The Systematic Study of Organizational Behavior

A country's culture is the conventional behavior of a society that constitutes beliefs, customs, knowledge, and practices. Evidently, it influences human behavior, even though it is rare that it enters into their conscious thought. People depend on culture as it gives them stability, security, understanding, and the ability to respond to a given situation. Culture complements their well-being. This is why people fear change. They fear the system will become unstable, their security will be lost, they will not understand the new process, and they will not know how to respond to the new situations (Knoster, Villa ; Thousand, 2000). The organization's base depends on a company' philosophy, values, vision and goals. A company's mission and vision are its very core. This, in turn, drives the organizational culture, which is composed of the formal organization, informal organization, and the social environment. A country's culture determines the type of leadership, communication, and group dynamics within the organization. The workers perceive this as the quality of work life, which directs their degree of motivation. The final outcomes are performance, individual satisfaction, and personal growth and development. All these elements combine to build the archetype or framework that the organization operates from. A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. Within an organization, the social system includes all the people in it and their relationships to each other and to the outside world. The behaviors that come about within organizations are of utmost concern and importance. Studying these behaviors may help the consumers to comprehend why some sales agents or employees are able to introduce and sell their products and services with efficiency and effectiveness (cited in Johns, 1988). Also, the social system does not have boundaries. It exchanges goods, ideas, culture, etc. with the environment around it (cited in Knoster, Villa ; Thousand, 2000). A matter like this could become quite a balancing act. Individualism favors individual rights, loosely knit social networks, self-respect, and personal rewards and careers. One aspect begets another aspect, which is why it is integrated in nature.   Socialization or collectivism favors the group, harmony, and asks â€Å"What is best for the organization?† Organizations need people to challenge, question, and experiment while still maintaining the culture that binds them into a social system (Knoster, Villa ; Thousand, 2000). Autocratic – The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee need that is met is subsistence. The performance result is minimal. Custodial – The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on the organization. The employee need that is met is security. The performance result is passive cooperation. Supportive – The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and participation. The employee need that is met is status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives. Collegial – The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline. The employee need that is met is self-actualization. The performance result is moderate enthusiasm. Individualization is when employees successfully exert influence on the social system by challenging the culture: Less socialization and too little individualization create isolation. More socialization and too little individualization create conformity. Less socialization and too high individualization creates rebellion. While the match that organizations want to create is high socialization and high individualization for a creative environment. This is what it takes to survive in a very competitive environment having people grow with the organization, but doing the right thing when others want to follow the easy path (Knoster, Villa ; Thousand, 2000). Compensation as a motivational factor Many companies mistakenly assume that what works for one organization will work well for all organizations. Companies often attempt to create incentive programs without thinking in detail about how each program feature will best suit their targeted audience. Providing pie and ice-cream when employees desire flexible work hours, paid time off, training, or the ability to work from home is an example of a negative incentive. To facilitate the creation of a profitable program, every feature must be tailored to the participants’ interests. A successful incentive program requires clearly defined rules, suitable rewards, efficient communication strategies, and measurable success metrics. By adapting each element of the program to fit the target audience, companies are better able to engage program participants and enhance the overall program effectiveness (â€Å"Incentive†). An incentive program represents a substantial investment to most organizations. Receiving a sufficient return on that investment requires the full participation of the program participants. Incentive programs are based upon the concept that effort increases as people perceive themselves progressing towards their goal. In â€Å"The Art of Motivation: An Incentive Industry Primer,† the Incentive Marketing Association ties incentive programs to the psychological equation: Ability x Motivation = Performance. In order to properly motivate, programs must be designed to offer a variation of products and services to program participants based on their unique interests and diverse needs. Successful programs need to carefully develop their reward methods to keep participants eager to approach a new goal once they have achieved a reward (â€Å"Incentive†). In order to create an effective program, organizations must keep the overall objective in mind when considering program design and implementation. Objectives should be formed based on the organizations overall goals and should be straightforward and specific so participants clearly understand the expectations. Program objectives can vary depending on the needs of each individual organization. They must be challenging, yet achievable. If objectives are viewed as unattainable, the program will be destined for failure. Management By Objectives is crucial for a company to achieve progress and success in order to manage the company in an objective manner. With this in mind, Companies have set various standard order procedures for employees. Managers are always at the forefront of this matter. Objectives may include motivating employees, recognizing performance, persuading customers to make a purchase, or even reinforcing a marketing message. Once the program's goals have been determined, every aspect of the program must be measured against this goal in order to ensure the programs success in goal achievement. Whenever successful, objectives should provide measurable results allowing the organization to monitor performance and measure the overall success of the program. References Borne, P.A. (February 21, 2007). Organizational Behavior. Retrieved December 12, 2007 from http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=144899&c=1. Incentive Marketing Association. The Art of Motivation: An Incentive Industry Primer. Retrieved December 12, 2007, from   http://incentivemarketing.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=51. Knoster, T., Villa, K.T., & Thousand, J. (2000). Restructuring for Caring and Effective Education: Piecing the Puzzle Together. A Framework For Thinking About Systems Change. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. Johns, G. (2004). Organizational Behavior: Understanding and Managing Life at Work 6th Edition. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.   

