Advances in mobile phone app development and their relevance for social entrepreneurs The WritePass Journal

Advances in mobile phone app development and their relevance for social entrepreneurs Abstract Advances in mobile phone app development and their relevance for social entrepreneurs ).   Mobile technologies offer hold great prospect in providing the poor with accessibility to public and private services. Although a large number of these subscribers use mobile phones mainly for voice and texting purposes, social entrepreneurs can use its platform to develop a wide range of applications for delivering a broad set of services. Social entrepreneurs can collaborate with a wide range of service providers to launch such applications. This study looks at the prospects of using mobile phone platforms and applications for social entrepreneurship. It will present a literature review which will elaborate the concept of social entrepreneurship and provide examples of various mobile phone applications currently being used for social entrepreneurship. Using a case study approach, this study will then assess a social entrepreneurship initiative in Kenya named ‘M-PESA’. The findings this study will analyze the relevance of mobile technologies in creating social va lue. It will be followed by the analysis of the findings and some recommendations. Literature Review Social entrepreneurs are those that act as â€Å"change agents in the social sectors by adopting and working towards a mission that creates and sustain social not private value, by identifying new opportunities to serve the mission, by involving themselves completely in the process of continuous innovation, adaption and learning, by exhibiting a bold behaviour by not being limited to the current available resources and showing a great sense of responsibility and accountability for the set outcomes and goals†Ã‚   (Dees, 1998). Due to the widespread prevalence of mobile technologies among the mass population in both developed and developing societies, it can play a critical role in assisting social entrepreneurs in confirming to the aforementioned characteristics. Multidisciplinary research on using mobile applications for social entrepreneurship and its impact in delivering benefit to the mass population is at an emerging stage (Karippacheril, et al. 2013). It highlights the po tential of using mobile technologies and application â€Å"for social and economic empowerment, ethnographic, anthropological and telecommunications aspects†. Academic literature mobile phone application largely focuses upon the acceptance, use and impact of mobile services (Andonova, 2006; Donner, 2008; Garbacz Thompson, 2007; Minges, 1999). Numerous studies have shown that mobile phone applications can significantly affect the economic and social life of people living at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP). For instance, a five- year study in India proves that mobile phone application can be used to increase the efficiencies of market, reduce price dispersion and minimize price fluctuations among fishermen (Abraham, 2008; Jensen, 2007). Likewise, another study shows that mobile phone coverage was linked with a 10% increase in the farmer’s market participation rate in Uganda. The same effect was greater for the farmer living in isolated communities away from district centres (Muto Yamano, 2009). Similarly, mobile phones usage in Niger by grain traders reduced its price dispersion by 10% (Aker, 2008). Similar results were observed for the over farming households in rural Tanzania (Souter, McKemey, Scott, 2005). Mobile phones are particularly important in enhancing the lives of rural poor and generally for impr oving the lives of masses because it breaks down the two primary elements of the digital divide; poverty and isolation (Navas Sabater, Dymond, Juntunen, 2002). Pertaining to the platform theory, mobile phones provide platforms (both feature and smart phones) are vital for local providers, developers and social entrepreneurs in creating services that can be made available to a wide population in a trouble-free and affordable way. The goal of social entrepreneurs is to assess how these application platforms can be used in an innovative way to bridge access to the service gap for mass population. Research Question and Method This paper focuses on the advances in mobile phone application development and their relevance for social entrepreneurs. It research questions are: Are the advances in mobile phone platform/applications relevant for social entrepreneurs? How can mobile application be used to by social entrepreneurs to create and sustain a social value? How effective are mobile phone platform/applications in enabling the identification of new opportunities and continuous innovation in serving the social objective? This study assesses how mobile phone platforms and applications are been used by social entrepreneurs to bridge the access to the services gap especially for the communities living at the base of the economic pyramid. This study aims to collect and analyze information regarding M-PESA initiative in Kenya to achieve its research goal. The research can opt for either of the two popular research approaches for this purpose. If