growth, and it offers an intrinsic benefit in itself. In 1997, the policy of free education for four children in every family was introduced and primary enrolment increased enormously from 2. 6 million in 1996 to 6. 5 million currently. Almost three million children entered the schooling system and the gross enrolment rate, using school-based data, rose to 128 percent in 1997 and 145 percent in 1999. Participatory evidence clearly shows that this increase is greatly appreciated by poor people. These data show that the main issue in primary education is no longer increasing quantity, but maintaining quantity while enhancing quality. It is generally agreed that the quality of education in Uganda declined seriously between the mid-1970s and the late 1980s, and the increased enrolment is now straining the system. While the 1998 National Integrity Survey found that 60 percent of parents were satisfied with the quality of their children’s education, the UPPAP investigation found widespread concern with schooling quality among the poor communities contacted. This is borne out by more formal investigations of schooling quality. The heavily burdened primary schooling system cannot meet the immediate demands for classrooms, teachers, and teaching/learning materials. Educational policy thus faces two central challenges: first, how to keep the increased number of children in school: and secondly, how to ensure that quality is maintained and improved given the expansion in the system. Enrolment rates in secondary and tertiary education remain low, although they have increased in recent years. Total secondary enrolment rose from 336,022 in 1997 to 427,592 in 1999. The draft strategic plan for secondary education estimates that only 10 percent of the secondary school age population is in school and that only 6 percent of the poorest 25 percent complete secondary education whereas 22 percent of the best-off 25 percent do so. Whereas Uganda is now well ahead of most countries in Africa in primary education, it is behind the others in secondary education. Although current policy will be focussed on achieving sustainable universal primary education, the requirements of a growing modern economy will place increasing emphasis on secondary schooling, and such schooling is certain to figure prominently in future PEAP revisions. The Government of Uganda has achieved its objective of universal primary education. The challenge it now faces is to encourage children to remain in school, and to acquire relevant skills for adult life. This implies the following objectives: * Maintain universal primary school enrollment (including poor households) * Reduce drop out rates and raise completion rates * Raise the cognitive skills of primary school graduates (as reflected in results from the National Assessment of Progress in Education). Improving the health of the peopleLife expectancy in Uganda has been estimated at just 42 years in 1997 (World Development Indicators). This is exceptionally low, mainly because of the AIDS epidemic. Child mortality is high, though it fell significantly from 180 per thousand in 1989 to 147 in 1994. In addition to increasing mortality, illnesses such as AIDS and malaria incapacitate large numbers of people. Trends in AIDS incidence are presented in the Poverty Status Report; there is a marked fall in incidence in urban areas, where the range of prevalence rates in ante-natal clinic attenders in six urban centers fell from 12–28 percent in 1991 to 7–15 percent in 1997. In rural areas there is no clear trend. Illness is a dimension of poverty which affects all income groups in Uganda, although it affects the poor particularly badly. Health outcomes depend on at least six factors: incomes, education, information, health services, water supply and sanitation. Studies of household data in Uganda have shown that both education and specific information about the causes of illness significantly reduce child mortality. For instance, one study (using 1992 data) found that if a mother has good information about malaria and diarrhea, this reduces the under-five mortality of her children by 0. 045, compared with the overall mortality rate of 0. 18. The same study found that child mortality was much more strongly related to education than to incomes. Mothers in the top expenditure quartile had lost almost the same proportion of their children as mothers in the bottom expenditure quartile, but child mortality dropped at every level of maternal education and mothers with further education had only a quarter as high a rate of child mortality as mothers with no education. More recent data suggests that the link between incomes and mortality has grown stronger (Table 2. 3). Between 1988 and 1995, while under-three mortality fell by 6 percentage points for the poorest 20 percent, it declined by almost 60 points for the richest quintile. Table 2. Under-three mortality by wealth quintile| | | 1988| 1995| | Poorest quintile| 188. 5| 182. 5| Second quintile| 163. 9| 154. 5| Third quintile| 184. 9| 168. 1| Fourth quintile| 180. 6| 134. 3| Richest quintile| 157. 6| 99. 