Crafting a Livelihood in India

building sustainability for indian artisans CRAFTINGALIVELIHOOD/ JANUARY2013 Tableof Contents Foreword Executive Summary 1 2 I. Craftspeople – The Backbone of India's Non-Farm Rural Economy Sector Overview, profile of indian artisans, crafts value chain and key challenges 4 In Sanskrit, Dasra means Enlightened Giving. Dasra is India’s leading strategic philanthropy foundation. Dasra works with philanthropists and successful social entrepreneurs to bring together knowledge, funding and people as a catalyst for social change.We ensure that strategic funding and capacity building skills reach non profit organizations and social businesses to have the greatest impact on the lives of people living in poverty. www. dasra. org II. Government, Private Sector and Non Profit Initiatives Role of key stakeholders in enhancing artisans’ sustainability 15 III. Harnessing the Potential of India's Crafts Sector Four cornerstones of artisans’ sustainability and recommended interventions for philanthropic support 26 IV. Mapping Non Profits and High Impact Interventions AIACA Avani 43 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55The Edmond de Rothschild Foundations continue developing a modern view of philanthropy through which they defend the dignity and empowerment of each individual. The Foundations’ primary focus is on education, with projects in a range of areas: arts and culture, social entrepreneurship, intercultural dialogue, health and research and philanthropic education. Through their geographic locations and range of projects, the Foundations represent a rich, multicultural network. They endeavor to identify local initiatives and provide close monitoring of their numerous stakeholders while sharing this experience internationally.By applying an entrepreneurial method to the universe of philanthropy, the Edmond de Rothschild Foundations contribute to the growing professionalism of the social sector. They moreover work towards the recognition of th e pluralism inherent to all societies and the respect for their citizen’s many identities. www. edrfoundations. org Craft Revival Trust Dastakar Earthy Goods Foundation Gramshree Kala Raksha Khamir ORUPA SAHAJ Shrujan Concluding Thoughts Appendices A. Methodology and Selection Criteria B. End Notes C. Bibliography D. Acknowledgments and Organization Database 6 58 60 61 62 Report published in: January 2013 Cover Photo Credit: KHAMIR Foreword One of the biggest issues in India is that our markets do not recognize the true value of craft. When this value is recognized, and if people are willing to pay a higher price for craft-based products, this should translate into higher wages for weavers and craftspeople and act as a boost to millions of rural-based livelihood opportunities associated with this sector. The economics however is not as simple, as finally it comes down to the conflict between pricing and sales.If you out-price goods, you sell only a limited number. If you don' t give crafts people enough work, it kills the craft. Sustainable livelihoods will ultimately depend on finding a fine balance between the two. Fabindia follows an inclusive model of capitalism, placing craft at the center of the quest for profitability and growth. I grew up watching my father build this company. I was also very idealistic so I started a co-operative in 1989 and ran it till 1991. While I soon realized this was not the answer, this experience helped me understand what I wanted to do with my role at FabIndia.If you look at business, success is generally defined by measurable outcomes, financial profit and the material impact. We are taught to squeeze each and every opportunity as hard as we can to maximize profit. In a conventional way, all of this makes a lot of sense. But my experience in business has been different. I operate a business, which is one of the most profitable businesses in the retail space in India. Yet, it is also one in which the central theme is to enable all our producers to become stakeholders and beneficiaries of the larger wealth creation process.When we created this idea, every business analyst who saw it said it would not be viable. But instead it has opened up new avenues for business, which are collaborative. It has connected people in new ways, allowing them to give very differently of themselves. The business operates from the principle that people are not just instruments. When people feel they are valued, respected, a part of something bigger than their own immediate interest, the nature of their contribution changes. And this is at the heart of interdependence that Fabindia recognizes.We are building a very transformative model, and we need to take that to scale. Our greatest motivation has come from the 100,000 artisans that we see affiliated to it – that’s the big picture, needle moving idea that uses mainstream retail to give relevance to this sector. There are several very successful small scale stories in the crafts space. Taking these to the next level necessitates investment and resources which recognize the value of craft and the socioeconomic returns it generates for craftspeople. This is the perspective that this Report and its authors bring to the fore-front.And I wish this initiative every success. WilliamBissel ManagingDirector,Fabindia 1 Executive Summary India's industrialization and participation in the modern world economy is decades old. Nevertheless, millions of Indians still depend on indigenous modes of production, traditional skills and techniques to make a living based on handmade products. These craftspeople or artisans are the backbone of the non-farm rural economy, with an estimated 7 million artisans according to official figures (and upto 200 million artisans according to unofficial sources) engaged in craft production to earn a livelihood. Despite some instances of well-known design houses using handmade products and successful crafts-based busines ses such as FabIndia and Anokhi, the majority of craft production remains unorganized and informal with its full market potential untapped, especially by the artisan, who more often than not struggles for sustenance. Propelled by loss of markets, declining skills and difficulty catering to new markets, a large number of artisans have moved to urban centers in search of low, unskilled employment in industry.According to the United Nations, over the past 30 years, the number of Indian artisans has decreased by 30%, indicating the need to re-invest in artisans to safeguard history, culture and an important source of livelihood. 