the researcher wishes to get a broad and representative data, he/she can opt for a survey approach; while for getting in-depth understanding of a particular situation, case study approach is most suitable (Fisher, 2004). Fisher contends that although â€Å"case studies inevitably lose their representativeness, the power of case study just lies in its capacity to provide insights and resonance for the reader, and it is not true to claim that case studies lack generalisability† (Fisher, 2004, p52). Moreover, generalisability of case studies is deemed more valuable and insightful when it is about organizational processes and business strategies (Tony, 1994 cited in Fisher, 2004). Indeed case studies can be used as experiments to test a theory and if a case study shows a the ory to be untrue, the rejection of the theory can be generalized (Yin, 1994). Considering the scope and purpose of this essay, which is essentially focused on a particular application/platform or business situation, case study method is deemed as most appropriate. Analysis and Results M-PESA is a social entrepreneurial initiative which provides mobile money transfer service. It was launched in Kenya in 2007. Plyler et al, (2010) describe M-PESA as â€Å"an agent-assisted, mobile phone-based, person-to-person payment and money transfer system, was launched in Kenya on March 6, 2007M-PESA an agent-assisted, mobile phone-based, person-to-person payment and money transfer system†. Its social objective is to facilitate financial transactions for those who do not possess a bank account in Kenya. M-PESA allows users to store money on their mobile phones in an e-account and deposit or withdraw money in the form of hard currency at one of M-PESA’s numerous agent locations (Plyler et al, 2010). It does not pay interest on deposits, nor does it make loans (GSMA, 2010). According to Safaricom, the company behind this initiative, there are as many as 9.7 million 30-day active customers currently registered with the company in Kenya (Levin, 2012). Overall, company has 15 million Kenyan registered. M-PESA service facilitates an incredible $1.4 billion USD in payment ever month (Leishman, 2012). M-PESA Technology M-PESA is delivered through a Sim Toolkit (STK) technology which is part of the GSM standard and can work on almost every mobile phone available in the market. It is vital that this service is based on STK technology as advance applications requiring an operating system platform available in smartphones would render this service ineffective due to the inaccessibility of smartphone technology to the wide Kenyan population. With STK, this application can be stored on a SIM card which can be accessed through a phone’s menu. With this, the application is highly secured unlike other internet enabled applications. It does not require SIM card to be swapped (GSMA, 2009). M-PESA service accepts cash deposits from customers having a Safaricom SIM card and resgistred with M-PESA as a user. Resgistration process is simple as it only requires any official identity document such as national ID card or a passport. In exchange for the cash deposit, the service offers a commodity called ‘e-float’, which is measured in the same unit as money and held under the account of the depositor. These e-floats can be transferred to another user, who can redeem it in cash from any M-PESA service agent. The withdrawals are charged by the company at 40 US cents flat rate. Due to the widespread prevalence of this service, e-floats are widely used as an alternative to cash payments in Kenya (Jack and Suri, 2010). The success of this service has led to the emergence of several similar services in Tanzania, Zambia (GSMA, 2009) among various other developing countries. Research indicates that M-PESA has had an overwhelming impact â€Å"in reducing the cost, time and security issues of sending money to family members, receiving payments and improving efficiency for small businesses in the informal sector† (Reid, 2012). Over the years, the ease of money transactions facilitated by M-PESA has had a significant positive impact upon: food security; by impacting upon the local agricultural production, increasing the purchasing power of consumer’s, food availability water security; by impacting upon agricultural productivity and business expansion overall community; in terms of local economic expansion, security, capital accumulation and business environment (see GSMA, 2010 for details) The provision of M-PESA service was enabled by the mobile phone technology platform and its success was partly due to the prevailing widespread use of the mobile phones in Kenya. It is vital that this service is based on STK technology as advance applications requiring an operating system platform available in smart phone would render this service ineffective due to the inaccessibility of smart phone technology to the wide Kenyan population. In context of the platform theory, the enablement of this social entrepreneurship through the STK technology confirms the relevance of mobile phone applications as a platform in creating innovative solutions for the society. Discussion and Implications Referring back to the research questions, the findings of this study confirm the significant