7| | Source: Sahn et al (1999)| Adult mortality may be more powerfully affected than child mortality by income and access to curative services. The most commonly named consequ ence of poverty in the UPPAP study was ill health, and the third most commonly named was death. It may also be more powerfully affected by the presence of health services, especially for maternal mortality. In the case of AIDS, cultural factors interact with poverty. In some parts of the country, single women cannot get access to land; finding a partner then becomes a matter of survival and people in these circumstances take risks which they would otherwise avoid. A World Bank study has developed projections of under-five mortality in Uganda. Using international data, it has been shown that child mortality responds to the effects of technical progress in preventive and curative care over time, and to female education and income growth within the economy. Using relationships estimated using international data, the ollowing projections are derived: Table 2. 4: Projections of Child Mortality in Uganda, 2017| | | Child mortality in 1995:| 160. 2| | Child mortality in 2015:| | | assuming time trend alone assuming increased female education assuming female education and 3% per capita income growth assuming female education and 5% per capita income growth| 118. 9 117. 6 110. 2 85. 2| | | | The se projections show that child mortality could be halved by the end of the period. However, there are three caveats: * the impact of female education may be underestimated, especially given UPE. AIDS will tend to increase child mortality more than these data suggest. * Most importantly, the best international performers—many of whom have been socialist countries such as China and Cuba—have achieved much faster improvements in health outcomes. It is important to recognize that energetic public action can produce very fast improvements in health even at low income levels, as the examples of China, Cuba and Sri Lanka show; Uganda’s primary education enrolment, though not its health status, is now much better than most countries at its income level. The lessons suggested by these countries include the enormous importance of getting simple health messages out to the population, and the importance of community-level management using very cheap personnel sometimes known as `barefoot doctors’. The very strong emphasis on preventive health messages in the minimum package is an attempt to reorientate the health system to maximize its effects on health outcomes. Improving the health of the Ugandan population is a priority objective of the Government of Uganda. The Health Sector Strategy sets targets of reducing child mortality from 147 to 103 per thousand, maternal mortality from 506 to 354 per 100,000, to reduce HIV prevalence by 35%, reducing the total fertility rate to 5. 4, and reducing stunting to 28% by 2004/5. Giving voice to poor communitiesPoor people suffer directly from being disempowered. Powerlessness, described as inability to affect things around one, was reflected in the findings of UPPAP. The National Integrity Survey also found that 40 percent of the users of public services had to pay bribes. Such experiences are not only materially impoverishing; they are also demoralising. More broadly, people experience frustration when they cannot perceive their influence over public policy. UPPAP reported, for instance, that poor people saw no effective mechanisms to hold service deliverers accountable. The Government of Uganda aims to implement further administrative and political reforms which will increase poor people’s control over their own lives and the policies and services which affect them. Contents3. The Poverty Eradication StrategyThe overall poverty eradication strategy is based on the following principles: * The public sector’s role is to intervene in areas where markets function poorly or would produce very inequitable outcomes. * Where the public sector intervenes, it should use the most cost-effective methods, including the use of NGOs for service delivery where appropriate. * Poverty-eradication is a partnership and should involve the closest possible integration of the efforts of government with its development partners. All government policies should reflect the importance of distributional considerations, of gender, of children’s rights, and of environmental impacts. * Each area of public action will be guided by the formulation of desired outcomes and the designs of inputs and outputs to promote them. Strategic public action for poverty eradication is established on four pillars: * creating a framework for economic growth and transformation; * good govern ance and security; * actions which directly increase the ability of the poor to raise their incomes; * actions which directly improve the quality of life of the poor. It is important to note that these four elements interact. For instance, although primary education is discussed under `quality of life’, it also has implications for all the other three goals. The distinction between the goals helps to focus attention on the actions which most directly affect poverty, but the interactions between the objectives need to be borne in mind. Creating a framework for economic growth and transformation. Economic growth and employment-generation are necessary conditions for poverty-eradication. The PEAP must be based on an understanding of the growth potential of the Ugandan economy, and of the public interventions needed to achieve it. .Work at Uganda’s Economic Policy Research Centre has projected the growth of incomes and investment over the next twenty years. The EPRC’s model has three main components; an investment function, a balance-of-payments constraint, and a production function. Economic growth in the model is driven by three main factors; the accumulation of human and physical capital, and the shift of labour from agriculture to manufacturing, in which it is assumed to be more productive. Estimates of the coefficients are derived from a sixteen-country panel data set. The projections for Uganda include a low-case, based on existing trends, giving 5. 