2 The Indian Government, the private sector and the non profits are each involved in the sector but their roles have evolved in silos, with little specialization and much duplication. On a policy level a cohesive and concerted effort is required to overcome the challenges faced by the crafts ecosystem through funding and programs.Simultaneously, the private sect or has a significant role to play in uplifting artisans through different market-led efforts made by retail chains, high end-fashion designers and a relatively more recent wave of social businesses. Non profits have been particularly active in the crafts space since the early 1960s and have evolved numerous models to support artisans in earning better livelihoods. To realize the full potential of the crafts sector, the gaps, overlaps and challenges in the value chain must be overcome to create an ecosystem that enables crafts to thrive.The different stakeholders involved need to come together to build what we call the four cornerstones of artisans’ sustainability. Philanthropy has a key role to play in supporting the creation of such an ecosystem. Harnessing the potential of this sector requires different types of investments to preserve traditional crafts, strengthen the sector, and improve the incomes of artisans. Investment should focus on building the four cornerstones of artisans’ sustainability: 1. 2. 3. 4.Handholding the Artisan through the Value Chain Increasing Demand for Crafts and Strengthening Market Linkages Strengthening the Decentralized Production Model Building a Multi-Stakeholder Approach This would realize the tremendous opportunities the crafts sector in India provides to improve economic, environmental and social conditions of rural communities. These include: Economic Opportunities : Employment and income: The crafts sector has the potential to provide stable employment and income generation to diverse communities and to those with different levels of education. ? ? Migration: Promoting hand production in rural areas can effectively check migration of rural labor to urban centers and prevent loss of skills Economic growth: The global market for handicrafts is USD400 billion, of which India's share is below 2%, representing a tremendous growth opportunity. 3 Competitive advantage: Artisans can serve as key drivers of speci alization and competence in precision manufacturing, similar to Japan and Korea. Economic Opportunities Environmental Benefits: Low energy requirement: Production processes used in crafts typically ave a low carbon footprint and promote the use of locally available materials as well as natural and organic materials where possible. Environmental Benefits Social Empowerment: ? Women's empowerment: Crafts production represents an opportunity to provide a source of earning and employment for otherwise low skilled, home-based women, improving their status within the household. Return for future generations: Investing in artisans leads to a trickle-down effect of improving the health and education outcomes for future generations of the most marginalized populations. Handicrafts embody India's history and diversity: Over many centuries, an extraordinary legacy has nourished Indians crafts across religious, ethnic and communal boundaries. They highlight the country's unique cultural mosa ic and offer a powerful tool for pluralism and co-existence. There is an urgent need for philanthropy to realize the economic potential of the crafts sector by investing in high impact scalable models that have the potential to strengthen livelihoods in a sustainable manner. Social Empowerment 2 3 major categories in craft hadi (cloth that is woven from handspun yarn) cotton handlooms processing of cotton textile by hand silk handlooms processing of silk textiles by hand zari (silver and gold threadwork) and embroidery carpets miscellaneous products made of wood, bamboo, cane and grass leather manufacture earthenware plating/polishing/ engraving metals jewelry and related products making of musical instruments I. CHAPTER Craftspeople: The Backbone of India's Non-Farm Rural Economy 4 â€Å"To write about Indian handicrafts is almost like writing about the country itself.So vast, complex and colorful, and yet with a simplicity and charm, difficult to attain under comparable condition s† – Upadhyay, M. N. : Handicrafts of India. 4 India has one of the most diverse and ancient traditions of handmade products, and its handicrafts industry is an important economic and cultural asset. According to the Twelfth Five Year Plan, handicrafts production is expected to double between 2012 and 2017 and exports are projected to grow at the compounded annual rate of 18% during the same period. As a result, the craft sector will employ an additional 10% of individuals per year up to that time. 6 The crafts value chain encompasses the full range of activities required to bring a handicraft product from conception through production to delivery to consumers. The Government, the private sector and non profits have played and continue to play an important role in the sector's development, although their efforts remain isolated and thus limited in their impact.From Vishwakarma's Children to Poverty: A Socio-economic Profile of Artisans Chart1: The story of Indian crafts is deeply embedded in mythology, history and culture as can be seen in Chart 1. Artisans are considered to be the descendants of Vishwakarma the presiding deity of crafts and architecture. During the Vedic Age craftspeople enjoyed a high social standing and were part of the landed gentry, responsible for the creation of temples and palaces. In the caste hierarchy that evolved during the post Vedic period, craftspeople were associated with Shudras or the lowest caste due to the manual nature of their work.While Hindu artisans occupied the lower echelons of the caste system, due to the menial nature of their work, artisans from other non Hindu religious communities were equally stigmatized. This adverse status led to a deeply rooted stigma which persists today long after the abolition of the caste system. Nevertheless, in subsequent eras when India was inhabited by princely kingdoms, crafts continued to flourish because of their utilitarian nature, royal patronage and the organizatio n of artisans into guilds. Until the second half of the 17th century, crafts enjoyed a steady market.With the decline of princely states, the entry of the East India Company and colonization, employment in crafts especially handloom declined due to trade between India and the UK which was organized and regulated largely by colonial powers. The result was the fragmentation of the artisan community, marked by inequality between those that could produce for British markets, traders and those that were only exposed to local markets. Subsequent industrialization marked the steady decline in crafts markets and livelihood potential for artisans.Despite the central role played by crafts in the freedom movement, where Mahatma Gandhi incited the nation to produce by hand, and subsequent welfare measures implemented by the Indian Government, artisans (with the exceptions of traders, and extremely specialized master craftspeople) never regained the social status and sustainable income they once possessed. The uniqueness of India's craftspeople has been their ability to work across religious, caste and cultural divides. Such a meeting of distinctive traditions has fostered dialogue, social inclusion and an extraordinary creativity.ROYALPATRONAGE Craftsusedtoreceiveroyalpatronage, whichhasnowdisappeared. Further,folk craftsnolongerfitintoeverydayusageas theyoncedidduetoincreasing urbanization. Thehandicraftand handloomsectorsarea `24,300crore (USD4. 48bn) industrycontributing `10,000crore (USD1. 85bn) toIndia'sexportearnings of`1. 62lakhcrore (USD300bn). 