relevance of mobile phone platforms and application for social entrepreneurship. The impact of M-PESA upon the Kenyan rural communities and people living at the base of economic pyramid affirms this contention. Moreover, the usage of this application by 15 million people, and the amount of economic activity being performed over it shows that this mode of service is reliable and creates sustainable social value for the users. The rise of such applications in various other developing countries also affirms the contention that mobile application enables the identification of new opportunities and continuous innovation in serving the social objective. It should be noted that the success story of M-PESA does not necessarily imply that every other social entrepreneurial initiative using mobile phone application will be as successful as this. This study is limited in its scope in that it does not detail the particular factors that contributed towards the success of this social entrepreneur initiative. Conclusion and Recommendations Mobile phone application offers an effective means of creating social value through innovative and sustainable solutions and services to people living at the base of economic pyramid. The low-cost of handsets and increasing penetration of mobile phone networks across the globe provides millions of people who do not have regular access to computer based information technologies or fixed-line telephones to communicate and transfer data through mobile phone applications. M-PESA is an exemplary social entrepreneurial initiative which uses mobile phone application platform to enable more than 15 million users in Kenya to transfer money electronically without having a bank account.   The ease of financial transactions has triggered numerous social and economical benefits to poor masses. Based on the finding of this research, this study proposed several recommendations for making a social entrepreneurial initiative successful through the use of mobile application. These are: A social entrepreneur planning to launch a mobile application service should build a clear proposition for potential users. For instance, in the case of M-PESA, there was a well established urban-rural remittance corridor in Kenya which was further enhanced by Safaricom through this mobile application A social entrepreneur should carefully consider the unique country context in creating a tailored mobile application solution for potential users. M-PESA application was developed using STK technology considering the demographics of the population. The service also integrated with the existing remittance stream (service agents) which led to its widespread acceptance. References Abraham,R. (2008). Mobile phones and economic development: Evidence from the fishing industry in India. Information Technologies and International Development, 4(1), 5–17. Andonova, V. (2006).Mobile phones, the Internet and the institutional environment Telecommunications Policy, 30(1), 29–45. Bruin, A. and Dupuis, A (2003). Entrepreneurship:  New Perspectives in a Global Age. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Dees, J. G., Emerson, J. Economy, P. (2001) Enterprising Non-profits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs. New York: Wiley Sons, Inc. Donner, J. (2008). Research approaches to mobile use in the developing world: A review of the literature. The Information Society, 24(3), 140–159. Fisher, C. (2004), Researching and Writing a Dissertation – For Business Students, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Garbacz,C.,Thompson,H.G.,Jr.(2007).Demand for telecommunication services in developing countries. Telecommunications Policy, 31(5), 276–289. GSMA. (2009) Mobile Money for the Unbanked. Annual Report 2009 GSMA. (2010) Mobile Money for the Unbanked. What Makes a Successful Mobile Money Implementation? Learnings from M-PESA in Kenya and Tanzania Jack. W. And Suri, T. (2010) The  Economics  of  M†PESA. Available from gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/economics_MPESA.pdf (cited on 4th, April, 2013) Jensen,R.(2007).Thedigitalprovide:Information(technology),marketperformance,andwelfareintheSouthIndianfisheriessector. Quarterly Journalof Economics, 122(3), 879–924. Minges, M.(1999).Mobile cellular communications in the Southern African region. Telecommunications Policy, 23(7), 585–593. Navas-Sabater, J., Dymond, A., Juntunen, N. (2002). Telecommunications and information services for the poor: Towards universal access. World Bank discussion paper no. 432. Available from  Ã‚   /http://wwwwds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2002/05/03/000094946_ 02041804225061/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdfS. Plyler, M., Hass. S., and Nagarajan, G. (2010) Community-Level Economic Effects of M-PESA in Kenya: Initial Findings. Financial Service Assessment. Available from gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Community-Level-Economic-Effects-of-M-PESA-in-Kenya.pdf (cited on 4th March, 2013) Souter, D., McKemey, K., Scott, N. (2005). The economic impact of telecommunications on rural livelihoods and poverty reduction. DFID. Yin, R.K. (1994), Case Study Research – Design and Method, 2nd ed., Sage, Newbury Park, CA.