5–6. 5 percent annual growth in GDP over the period (giving a GDP per capita of $550 in constant prices in 2020). They also provide a high-case, based on an increase in the productivity of aid and the diversification of the productive structure. This yields 7–8 percent per annum growth, giving a GDP per capita of $700 in 2020. This model therefore gives potential annual per capita GDP growth of between 2. percent and 4 percent. A very recent study at the World Bank takes a larger cross section to explain why growth rates vary across countries, and focuses more on institutional determinants. It identifies a number of factors which constrain growth, and assesses by how much economic growth could be raised if Uganda could close the gap in these factors compared with average values for developing countries (contr olling for income levels). Some factors (such as trade openness and macroeconomic stability) are already better than average, and cannot yield higher future growth. Uganda must maintain the good performance of these indicators. But others—closing the gap in educational attainment, deepening financial institutions, and improving property and contract rights—can yield significant gains. The study estimates such gains could produce an additional GDP annual growth per capita of 1. 7 percentage points. Mean per capita growth of 3. 2 percent per annum (which is what was achieved in the 1990s) could be raised to around 4. 9 percent (assuming no deterioration in the external terms of trade). This translates into a GDP growth rate of 7. 8 percent per annum. These studies show that GDP growth of the order of 7 percent per annum is feasible over the longer term in Uganda. But such economic growth will not be automatic. It will call for public action today to build the institutions needed for higher growth. Economic growth in Uganda requires a framework within which the private sector can expand. The first essential element is macroeconomic stability. Without this, economic growth will not be sustainable. The revised PEAP therefore includes a commitment to maintain macroeconomic discipline which has underpinned the fast economic growth of recent years. The second key element is setting appropriate macroeconomic incentives. This involves economic openness, which encourages exports and labor-intensive investments. The future for Ugandan industry is not reliance on a wall of high tariff protection—which encourages capital-intensive investment which does little for employment—but open competition in a market which is being expanded by rising incomes from agricultural modernisation. Thirdly, the framework for economic development also includes the equitable and efficient collection and use of public resources. On the revenue side, independent research has shown that recent tax reforms, including the introduction of VAT have made the incidence of taxes more progressive. Local taxation, however, may need review in order to make it more progressive. The use of the savings made available by external debt relief for poverty-reducing purposes and the development of a sound strategy for external borrowing are essential. On the expenditure side, the Poverty Action Fund has been used to reallocate expenditures to directly poverty-reducing services – primary education, primary health, agricultural extension, feeder roads. Equalisation grants are gradually being introduced; these are designed to make the delivery of services more equals across the country. The aim is that a poor woman in a remote rural area should be able to demand the same standard of service from the public sector as a man in the most affluent urban setting. The budgetary reform under the MTEF is central to implementing the PEAP. Finally, in order to promote economic transformation, the constraints on private sector competitiveness need to be removed. Surveys of business people in Uganda have shown that they face severe constraints on their operations. Infrastructure is a major constraint; firms’ experience of power cuts significantly reduces their investment, and the development of internal markets is impeded by the limitations of the road network. Hence the sector-wide transport strategy and the ongoing process of utility reform are key. Another constraint is the difficulty that business people experience in enforcing contracts; this will be addressed by the programme of commercial justice reform which the government is beginning. The weakness of the financial sector is also a serious constraint. Reform of these sectors is essential for the development of the private sector. This is a poverty issue, because the expansion of formal employment is a central part of the strategy. A crucial component of the PEAP is accelerating economic growth. The actions outlined above can be expected to raise GDP growth performance to a potential as high as almost 5 percent per capita per year. Good governance and securityGood governance is increasingly recognised as a prerequisite to economic growth and development. In Uganda, consultations with the poor have shown that insecurity is among their most pressing concerns. Work by the Human Rights Commission, the Law and Order Sector Working Group and the Governance Action Plan project has identified the main priority areas in this sector. Conflict resolution and effective support to conflict-afflicted areas are essential. Armed conflict has been a decisive factor in the impoverishment of the North and the East. In 1999 the internally displaced population of Uganda is estimated at 622,000, and