8 An important economic and cultural asset India's myriad crafts traditions and living crafts skills are vehicles of its cultural identity, passed on from generation to generation and a means of sustenance for numerous communities engaged in production.Crafts constitute one of the primary sub-sectors within Creative and Cultural Industries, defined by UNESCO as â€Å"industries which produce tangible or intangible artistic and creative outputs, and which have a potential for wealth creation and income generation through the fostering of cultural assets and the production of knowledge-based goods and services. â€Å"7 The crafts sector encompasses diverse activities ranging from embroidery and painting to leatherwork and pottery, with variations and regional specificities within each group.There are thousands of living crafts in India. For simplicity, these can broadly be understood as handlooms and handicrafts. Together handicrafts and handlooms play an important role in the Indian economy. Handicrafts typically refer to artifacts made by hand for decorative, religious or functional purposes. These products are often found in diverse markets from runways in Paris, and highend designer stores to domestic retail outlets and tourist emporiums. SWADESHIMOVEMENT Handproductionwasstronglyrootedinthe independencemovementandGandhi’sprinciples.However,themovementlostsignificanceinthe public’spe rceptionafterthe50sand60s. INDUSTRIALIZATION Thefactorysectorhas inherenteconomiesof scaleandgreater bargainingpowerfor cheaperhigherquality rawmaterials,whichhas adverselyaffectedthe craftssector. Further, thissectorhasbeen divertinglaboraway fromskill-based occupations. GLOBALIZATION Challenge:Lackof consumerawareness abouttheimportance ofcrafts Opportunity:Crafts providecompetitive edgeandunique identitytoIndiaina globalmarketplace 5 6Broadly, artisans are divided into the following categories with a rigid hierarchical division of labor between more and less skilled artisans in a particular craft : ? Skilled master craftsman ? Wage-worker ? Fully self-employed artisan ? Part-time artisan An estimated 63% of artisans are self-employed while 37% are wage earners. 9 Traditional knowledge and craft skills are passed down from one generation to another, so that whole families and communities are engaged in production. An estimated 71% of artisans work as family units and 76% attribute their profession to the fact that they have learnt family skills. 0 It is important to note that most official figures count only the head of the production unit and wage earners in official figures, leaving out the 5-6 family members who are also dependent on crafts for sustenance, thus creating an incomplete understanding of the sector's size and importance. The vast majority of artisans operate in informal work settings. In fact, according to one study, Vishwakarma's Children in 2001 only 9% of craftspeople benefited from formalized employment, while 42% worked out of their homes. 11 Most artisan production units tend to be micro enterprises.In fact, 39% of artisans incur production expenditures of less than INR 12,000/ USD 215 a year and only 19% spend above INR 50,000/ USD 900 a year. 12 Typically artisans sell their products to diverse markets including local markets, city outlets, private agents, wholesalers or retail traders and exporters. A meaningful analysis of the secto r requires focusing on particular geographies and crafts. For this report, we focused on the crafts sector in the states Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha. These have among the largest number of artisans, as shown in the chart 2.In addition, Dasra's mapping of non profits involved in the sector, revealed the highest concentration of non profits working at scale in these states. The Crafts Value Chain is Fragmented For a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the crafts sector, as well as areas that need improvement, it is important to understand the crafts value chain. The crafts value chain shown in Chart 3 has been created based on our observations on the ground as well as inputs from sector experts. It aims to demonstrate the different stages in craft production from producers to markets and inputs required at each stage.It must be noted, however, that each craft will have a slightly different set of processes. The stages explained below have therefore bee n simplified to a certain degree to provide a general understanding of how the crafts sector functions. Chart3:TheCraftsValueChain PROCESS INPUTSREQUIRED Organization Human Resources ? LegalEntities ? Procuring and Processsing RawMaterials ? ? ? Credits Facilities Technology Chart2: DistributionofIndianArtisans 40% 29% 13% Production ? ? ? ? Design Technology Skills Enterprise Development Aggregation and Intermediary Trade Transport toMarkets ? Quality Checks ? Storage ? ?ODISHA UTTARPRADESH GUJARAT-RAJASTHAN Markets Marketing and Promotion 7 Source:ExportPromotionCouncilforHandicraftsand CouncilofHandicraftCorporationsandDevelopmentCommissioner(GovernmentofIndia) 8 1. Organization Artisans are usually structured into groups through informal contracts between traders, master artisans and low-skilled artisans. More formal systems of artisans’ organization involve four main types of entities:13 ? Self Help Groups (SHGs) are set up with the help of external technical intermediar ies such as non profits or through Government schemes, and typically comprise 10-20 artisans, usually women.SHGs serve as a form of social collateral, enabling artisans to establish linkages with input providers such as raw material suppliers, microfinance institutions and banks, and downstream players such as aggregators and retailers. Organization are often forced to rely on local traders who provide them with raw materials against orders, albeit at high prices, or switch to non-traditional raw materials. 3. Production Although techniques and processes vary widely from one craft to the next, crafts production generally takes place in households, with multiple family members engaged in different aspects of the process.Even where organized artisan structures exist, artisans typically produce within community settings. Production is generally seasonal, with crafts activity being suspended during harvest season, as most artisans are also engaged in agriculture to supplement their live lihoods. 4. Aggregation and Intermediary Trade ? Mutually Aided Co-operatives (MACs) are created to provide artisans with a platform for equitable participation. Legislated at the state Government level, MACs enable artisans to pool funds as equity and own their production units.However, due to strong Government influence, this structure has failed to gain popularity in most states other than Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. ` ProcuringandProcessing RawMaterials ? Producer Companies were created as a for-profit legal entity in the Companies Bill in 2002 to enable primary producers to participate in ownership and contribute equity. ? Private Limited Companies are for-profit legal entities that allow artisans to participate in ownership as shareholders, while enabling external funders to invest capital.Aggregation involves bringing together products from decentralized production units to enable economies of scale in transportation, storage and retail. Due to the dismal status of infrastruct ure and communication in India, aggregating products is a challenging task, and leads to many of the bottlenecks in the crafts supply chain today. Buyers and retailers lack incentives to overcome upstream, supply-side issues, which results in a loss of opportunities for artisans to access markets. Aggregationand IntermediaryTrade Markets 5. MarketsThe markets for the craft products can be broadly understood as local, retail shops – high-end as well as mainstream, exhibitions and exports. Among these, local markets are still the common markets for many artisans. 