Gender Inequality in the Workforce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gender Inequality in the Workforce - Essay Example This essay "Gender Inequality in the Workforce" outlines the gender stereotypes that may occur in the workplace and the reasons for it. Any preconception about a social group without any logical and reasonable evidence can be categorized as stereotypes. They also play a role in discrimination is work places. Both of these issues persist in work places today. This is mainly because of the diversity in the organizations. Today companies hire a diverse group of employees from different cultures and different genders. Because of this diversity issues like stereotypes and sexism come up regularly in organizations. Managers and employees working in the organization are also human beings and they also come from society. The influences on them cause them to think females as inferior. The idea that females are not equal to men is the root of discrimination in organizations. The mindset of the society is that women are not equal. There are specific roles which women are expected to perform in their lives and any change in those roles is not taken well by the society. Women working like men in offices are seen as changing their roles by the society. The manifestation of sexism and stereotype in organizations is in many forms. Firstly gender bias plays a role in recruitment. There are jobs that are considered more suitable for females and some jobs are considered more appropriate for males. Positions like typists and sectaries are suitable for women so these jobs are mostly given to women. This is a form of sexism and stereotyping. ... Before them they were considered unimportant to such an extent that their say in elections was not deemed important. Women are fighting with the same attitude even today in work places. The idea of female emancipation is not easy to digest for the society as a whole. Also people learn these attitudes at a very early age through social interactions. Managers and employees working in the organization are also human beings and they also come from society. The influences on them cause them to think females as inferior. The idea that females are not equal to men is the root of discrimination in organizations. The mindset of the society is that women are not equal. There are specific roles which women are expected to perform in their lives and any change in those roles is not taken well by the society. Women working like men in offices are seen as changing their roles by the society. The manifestation of sexism and stereotype in organizations is in many forms. Firstly gender bias plays a r ole in recruitment. There are jobs that are considered more suitable for females and some jobs are considered more appropriate for males. Positions like typists and sectaries are suitable for women so these jobs are mostly given to women. This is a form of sexism and stereotyping. Women are considered to have specific traits that suit these positions and that are why they are hired in these positions. There also other forms of sexism and stereotypes. Women face problem in acquiring top management positions in firms. This is because women are not seen as having authoritative nature. They are considered inferior to men and that is why they face discriminations in promotions. Another form of sexism is in daily activities of the company. In offices women face

India on The Move Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

India on The Move - Essay Example While this was attempted to be addressed through the, highly unpopular, forced sterilization program in the regime of Indira Gandhi during the 'emergency' years attention seems to have fallen by the wayside. The population continues to grow at a rate of 1.5% and India is expected to cross China by 2018. This is the result of higher birth rates coupled with increased life expectancy. At the root of the problem, however, lie poor literacy levels. Growth of the economy, to a large extent, is negated by the population rise and the number (and percentage) of people living below the poverty line continues to be at a staggering level of 44% of the population. The unemployment levels are also consistently high. With the unofficial figures estimating these to be above the 20% mark this indicates a lack of balanced growth. Since agriculture provides sustenance for more than 72% of the population, it seems obvious that this sector of the economy has been neglected at the cost of modernization in the more visible sectors like IT, manufacturing industry and services. Fractured and regionalized politics is perhaps the next biggest problem facing the country.

Critique article Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critique article - Research Paper Example In addition, it should not have generalized respiratory therapists and nurses because the study is confined to a limited population and the sampling method cannot be considered representative of the universal population. Nonetheless to focus on prevention of ventilator-associated Pneumonia is clear. The introductory section is clear, concise and informative. It successfully established the subject of the study and explained its objectives and significance. Of, particular importance are the empirical evidences that built the case for the research hypothesis and the research framework. The section reviewing previous literature on the research subject is practically non-existent. Prior studies were cited but in a very sweeping manner and only served to support points made in the Introduction section. Some previous studies were cited such as the survey among French and Canadian ICU directors on VAP adherence and the work of van Nieuwenhoven et al. (2006), which addressed clinical applicability of prevention measures. But the details are not sufficient to establish a gap that the article could fill and develop a research framework accordingly. The methods section did not specify an overarching methodology that could have outlined a clear research framework or effectively defined research concepts. If there is, it should have been clearly identified. Instead, the paper - in the methodology section - merely talked about the process without even citing how such processes came to be. This aspect highlights the most critical flaw of the study. Like the manner by which the methodology was written, the data gathering process was similarly unsystematic. The researchers merely created a survey and distributed the questionnaires without attempting to design a scientific sampling procedure. The same can be said about the content of the questionnaire and consequently the type of data gathered. Based on these parameters, the researchers were able

Overcoming Physical, Cultural and Communicative Barriers