in addition insecurity affects many people who are not actually displaced. So the successful resolution of conflicts is a necessary part of poverty-eradication. The democratisation of Uganda has been pursued in a context of decentralisation. The process involves the transfer of responsibilities to district level. Participatory work has shown that the most highly appreciated level is the Local Council 1 or Village Council (LC1), the level which is closest to the people. The implications of decentralisation for ministries of central government have been reflected in the government restructuring, but the extent to which they are now ready to fulfil their new role needs to be assessed. Good governance involves making public expenditure transparent and efficient. Many reforms have been undertaken to make it harder to misuse public funds with impunity, including the establishment of the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity and the design of a new regulatory structure for procurement. Service delivery on the ground urgently needs improvement, as various surveys have shown. This is to be addressed by the introduction of results-orientated management, by pay reform designed to increase and simplify public sector remuneration, and by strengthening bottom-up accountability; communities must be able to hold service deliverers accountable through the Village Councils. Law and order is being addressed by the introduction of a sector-wide approach in which reforms proposed for the criminal justice sector will be costed. The poor reputation of the police needs to be addressed by an improvement in service delivery. The relatively good reputations of LDUs and LC courts can be built upon. Public information is central to good governance and innovative methods of disseminating information should be explored by inter-sectoral cooperation. The special needs of the disabled require a community-based approach which deserves priority. Disaster management, which includes the handling of drought, floods, earthquakes and conflict, requires both preparedness and response; the recently established Ministry within the Prime Minister’s Office has prepared a national strategy. Actions which directly increase the ability of the poor to raise their incomesRecent empirical work (mentioned above) has established that GDP growth rates of over 7 percent per annum are feasible for Uganda, providing the needed public actions are taken. What does such growth mean for household income and poverty? The Government has prepared projections for GDP growth and other key macroeconomic variables. The model forecasts real GDP and real per capita private consumption up to fiscal year 2019/20, on the basis of a national accounts format. In these scenarios private incomes grow less fast than Government income. As a result, private consumption growth is slower than GDP growth. In real terms, consumption per capita grows by 3. 2 percent per annum for the high projection and 2. 5 percent per annum for the low one. How much poverty reduction are such consumption growth rates likely to yield? Taking the structure and distribution of income (measured by household consumption) as given in the 1997 Poverty Monitoring Survey, an assessment can be made of the effect of such growth on income poverty. If we assume that every Ugandan household experiences per capita income growth of 3. 3 percent per annum, the income poverty headcount would fall to 10 percent by 2017. The MOFEP higher growth scenario (a growth of household consumption of 6. 2 percent per annum, or 3. 3 percent in per capita terms) is therefore consistent with the poverty goal of the PEAP, so long as such growth is distributionally neutral (all households benefit proportionately). Not all sectors, however, will experience such high growth. Taking past experience as a guide, a growth rate of 6. percent in aggregate consumption might involve agricultural incomes growing at only 4. 7 percent per annum (with services and manufacturing growth being respectively 7. 9 percent and 12. 4 percent). If households are locked in their sectors of employment (as reported in the 1997 household survey), those employed in agriculture would experience slower income growth. We estimate that in this limiting case, headcount poverty woul d only fall to 22 percent, even if aggregate household income growth were 6. 2 percent per annum. Low agricultural growth constrains the poverty reducing impact of economic growth. These conditional projections of potential poverty reduction under the Gvovernment’s assumptions for economic growth highlight the need for more targeted interventions, the effect of which would be to accelerate the incomes of the poor directly. Two main lessons emerge: first, poverty reduction calls for higher agricultural growth rates; and non-farm employment must be increased in the rural areas where most poor people live. Most Ugandans are self-employed, mainly in agriculture. This gives the Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture a central role in poverty-eradication. Despite the constraints of limited technology and market access, the potential of raising agricultural incomes is considerable. The PMA identifies six core areas for public action in agriculture: research and technology, advisory services, education for agriculture, access to rural finance, access to markets, and sustainable natural resource utilisation and management. Employment outside agriculture can be promoted by microfinance, advisory services, and vocational training. Feeder roads remain a central priority as in the 1997 PEAP, since