14 The contemporary markets, domestically as well as internationally, have grown with an expanding demand for ethnic products that have a story linked to them. However, these products are in low supply due to supply chain inefficiencies. However, most artisans continue to work independently as there is a widespread lack of awareness about the advantages of being organized into the above forms. ProductionDemand 2. Procu ring and Processing Raw Materials Traditionally, raw materials used by artisans were widely available due to the close linkages between evolution of crafts and locally available materials. Further, the jajmani system, which consisted of a reciprocal relationship between artisanal castes and the wider village community for the supply of goods and services, provided artisans with access to community resources. However, with the breakdown of these traditional structures, along with competition from organized industry, artisans find it challenging to buy quality raw materials at affordable prices.In the absence of raw material banks, they 6. Demand With the advent of globalization and the availability of cheaper and more varied products, crafts face severe competition in contemporary markets. They are typically perceived as traditional, old-fashioned and antithetical to modern tastes. There have been limited efforts to reposition the image of crafts and build consumer appreciation of th e history and cultural identity associated with handmade products. In addition, there are few instances of traditional crafts being â€Å"contemporized† to fit with changing consumption patterns. 10 India's Crafts Sector is in Disarray While crafts received royal and aristocratic patronage during pre-Independence days and played a central role in Gandhi's independence struggle, they have slowly lost relevance with the advent of industrialization. Currently, the sector carries the stigma of inferiority and backwardness, and is viewed as decorative, peripheral and elitist. This is compounded by the Government's treatment of crafts as a sunset industry, which has resulted in a lack of well-developed policies and programs to protect and strengthen the ecosystem for artisans.Traditional crafts have largely been marginalized by massproduced consumer goods, which tend to be cheaper due to the economies of scale associated with mechanization. The nature of the crafts sector and chall enges faced by artisans reduces their ability to compete with machine-made products. Catering to the mainstream market often necessitates a decline in quality and/or workmanship, leading to the eventual loss of skills over a few generations. There are very few instances like pashmina shawls where a traditional craft has successfully â€Å"contemporized† itself for Indian or overseas markets.Artisans were traditionally an essential part of the village economy, producing everyday utilitarian objects catered towards local markets, using designs and motifs that were of significance to their communities. However, with the advent of industrialization and increasing urbanization of markets for crafts, the historical artisan-consumer relationship has broken down, and largely been replaced by traders. This has rendered artisans' knowledge and skill, acquired over generations, virtually useless and made crafts an unsustainable source of livelihood.The five main challenges facing artisa ns in creating sustainable livelihoods in today's economy can be described as follows: low education levels for the family overall. The lack of education makes it difficult to manage inventory, access Government schemes and market information and bargain with traders and middlemen. It is estimated that in 2003 around 50% of household heads of crafts producing families had no education whatsoever, and more shockingly, around 90% of the women in these households were completely uneducated. 5 Outdated Production Methods- Artisans may also lack the financial capability to upgrade technology in production, or undergo necessary training on a regular basis, as would be available to them in a formal work setting. This compromises the quality of their products and raises the cost of production. 2. Inadequate Inputs Inadequate Inputs There are three main issues: Lack of Quality Raw Materials- Rural artisans often lack access to quality raw materials. Due to the low volumes required, they have low bargaining power and are forced to buy substandard materials at a higher price.In crafts such as weaving, handloom weavers have to compete with the power loom industry for high quality raw materials, which are more easily accessible to the power loom industry as a result of Government subsidies. Further, many raw materials used commonly by craftspeople such as wood, cane, silk, scrap and virgin metal are become increasingly difficult to acquire. The costs of some of these materials are rising faster than the wholesale price index. Lack of Funding- Craft producers suffer greatly from lack of working capital and access to credit and loan facilities.Often, producers are unable to fulfill bulk orders because they lack the capital to purchase raw materials, and simultaneously support their family's living needs while the order is being executed. While there are several Government schemes intended to fill this gap for artisans through institutions such as National Bank for Agricultur e and Rural Development (NABARD) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), it is difficult for the uneducated artisans to access these programs and manage the necessary collateral or funds for bribes.Banks cite poor recovery rates, wrong utilization of funds, lack of marketing facilities for finished products and lack of education on part of the borrowers as reasons for the low proportion of loans made to artisans. In general, this forces artisans to borrow from their local moneylender or trader at high interest rates. The All India Debt and Investment Survey (2002) showed that the proportion of money borrowed by rural households from money lenders rose by over 10% from 17. 5% in 1991 to 29. 6% in 2002. 