Overcoming Physical, Cultural and Communicative Barriers INTRODUCTION Organisation support to equality and diversity is key factor to reduce communication issues such as language and culture. There are lots of methods to improve equality and diversity in an organisation. Inside of organisation we are making a comprehensive working, examining and studying over environment where contrasts are esteemed and uniformity of chance is progressed. The emphasis is on keeping on delivering a reasonable support of our clients by meeting the changing needs of worldwide different groups. LANGUAGE AND CULTURE In this case, language is the key factor in the success of any organization. But low wellbeing proficiency, social obstructions, and constrained English capability have been authored the triple danger to compelling health communication. (Kate Singleton 2009) People often feel that communication is as easy and simple as its sound. It describes what we would want to communicate with others, how we interact with others. We need to use good communication with clients, their relatives and our colleges. Sometime language barriers create misunderstandings between receiver and provider it affects delay health services likewise client do not understand the instruction given by provider due to poor pronunciation, because they are from different culture and communities. So we need to speak effective and efficient language at work place that all are clearly understood. (Asma Zaineb 2010) On the other hand, patients from culture minority gatherings may be more subjected to the impacts of low wellbeing education than patients from the overwhelming society due to collaborations between proficiency, multifaceted correspondence barrier including culture, and the experience of bias. Barriers occur at customer level, seller’s level and management level. For instance, NZ considered patient with low wellbeing education may have the capacity to speak with attendants, explore the human services framework, and self-deal with the infection more viably than another culture and religion person who additionally shows low wellbeing proficiency. The local conceived patient would have the capacity to depend on English capability and rather than another public people. Likewise culturally safe practice is setting up a trusting association with the client and an Organization. . (Tiatia j. 2008) ORGANISATION SUPPORT TO EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY Equal opportunities with circumstances and differences administration show the standards of advancing work environment balance and assorted qualities with diverse hypothetical bases; their reasons being in the first the need to offer social equity and in the last, the needs of the association (Noon and Obgonna, 2001) e.g. to enhance administration quality. ‘Fulfilments with administration’ system causes decide how to enhance the nature of consideration in your associations administrations and clients encounters of them. Individuals have a tendency to be fulfilled by administrations when their experience coordinates their positive desires. Desires are framed by numerous elements, including the needs and attributes of the administration client. Normal elements for thought incorporate responsiveness and the capacity to resolve boundaries. (State administrations commission 2008). The procedures to manage differing qualities issues can be partitioned into individual level adm inistration methods, for example, understanding, compassion, correspondence, tolerance or authoritative level methodologies, approaches, practices, culture and preparing (Denisi and Griffin, 2001). METHODS OF COMMUNICATING COMMITMENT PLANS Planning is aptitudes that generally need to meet up to accomplish a successful result. planning include thinking and preparing assignments that need to be done to accomplish particular objectives. Arranging is an instrument to deal with a venture, an occupation, a movement or a circumstance that you are going to embrace. It is straightforwardly connected with scheduling, time administration and finds solutions to reduce barriers. For example, a nurse working in hospital she set up care plan for patient, firstly she check the priority need of patient and then set up care plan after will implement to patient step by step for early recovery and prevention and manage her time to do these activities in last she evaluate the results and take feedback from them they are happy with services. TEAM MEETINGS It plays vital role in an organization. Team gatherings are critical instruments for managing group assignments and efficiency. Successful group meetings take into account open discussion that draws upon every individual’s learning, aptitudes, and viewpoints to tackle issues and errors in services each other in succeeding the groups joint objectives. On the other hand, it is normal that both the clients and, particularly, the persons serving them know their own roles and duties act as needs be to diminish social and language errors. (Salo-Lee, 1996) ROLES AND RESPONISIBILITIES It is most important part of organizations how to apply roles and responsibilities to improve better services and overcome the barriers. The main responsibility of stakeholder to manage workforce planning, change management, learning and development, employment attractiveness (State services commission 2008) it helps to reduce physical, cultural and language barriers. WORKFORCE PLANNING Workforce arranging is an essential business system to empower future arranging, expect change, deal with the workforce, and meet business objectives. (State administrations commission 2008).For example, in an organisation, the main role of owner to evaluate the legal responsibility for promoting equality and reduced discrimination, and confirm about commitments are fulfilled. CHANGE MANAGEMENT The procedure of progress must be overseen and arranged – both from an organization and from an individual viewpoint. Change administration is a deliberate way to deal with managing these progressions, and includes adjusting to change, controlling change, and effecting administrations. Give information to employee about new policies and procedures we are adding in organisation so they easily understood and adapt. (State administrations commission 2008) LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT A learning and improvement method helps adjust, plan, needs, structure, incorporate and assess learning and advancement exercises. This serves to address capacity issues, enhance execution, and hold great staff. It is important to overcome lapse in quality consideration. (State administrations commission 2008) For example, the Human Resources Department is responsible for giving respect to staff and implementing related policies and procedures. They ensure all staff receives appropriate equality and diversity inclusion training. OCCUPATIONAL ATTRACTIVENESS Your occupation