when maintenance expenditure has tripled. Labour-intensive methods have been found to be financially cheaper than other methods of road-building and will contribute to employment generation. Research on land shows considerable inequality, often resulting from administrative and political factors more than the operation of the market. The Land Act is designed to strengthen the land rights of the poor. Women’s land rights need to be strengthened further; public sensitisation for the purpose of the Land Act is needed: a cost-effective structure for land administration is needed; and the Land Fund needs to be operationalised, targeting the landless poor. The restocking programme for rural livestock has the potential to reduce poverty by restoring economically valuable assets, provided mechanisms are identified to target the poor. The Government is establishing a new regulatory and supervisory structure for microfinance in order to increase poor people’s access to financial services. The Government has withdrawn from the provision of capital for credit but will still provide support for capacity-building. Publicly supported research is coordinated by NARO. Research is to be decentralised, and stakeholders are to be involved. The appropriate mix between national and international research needs consideration. The potential benefits of publicly provided advisory services vastly outweigh their costs. Strategy is now being reviewed. The advisory service must address issues relevant to poor farmers, using ideas developed by NGOs for low-input technologies which the poor can afford. The services need to address productivity-enhancing techniques for farmers at different levels of resources, drought-resistant crops where needed, nutritional issues, marketing, storage and processing, and soil-conservation. Livestock, fisheries and agroforestry will also be covered by the advisory services. The management of markets is a private sector role under the PMA. The public sector has a role in ensuring that market access is affordable for vendors, in improving access to market information throughout the country, and in formulating policy on genetic modification and on organic farming. Sustainable resource use will be promoted by raising awareness, including the encouragement of communal initiatives to protect common property resources. Forestry needs to be promoted by a mixture of public protection and investment in private forests. Valley dam schemes will be reviewed; this is an important priority for addressing the poverty of the Karimojong and the insecurity associated with cattle-rustling. Energy for the poor will be promoted by encouraging the use of more efficient cooking technologies and by smart subsidies for rural electrification, which will encourage entrepreneurs to invest in power infrastructure in rural growth centres. This will make it easier for the rural poor to have their output processed, increasing their effective access to the market; it will also enable more households to gain access to electricity in their homes. Actions which directly improve the quality of life of the poorHuman development outcomes in Uganda have been transformed by the introduction of free primary education for four children in each family, which has lead to a massive increase in enrolment. Primary education is a central element of the PEAP. Now that quantity has increased so much, quality is critical. Challenges include the implementation of low-cost classroom construction and the management of the gap between teachers and classrooms including the use of double shifts where appropriate, measures for bottom-up accountability, and the possibility of using school gardens to educate children about agriculture while also providing some food. In secondary education, a strategy is in draft. Targeting gifted children from poor backgrounds is a poverty issue. Health care is being coordinated by the new health strategic plan. At the heart of this is the minimum health package. Service delivery is being improved by a number of mechanisms including better remuneration and training, better infrastructure, and better accountability to consumers through village health committees. The pro-poor implementation of cost-recovery will require the successful identification of targeting mechanisms, perhaps geographically based. AIDS and population growth raise cross-cutting issues. Water and sanitation are being supported by major public interventions, with communities paying a small proportion of the investment costs and being responsible for the maintenance of the facilities. Community sensitisation on water-borne disease and on the need for maintenance is therefore critical. Adult literacy is likely to be made an element of PAF from this year; its benefits are potentially very considerable, as literacy has been directly found to increase agricultural productivity and evidence suggests it will also influence health outcomes. Housing is a private sector responsibility, but the state can encourage the availability of low-cost housing. Contents4. Macroeconomic stability, medium- and long-term expenditure implications of the PEAPMacroeconomic stability and the macroeconomic frameworkIn the medium term (three years), Government’s strategy for fighting poverty is reflected in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the expenditure priorities which are incorporated into the MTEF. The MTEF is itself fully integrated into a macroeconomic framework which is designed to ensure low inflation of no more than 5% and to support rapid broad based real GDP growth of 7% per annum. In