16 1.Low Productivity The sector's informal nature and the low education of most artisans create issues such as: Unorganized Production- As a largely unorganized sector, handicrafts faces problems such as a paucity of professional infrastructure such as work sheds, stor age space, shipping and packing facilities. Low Education- Many crafts require the entire household to participate in production in some capacity. For example, in weaver households, women and girls traditionally undertake warping of the yarn, winding the thread onto bobbins, and share with men the task of starching the thread.In many cases, crafts also serve as a seasonal source of income for agricultural households. This means that children miss school, resulting in LowProductivity 11 12 Artisans' financial weakness also hampers their ability to sell they have low bargaining power at the marketing point and are forced to sell to buyers at a low price in order to recover costs and support themselves. Design Inputs- In most traditional societies, design evolved in the interaction between the artisan and the consumer.Further, the artisan was aware of the sociocultural context of the consumer, and could thus design products that suited their needs and tastes. Due to the breakdown of th e historic artisanconsumer relationship, and the increasing urbanization and globalization of markets for crafts, artisans have difficulty understanding how to tailor their products to changing demands. The artisan may not speak the same language as the consumer, both literally as well as metaphorically. An example of this includes women in SEWA's craft cooperatives who design block printed table napkins and mats, but may have never used these products themselves. f this, retailers have to directly source from select producers, which is often not viable in the long run, resulting in the loss of a large percentage of the market for artisans. 5. Lack of an Enabling Environment Information Asymmetry 3. Information Asymmetry Neglect by Central and State Governments- Rural artisans are neglected by both Central as well as State Governments, as is evident in the lack of available records regarding their numbers and socioeconomic status. The Government views the sector as a sunset industry , no longer relevant in India's technologydriven economic growth.Thus, schemes designed for artisans tend to have low priority in terms of execution and assessment. Within crafts, the Government's priorities are skewed towards the export market, with 70% of its crafts budget going towards development of environments to enable export. 17 Further, the fact that the crafts sector falls under the purview of 17 different Government ministries, ranging from the Ministry of Textiles to the Ministry of Women and Children, results in confusion and inaction. Lack of Interest by Second Generation- Rural youth are increasingly disinterested in continuing their family craft traditions, for three main reasons.First, having seen their parents struggle to find markets and fair prices for their products, they are inclined to pursue other trades. Second, the school system today does not integrate lessons regarding the importance of crafts into the school curriculum, and instead students are pushed to wards white collar office jobs, even if they are lower paying. Finally, crafts are strongly associated with a family's religion. In many cases, such as leatherwork, artisans are ostracized for being from the lowest caste, which further dissuades rural youth from joining the family trade.Reducing the obstacles faced by the sector can provide employment for millions of citizens especially those traditionally excluded from the mainstream, while restoring one of India's key cultural and economic strengths, a diverse and rich handicrafts industry. At the same time, it will provide the economy with key drivers of specialization and competence in global manufacturing. Lackofan EnablingEnvironment Due to their low education, artisans often cannot identify potential new markets for their products, nor do they understand the requirements for interacting with these markets.This reduces their understanding of the market potential of their goods, the prices of their products in different markets , Government schemes instituted for their welfare and diversification opportunities. 4. Fragmented value chain Lack of Market Linkages- While consumers of crafts products are increasingly becoming urbanized, crafts continue to be sold through local markets; artisans have few opportunities to reach new consumers through relevant retail platforms such as department stores and shopping malls.Further, due to their rural orientation, artisans are often unable to access training and technology to supply their products to online markets. Dominance of Middlemen- Although middlemen are necessary to enable effective market linkages, they often, if not always, exploit artisans by paying them a fraction of their fair wages. This may be due to lack of information on the part of middlemen about true manufacturing costs, or merely due to their ability to coerce artisans, who often lack bargaining power.Lack of Aggregation- Crafts production typically takes places in scattered clusters in rural are as, while markets are usually in urban centers. Currently, there is a lack of organized systems to efficiently aggregate goods from small producers, carry out quality checks, store approved goods in warehouses, and supply them to wholesalers and retailers in urban areas. In lieu Chart4: OverviewofKeyChallenges FacedbytheArtisans Fragmented ValueChain LackofMarket Linkages Lackofan enabling environmentNeglectby CentralandState Governments LackofInterest bySecond Generation LowProductivity Unorganized Production LowEducation Inadequate Inputs LackofQuality RawMaterials LackofFunding Fragmented ValueChain Information Asymmetry Dominanceof Middlemen Lackof Aggregation OutdatedProduction Methods 13 14 II. CHAPTER Government, Private Sector and Non Profit Initiatives Photo Credit: Sahaj 15 The Indian Government, the private sector and the non profits are each involved in the sector but their roles have evolved in silos, with little specialization and much duplication.Since independence, t he Indian Government has created a number of institutions, schemes and welfare programs for the crafts sector. However, on a policy level there has been no concerted and cohesive effort to address the challenges faced by the crafts ecosystem, with most governmental offerings mired in bureaucracy and inefficiencies. Simultaneously, the private sector has contributed to uplifting artisans through different market-led efforts made by retail chains, high end-fashion designers and a relatively more recent wave of social businesses.Non profits have been particularly active in the crafts space since the early 1960s and have evolved numerous models to improve artisan livelihoods. The chart below provides an overview of the evolution of crafts policy and programs in India. Government Program Although Government-led initiatives are often criticized, it cannot be denied that India is in a much more fortunate situation today in the preservation of its crafts than most other nations because of G overnment efforts immediately following Independence.During this period, the Government placed great emphasis on rural artisans, setting up the All India Handicrafts Board in 1952 to study the technical, organizational, marketing and financial aspects of crafts and design measures for improvement and development of crafts. The impetus for these efforts came in part from Mahatma Gandhi's legacy of the swadeshi movement and preserving cottage industries as a symbol of India's diversity and unity as a nation-state. Pioneering efforts were made to provide marketing support to artisans, and make regional crafts available at a national level through state-run emporiums.With industrialization becoming a foremost national priority in the 1960s and 1970s, the Government came to view crafts as more of a â€Å"sunset industry† and began to focus mainly on welfare schemes rather than approaching it as a sector capable of contributing to India's economic growth. Several divisions were mad e between State and Central Government responsibilities, and separate administrative bodies were set up for Khadi, Handloom, Handicrafts, Silk, and so on, all of which contribute to inefficiencies and inertia in policymaking for the sector today.At present, crafts are almost artificially bifurcated into Handicrafts and Handlooms, with two separate Development Commissioners in charge of each under the ministry of Textiles. In addition, 16 other ministries have crafts within their purview, including the Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries, Ministry of Tribal Development, Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Women and Child Development.These bodies have often been pitted against each other on issues such as power loom versus handloom production, anti-dumping duty on foreign silk yarn to protect the interest of silk rearers versus removal of duty for handlooms and power looms and interest of petty traders versus greater control for home-based producers, leading to ineffic iencies and policy juggernauts. 