allure is the way individuals see your association as a work environment. An in number brand can empower associations to enhance the quantity of brilliant candidates requisitioning occupations; they give extensive administrations to customers and enhance worker exertion and execution. (State administrations commission 2008) TIMESCALE The span of time within which certain events occur or are scheduled to occur considered in relation to any broader period of time. In health care system it means data collection, accurate recording and reporting of clients records up to date and time. For examples when health care assistant provide any care to patient maintain their records on accurate time and date it helps to diminish errors. AUDIT Clinical review is the efficient examination of the nature of social insurance, including the systems utilized for conclusion, treatment and consideration, the utilization of assets and the subsequent result and personal satisfaction for the client. The clinical review lead ought to have a prominent inside of the association, and must champion clinical review both to partners and administration alike. POLICY REFORM The administration as of late presented an arrangement of essential consideration changes went for enhancing wellbeing and lessening variations by diminishing co-instalments, moving from charge for administration to capitation and advancing population wellbeing management (Science directs 2005). The objective of policy if any type of discrimination or harassment by a member of staff in case of sex, age, physical disability and religion it take extremely and may corrective action being taken. ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES Advancing wellbeing and standing up to disease difficulties require activity over a scope of exercises in the wellbeing framework. This incorporates upgrades in the policy making and stewardship part of Governments, better access to HR, drugs, therapeutic gear, and consumables, and a more prominent engagement of both open and private suppliers of administrations. The best projects additionally consolidate components of group training that move state of mind over the long time. The requirement for intercessions to be association and even area particular is additionally suggested. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION In conclusion I described how to overcome physical, cultural and language barriers, what kind of services we need to use in an organization to promote good quality services. How can organization support to equality and diversity. There are lots of methods to provide fairly and quality care to provider and to overcome the barriers in an effective organization. The use of health services is the process of seeking professional health care and submitting oneself to the application of regular health services, with the purpose to prevent or treat health problems and promote equality and diversity. REFFRENCES Asma Zaineb (2010), Barriers to effective communication in an organisation and overcoming it retrieved from http://blog.commlabindia.com. Tiatia j. (2008) Ministry of Health Organisation. Pacific cultural competencies retrieved from http://www.moh.govt.nz. State Services commission April (2008). Implementing and monitoring equality and diversity retrieved from www.ssc.govt.nz. Science Direct (2005), Reducing health disparities through primary care reform the New Zealand experiment http://www.sciencedirect.com. POWERPOINT PRESENTATION POINTS LANGUAGE (1ST SLIDE) Low wellbeing proficiency, social obstructions, and constrained English capability have been authored the triple danger to compelling health communication. Sometime language barriers create misunderstandings between receiver and provider because they are from different culture and communities. CULTURE (2ND SLIDE) Patients from culture minority gatherings may be more subjected to the impacts of low wellbeing ORGANISATION SUPPORT TO EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY (3RD SLIDE) Equal opportunities Fulfilments with administration The procedures to manage differing qualities issues can be partitioned into individual level administration methods.

Kuona, An African Perspective on Religions: J.N.K. Mugambis Contributi

Kuona, An African Perspective on Religions: J.N.K. Mugambi's Contribution ABSTRACT: Kuona is a Shona (one of Zimbabwe’s major languages) verb meaning "to see." In poetic constructions, it is often used as an ocular metaphor meaning insight or understanding. This ocular metaphor can be used to describe Mugambi’s assessment of the exclusivistic claims one often encounters in the Abrahamic religions. Such claims often arise from a strongly held belief that the adherent is one of God’s chosen. Mugambi has emerged as one of the most articulate philosophical theologians in the African continent. His reflections, ubiquitous in classrooms on the continent, deserve a much broader audience. My paper seeks to introduce Mugambi’s perspective on religion. Part of Mugambi’s project has been to make an assessment of this notion of chosenness in the Abrahamic religions. He does so particularly with reference to the relationship between Christianity and the African religious heritage. Kuona is a Shona (one of Zimbabwe's major languages) verb meaning to see. In poetic constructions it is often used as an ocular metaphor meaning insight or understanding. This ocular metaphor, it seems to me, can be used to describe Mugambi's assessment of the exclusivistic claims one often encounters in the Abrahamic religions. "Only those who believe as we do have any hope of an eternity with God." "We are the ones destined or predestined for heaven." These and such claims often arise from a strongly held belief that the adherent is one of God's chosen ones. Part of Mugambi's project has been to make an assessment of this notion of chosenness in the Abrahamic religions. He does so particularly with reference to the relationship between Christianity and the... ...on mark on the Mosaic religions, Mugambi proceeds to suggest that other religious traditions may be propounding perspectives closer to the divine ideal. He assesses he religions of the Orient — especially Buddhism — as being immensely tolerant and respectful of the humanity and integrity of others. The African religious heritage, he finds to be also inclusive rather than exclusive. Realizing that his challenge is bound to evoke a charge of Universalism on the part of many evangelical Christians in the North Atlantic areas, Mugambi contends that his insights are not such as to bring shame on those who accept them. He declares that when Christians of non-EuroAmerican cultures seek a synthesis of the Christian faith with their own heritage, a charge of universalism may after all turn out to be a virtue rather than a vice. In the final analysis God is the final arbiter.