the first year of the MTEF, 2000/01, inflation may be higher and growth lower than the medium term targets because of the lagged impact of the external terms of trade shock which Uganda suffered in 1999/2000). The exchange rate will continue to be market determined, with the Bank of Uganda intervening only to dampen excessive volatility in the exchange rate and to maintain net international reserves at a level which is consistent with the target s in the PRGF programme (these targets will be based on the objective of maintaining gross foreign reserves at a minimum of ive months of imports of goods and non factor services). Macroeconomic policy will be accompanied by a deepening of structural reforms in key areas including the banking and financial system, public utilities and the transport infrastructure, which are aimed at removing key constraints to private sector growth, and reforms to improve the efficiency and quality of public services. The key linkages between the MTEF and the macroeconomic framework are via the domestic borrowing requirement and the projected net inflows of external financing. The MTEF is consistent with both the levels of donor support projected over the medium term, relatively conservative projections of domestic revenue mobilisation and domestic bank borrowing which is consistent with the monetary objectives discussed in the next paragraph. The increased expenditures on programmes and projects specifically targeted on poverty reduction (for example, expenditures under the Poverty Action Fund (PAF) are projected to increase from 2. 9% of GDP in 1998/99 to 4. 6% of GDP in 2000/01) are fully consistent with the Government’s macroeconomic objectives. Increased expenditures on the PAF will be funded by increased donor support, including debt relief made available under the enhanced HIPC initiative, and by restraint in the growth of non priority expenditures. The overall fiscal deficit, excluding grants, is projected to rise from the programmed 8. 1% of GDP in 1999/2000 to 9. 7% of GDP in 2000/01, before declining to 8. 7% and 8. 2% of GDP in 2001/02 and 2002/03 respectively. Donor support, net of external amortisation, is projected at 10. 4%, 10. 1% and 9. % of GDP respectively in 2000/01, 2001/02 and 2002/03, and will therefore more than cover the projected fiscal deficits, allowing Government to accumulate savings with the domestic banking system and the non bank private sector. Annex Table 2. 1 refers. The medium term monetary objectives are to maintain a rate of growth of broad money (M2) of 15% per annum which is required to hold core inflation (which excludes food crop and fuel prices) to no more than 5% per annum. This rate of money supply growth is consistent with the projected increase in money demand given projected growth of nominal GDP (averaging 12. % per annum) and a decline in the velocity of circulation of circulation of an average of 2. 2% per annum. Private sector credit is projected to expand by 15% per annum in nominal terms. This will allow private sector credit to gradually increase as a share of GDP. The growth in the net foreign assets of the Bank of Uganda will be determined primarily by the objective of maintaining gross foreign reserves at a minimum of five months of imports. Consistent with these objectives, Government is projected to accumulate savings in the domestic banking system of Shs 14 billion (0. 14% of GDP) in 2000/01, Shs 89 billion (0. 1% of GDP) in 2001/02 and Shs 95 billion (0. 77% of GDP) in 2002/03. Annex Table 2. 4 refers. The trade deficit (denominated in dollars) is projected to widen in 2000/01 because of the impact of the external terms of trade shock, which w ill depress export earnings. However the increase in the trade deficit will be largely offset by the projected rise in official and private transfers. As a percentage of GDP, the current account deficit (including transfers and FDI) will rise from the outturn of 4. 1% in 1998/99 to a projected 4. 6% of GDP in 2000/01, before declining to 3. 8% and 3. % of GDP in the following two years. The capital account is projected to remain in surplus, which together with the debt relief provided under the HIPC and enhanced HIPC initiatives, will enable the Bank of Uganda to accumulate net international reserves of $58 million in 2000/01, $108 million in 2001/02, and $116 million in 2002/03. This is sufficient to maintain gross reserves at the target level of five months of imports of goods and non factor services. Annex Table 2. 3 refers. Annex Table 2. 1 summarises projected investment and savings. Public investment is projected at 7. 4% of GDP in 1999/2000 and 7. %, 7. 3% and 7. 0% in the ne xt three years. Public savings are projected at 5. 1% of GDP in 1999/2000 and 5. 0%, 5. 0% and 4. 7% in the next three years. Private investment is projected at 10. 3% of GDP in 1999/2000, rising to 10. 5%, 12. 8% and 12. 9% in the next three years. Finally, private savings are projected to fall to 8. 1% of GDP in 1999/2000, recovering to 8. 7%, 11. 2% and 11. 