19 Governmentefforts havechanneled anestimated `752crore intothecraftssector duringtheEleventh FiveYearPlan(200718 2011). Anumberofinstitutions havebeeninvolvedin fundingandimplementing developmentworkfor artisansthroughdifferent schemes.Suchas: 1. Councilforthe AdvancementofPeople's ActionandRuralTechnology (CAPART) 2. KhadiandVillage IndustriesCommission (KVIC) 3. SmallIndustries DevelopmentBankofIndia (SIDBI) 4. NationalBankfor AgricultureandRural Development(NABARD) Chart4:StakeholdersintheCraftsValueChain PROCESS Procuring and Processsing RawMaterials Aggregation and Intermediary Trade STAKEHOLDERS Organization InputSuppliers Production Markets LocalTraders IndependentArtisan SHG’sCo-operatives, Producercompanies NonProfits SocialBusinesses Government Exporters Retailers 16 17Despite these challenges, the majority of Government funds have been utilized in the following areas, largely with the support of non profits working in the sector: ? Welfare- Government efforts in the crafts sector are often designed with the intention of large-scale poverty alleviation. Schemes such as the Rajiv Gandhi Shilpi Swasthya Bima Yojana and the Janshree Bima Yojana for Handicrafts Artisans, under which artisans in the age group of 18-60 receive health and life insurance in association with the Life Insurance Corporation of India for themselves and three dependents, provide some social security.Market Linkages- One of the most widely lauded efforts of the Government in the crafts sector has been the establishment of Dilli Haat, an open-air crafts bazaar in the national capital modeled on a traditional village market where artisans from around the country can rent space and display their wares for two weeks at a time. Set up in cooperation with Dastkari Haat Samiti, a non profit organization that works with artisans across the country, Dilli Haat has provided artisans with much-needed market linkages and access to consumers.In addition , the Development Commissioners for Handicrafts and for Handlooms run a number of emporiums across the country, which are retail outlets for crafts from different regions. Capacity Building- In recent years, the Government has moved its focus towards sustainable development of crafts through the participation of artisans. Capacity building efforts such as the Artisan Credit Card scheme and the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana scheme are generally led by the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts.Efforts include skills development, technological intervention, design and marketing support and reviving languishing crafts. The Development Commissioner for Handlooms runs Weavers Centers in many parts of the country along with the National Center for Textile Design to provide marketbased design input for handloom weavers. Awards- Each year, the Ministry of Textiles recognizes the work of several master craftspeople through the distribution of national awards. These are highly c oveted accolades that enhance the reputation enjoyed by master craftsmen and function as a quality approval of sorts. Private Sector InitiativesThe private sector has been the main conduit for crafts with over 95% of crafts production taking place through some form of private enterprise. Broadly, private involvement in the crafts sector is of four types: ? ? Traditional Intermediaries: Historically, private involvement in the crafts sector has been dominated by master craftsmen, traders and exporters who aggregated production, provided market linkages and offered financing mechanisms to artisans. Although not always the case, these relationships have often been exploitative to the artisan, who realized little of the value of his products.Design Entrepreneurs: These include high-end fashion houses that have imbedded traditional crafts in their collections. Designers such as Ritu Kumar, Tarun Tahiliani and Manish Malhotra have worked closely with master craftsmen to create product off erings for high-end domestic and international markets. However, none of these efforts have placed crafts distinctly at the center of their enterprises but rather integrated crafts into their work. Their impact on promoting crafts has therefore been largely indirect. Other fashion designers such as Anita Dongre have created a istinct crafts-based collection, Grassroots, that aims at marketing clothing that promotes the skills and knowledge of traditional artisans, and has been made using organic materials and eco-friendly processes. Mainstream Retail: There have been a few successful examples of crafts-based businesses, which have not only contributed to improving numerous artisans' livelihoods but have also provided unique blueprints for future market-based endeavors. However those that exist are success stories that need to be more systematically replicated.Social Businesses: These are a more recent wave of businesses that have originated out of non profits or hybrid models that c ombine social and commercial goals. ? ? ? ? ? ? Photo Credit: Sahaj Photo Credit: Sahaj ? ? ? The Role of Mainstream Retail While relatively few, a handful of retailers such as FabIndia, Anokhi and Contemporary Arts and Crafts have played a pivotal role in keeping crafts relevant and linked to contemporary consumers. These companies have developed 18 For Government efforts to have the maximum impact, Government bodies mplementing programs need to be reformed and a policy environment more conducive to greater participation and specialization by different stakeholders needs to be created. 