Celebrity Status

Celebrity Status â€Å"Everything I do need a news crew's presence† – kanye west. Think back to the early years and recall the one role model that was looked up to the most go ahead might have to go back as far as childhood. Ok got that amazing individual in mind? Now is that somebody a person who had a lifestyle in luxury, fascinates the media and the influences the public on day-to-day basis? (Commonly denoted as an individual with fame and fortune), implied with great popular appeal, prominence in a particular field, and is easily recognized by the public or also known as a celebrity or celeb.Known fact most role models are celebrities but why? Celebrities are on TV, front page of magazines, and have their names big and bold in newspapers. Every time they turn their head or scratch their nose it’s going to make the headlines and believe it or not things that small from people with big reputation have a huge impact on the public people. Celebs are bad role mode ls because they effect children, families, and can give the wrong meaning of celebrity status. Children the offspring, the next generation need to grow up healthy and with a excellent mental state and not a fantasy trying to copy the latest and greatest movie actor out. he child needs to be an individual meaning one person as him/herself, â€Å"selfhood†. Who knows the child could be a genius and invent something great that could be helpful for the future, but never know because they are to influenced by their celebrity role model. Having celebrities as role models can also throw a good chance of bad behavior in children for example lindsay lohan she effected thousands of young girls with then good girl gone bad incident made national back in 2004 after she made the movie mean girls then later got caught stealing and no penalties were issued.As a role model she portrayed that stealing was ok and being bad is cool plus you just can’t act bad, you have to be bad! It was just that easy to set the mind of a child off track and to follow the footsteps of a â€Å"role model†. As children get older the role model gets older and will still try to do everything they see their role model do because they think it cool or want to be just like them no matter what the action is going from sex all the way to drugs. Drugs are likely to be used before age twenty six by young adults, but when celebrities use drugs it raises the chances even more with teenagers when celebrities are caught red handed by he media. It gives the wrong impression because the whole incident turns into a phenomenon â€Å"what drug did she/he use† â€Å"how long has she/he been using it† it becomes more a reward then punishment because there are now the biggest topic of the month and really miss the point that person made a mistake in life and is now addicted when they needed to be taking out of the spotlight so child viewers don’t think twice of making that mis take; but its not that easy.It also gives the impression that everything will be perfectly using drugs and life goes on perfect example Charlie sheen. when Charlie got fired from two and a half men then left for rehab he came back the same man that left but came back with a hit catch phrase duh winning and was offered he’s job back plus endorsements. Celebrities that use drugs are a easy way to influence children to experiment and use drugs so why let them take it that far? The celebrity doesn’t care about their effect on children but their own.Family is the group of people who are willing to do anything for each other and won’t let anything between, so why let a celebrity ruin that? Celebrity role models effect families nationwide by giving the wrong message all the time; like its ok to live young wild and free or better like the new saying of 2012 Yolo so popular it made it to the dictionary. (yo-lo) you only live once. If a role model says it’s ok â₠¬Å"Yolo† it’s just the same as saying its ok to do anything crazy, it’s ok go head live fast because you once live once (Yolo).That saying is being promoted by celebrities and it’s pretty scary. kids have a reason to do something crazy and then are sent to the grave and left mom and dad to mourn the day with the feeling that life will never be the same. A role model should be a positive person and have nothing but good intentions Like a super hero and doesn’t want to harm anyone or do drugs also would lead by example those are true role models. No matter if they’re popular or not that role model will always be above celebrity status!