5% in the next three years. The Medium-Term Expenditure FrameworkThose aspects of the PEAP which have implications for public expenditure will be implemented through the medium-term expenditure framework. This framework is presented to Cabinet as part of the annual â€Å"Budget Framework Paper (BFP)†, covering three fiscal years. The objective of the MTEF is the design of all public expenditure by a clear analysis of the link between inputs, outputs and outcomes, in a framework which ensures consistency of sectoral expenditure levels with the overall resource constraint in order to ensure macroeconomic stability and to maximise the efficiency of public expenditure in attaining predetermined utcomes. Ultimately, these medium-term objectives need to be consistent with the longer-term objectives defined by the PEAP; so the PEAP will be used to guide reallocations of expenditure. The sectoral implications of the PEAP objectives are reflected in the design of sectoral strategies which in turn guide the expenditure allocations made each year under the MTEF. The MTEF is intended to guide all public expenditure including the use of resources committed by donors. For this reason, the Government is introducing a sector-wide approach wherever feasible, under which government and donors contribute to a common pool of resources used to achieve the sectoral objectives. The flexibility which this arrangement allows is essential to the efficient use of public expenditure,. because only in a sector-wide approach can the overall implications of a national programme within each sector be considered, and because a sector-wide approach can reduce duplications of effort by different projects and divergences of cost structure between projects and other public activities. Using the PAF to prioritise public expenditureThe PEAP of 1997 drew particular attention to the need for increased expenditure on the delivery of those services which directly benefit the poor. It was recognised that in Uganda, as in most other countries, there could be a tendency to neglect the interests of the poor unless a conscious effort was made; this is one implication of the observation that powerlessness is one aspect of poverty. Since 1997, the institution of the Poverty Action Fund has been used to achieve the planned reallocations. The PAF has three essential elements for this objective. First, no expenditure is included in PAF unless its direct poverty benefits are clearly demonstrated. Secondly, the use of funds in the PAF is subject to particularly stringent monitoring procedures in which civil society actively participates. Thirdly, the use of funds for PAF activities is clearly additional to the levels achieved in the 1997/8 budget. Most of the areas included in the PAF consist of service delivery which directly benefits poor people, rather than administration. In order to achieve the increase in spending on service delivery and on infrastructure, it is necessary to keep administration lean. Government will continue to endeavour to make its administrative elements as lean as possible and to avoid the proliferation of administrative structures which can impose serious fiscal costs. Poverty priorities and the PAF The PAF (summarised in Table 4. 1) includes the most high-priority public expenditures from the poverty-eradication perspective. Inclusion of a particular sector or programme in the PAF is justified by the high economic and/or social returns to the form of expenditure, by the fact that a substantial proportion of the benefits of expenditure in that area are received by the poor, and by the priority which participatory work has shown the poor themselves attach to that area. Areas already included in the PAF include rural roads, agricultural extension, primary health, primary education, water supply, and equalisation grants whose purpose (defined in the Constitution) is to make the quality of service del How to cite Poverty Eradication Plan, Papers

The Da Vinci Code and the Last Supper Essay Example For Students

The Da Vinci Code and the Last Supper Essay When it comes to world-famous paintings, Leonardo Dad Vines Last Supper is always on the top of the list. What is it that, even now, 500 years after its creation in 1498, makes Last Supper such a mysterious and conspiracy-laden painting? First, there is a level of mystery surrounding its creator, Leonardo Dad Vinci. Not only was Dad Vinci an influential painter, he was also an engineer, sculptor, designer, and scientist. His ingenious concepts in many subjects and technological inventions were so advanced for the 14th to 1 5th century technology that even some 20th-century inventors, like he Wright brothers, pulled from his work. We will write a custom essay on The Da Vinci Code and the Last Supper specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now There have been a lot of theories on Dad Vines life and on his paintings and it is believed that Last Supper contained hidden messages, which Dad Vinci encoded in the painting himself. This essay will examine what these theories are and how they are counter argued by scholars and art historians. Although there have been many fiction novels about Dad Vines Last Supper, Dan Browns novel The Dad Vinci Code, published in 2004, garnered an enormous amount of support from the world wide readers. It brought up a huge scandal on Jesus that, e and Mary Magdalene were lovers and in fact there was a child (or children) between them. In the novel, a secret group, Prior of Soon, protects the descendants of Jesus until today. Dad Vinci, as a member of Prior of Soon, was aware of the truth about Jesus and Mary so he encoded this secret in Last Supper to send out the message . The Dad Vinci Code changed some of its readers beliefs toward their religion, but scholars say this novel is merely based on fiction. In the words of Renaissance art expert Elizabeth Pillion, It is severely flawed. As a reader of fiction, I think it is a tremendously entertaining view . The Dad Vinci Code says that, in Dad Vines Last Supper, the figure sitting on the right side of Jesus is obviously a female person; the figure does not have a beard like rest of the disciples and the figures hand is placed closest to Jesus right hand, suggesting that the two are physically close. Scholars argue that there have been a lot of paintings on the subject of the Last Supper, and it had been common to depict John next to Jesus and beardless. Disco did Boninesss Last Supper from the early 14th century portrayed John in similar ways. In Discos Last Supper, John is sitting on the left side of Jesus, beardless and leaning on Jesus. Domenici Grandchilds version of Last Supper also has the same description of John, in which he is sitting on the left side of Jesus, leaning on the shoulders. Why do Johns illustrations share these similarities, when all these paintings were created over a century apart from each other? The Bible has all the answers. John is known to as Jesus most beloved disciple; in fact, the Bible specifically refers to John as the disciple, the one whom Jesus loved , and this phrase appears our times throughout the Gospel of John . The Bible describes the scene at the Last Supper with specific details of the position of John and Jesus; It is the Beloved Disciple who, while reclining beside Jesus at the Last Supper, asks Jesus, after being requested by Peter to do so, who it is that will betray him . Both Disco and Garlanding were absolutely correct in terms of the position of Jesus and John according to the Bible and the appearance of John is also similar in both paintings. .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a , .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a .postImageUrl , .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a , .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a:hover , .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a:visited , .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a:active { border:0!important; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a:active , .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uabab0ce9cb4a1af669bc631d7a39312a:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Gothic Architecture EssayThese three painters versions of Last Supper are not the only paintings n the same subject; in fact, the earliest depiction of the last supper occurs in the frescos of the Catacomb of Rome from the 6th century . There were some conventions created when many painters drew the Last Supper over the centuries, and Leonardo Dad Vinci was simply following these conventions in accordance with both the Bible and earlier Last Supper depictions created by other painters. Dan Browns the Dad Vinci Code disregarded the facts about these traditions, yet described Leonardo Last Supper as if everything started from it; therefore, the readers are biased with this faulty concept. Another argument made by Dan Brown has to do with SST. Peter, who is sitting next to the female figure. The novels interpretation of SST. Peter is that he was against the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene; therefore, he was illustrated showing a sign of execution on the female figures neck, and he is holding a knife with his right hand as a threat. The author says that Dad Vinci wouldnt have drawn these features unless they meant something, but scholars argue differently. Iconography is one of the characteristics of Renaissance arts, which includes symbolism in the paintings . Pewters holding a knife at the Last Supper is actually a Christian symbol, foreseeing of the event followed by the Last Supper. In Discos painting, it is observed that there are a lot of knives present on the table. Although Peter is not holding a knife in this painting, the knives serve as symbolism. It is more obvious in Grandchilds Last Supper, in which Peter is actually holding a knife in his right hand. Contrary to Dan Browns explanation, it does not look like Peter is threatening someone else. The reference to Pewters knife appears in the Bible. When Judas showed up with soldiers to arrest Jesus, Peter fought back and cut off the ear of the high priests servant, named Mulches . By illustrating Peter with a knife in his hand, it serves as foreshadowing of a future event. It is wrong to say that, because Peter is holding a knife in the painting, it has a meaning of threatening other person, but it serves as a symbolism off future event. What appears to be Pewters showing an execution gesture on Johns neck is, in fact, a misinterpretation made by the Dad Vinci Code. As discussed above, the Bible has some specific details on the ignitions of Peter and John. It is the Beloved Disciple who, while reclining beside Jesus at the Last Supper, asks Jesus, after being requested by Peter to do so, who it is that will betray him . Leonardo Dad Vines Last Supper is describing the scene of Pewters requesting John to ask Jesus. Dan Browns explanation of the gesture of Peter is misleading for its readers; therefore, it is only a fictional setting and it should not be taken seriously. Dan Brown was very clever to use Leonardo Dad Vinci as the theme of the book, and he fact that everyone loves to believe a worldwide conspiracy made the Dad Vinci Code very successful fiction novel. It is remarkable how a novel can have so much impact on the worldwide readers views, even on religion, although this particular example shows how dangerous in can be. The readers who do not have much knowledge in art history or religious history can easily be biased with these fictional interpretations mentioned above. When reading these kinds of novels, it is the readers responsibility to be open-minded and seek the truth themselves instead of being fully influenced by the author.