19 socially conscious business models wherein they work closely with artisans and ensure that they are equal stakeholders in the business. Due to their relatively well-organized supply chains and focus on profitability, they are able to provide consumers with quality products better suited to urban tastes as compared to subsidized crafts available at Government-run emporiums.The success of these mode ls has been built on the zeal of their founding members, who have overcome challenges in the crafts value chain through innovative strategies that not only ensure bottom-line growth for businesses but also fair and consistent wages to artisans. These models include: ? Fabindia, founded by John and Bissell in 1960, India's largest private crafts business that has taken tradition techniques, skills and hand-based processes to global markets. The company has been recognized worldwide for its socially responsible business model that links over 80,000 craft producers to markets.This has been achieved through its innovations in supply chain management through Community Owned Companies (COC), which serve as intermediaries and are owned by communities. Artisans form a significant part of the shareholding of these companies. Fabindia's supply chain (in the chart below) consists of numerous backward and forward linkages in a multi-layered supply chain from suppliers or artisans to Fabindia st ores. These linkages ensure that products sold cater to consumer tastes, a quality standard and timely delivery. The multi-layered supply chain ensures that each group's strengths are leveraged efficiently. Anokhi, founded by Faith Singh, is a clothing chain well known as an alternative role model for good business practices, and the ongoing revival of traditional textile skills. The company works closely with the Jaipur Virasat Foundation that provides capacity building inputs to artisan suppliers on design, techniques, quality control and enterprise development. In addition, the foundation works in other areas of Rajasthan's cultural industries such as folk art, music and dance to promote livelihoods and preserve heritages.Contemporary Arts and Crafts (CAC), founded by Vina Mody and run in partnership with Feroza Mody, is a boutique retail outlet that provides unique and rare craft products to urban consumers. CAC's success is based on its strong relationships with artisan communi ties in Gujarat and Rajasthan from where products are sourced. The CAC team invests significant time in understanding craft products and working with artisans to create outputs that will be appreciated in urban markets.In addition to these efforts, stores such as Shopper's Stop and Lifestyle have expanded their selections of handmade products and ethnic wear, providing much needed market opportunities for the crafts. However, for a deep and sustainable impact on the artisan, retailers and mainstream businesses need to leverage their business acumen in tackling supply chain issues and creating a larger demand for these products. ? 6 The SRC repleshnishes the stock by getting more of the fabric from the weaver Fabindia’sSupply ChainStructure The weaver weaves some yardage and shows it to a regional supplier region company (SRC) HOWTHEFABRIC REACHESTHESHELVES Fabindia’s Supply Chain is split into 17 regional supply companies The Role of Social Businesses The emergence of the social business model has provided a new opportunity to revive the sector. With their emphasis on the end consumer, social businesses have a greater incentive to bring in efficiencies in quality control and production management, which are often lacking in non profit organizations.Pre-production, social businesses may offer access to quality inputs, equipment, financing and training. Post-production, they improve market linkages through procurement, storage, transport and retail. Social businesses achieve this by focusing on three main areas, which essentially sets them apart from non profits: ? Supply Chain Efficiencies: Given the scattered and homebased nature of crafts production, enterprises often face challenges in ensuring a regular supply chain for their products. Social businesses have focused on fixing the rural supply chain for crafts, either by filling in missing or Through an order booking system, the store manager books the quantity needed. From the SRC warehouse st ock moves to the Fabindia regional warehouse Around 40,000 artisans supply goods for Fabindia It now has 144 stores in 35 top towns 2 The SRC calls the designers; they approve the fabric, work with the weaver to develop some samples. Photo Credit: Top – Anokhi Bottom – CAC 4 20 The weaver brings the completed order to SRC warehouse 3 Designers show samples to Fabindia's product selection committee, the price is finalised and an order is placed with the weaver 21 eak links in the value chain through their own operations, or by establishing creative partnerships with non profits, Government bodies, corporations and community groups. ? Artisans’ Ownership: The advantage of functioning as a business rather than a non profit in the crafts space is the ability to involve artisans as owners by giving them shares in the company. This ownership brings with it an increased sense of responsibility and efficiency, which is sometimes difficult to achieve in a non profit. In this way artisans are not only vested in the company's growth but also financially benefit from it through issue of dividends.Market Linkages: Due to their focus on standardization and supply chain management, social businesses are in a better position than non profits to create and maintain links between artisans and markets – domestic as well as international. Corporates typically prefer to partner with social businesses to bring crafts products to market due to more efficient processes in the company. This ownership brings with it an increased sense of responsibility and efficiency, which is sometimes difficult to achieve in a znon profit.Further, in this way artisans are not only vested in the company's growth but also financially benefit from it through issue of dividends. The biggest advantage faced by social businesses is their ability to raise capital from artisans in the form of shares, as well as external investors such as venture capital funds and corporates. In re cent years, businesses in the crafts sector have attracted funding from impact investors such as Avishkaar, Grassroots Business Fund and Villgro, who invest in social enterprises with the dual expectation of social impact and financial returns. Industree- Linking Artisans to Mainstream Markets: Industree, a social enterprise that connects rural producers to urban markets has been able to rapidly scale up operations through equity investment by Kishore Biyani's Future Group. This has enabled them to set up a retail brand called Mother Earth, and increase the number of clusters from whom they source crafts as well as provide artisans an opportunity to link to mainstream urban markets. ? Support from Multi-lateral Agencies and FoundationsThe international development community and private foundations have been pivotal in providing support to many non profits working in the crafts sector. United Nations agencies such as UNESCO have provided platforms for sharing best practices, research and documentation such as the Jodhpur Symposium. These initiatives have typically focused on project design and building frameworks to build a movement that strengthens creative and cultural industries. Others such as the World Bank channel funding to crafts organizations.A number of private foundations such as Aid to Artisans, Sir Dorab Tata Trust and the Ford Foundation provided long term grants to crafts non profits to scale their impact. Innovative approaches include Friends of Women World Banking’s funding strategy of credit provision to artisans through non profits. Together these efforts have helped sustain non profits’ work and strengthened models creating an impact on artisans incomes. Thecooperativemovement spearheadedbyElaBhatt, founderofSelf-Employed Women'sAssociation (SEWA),inthe1970s alsohadapositiveimpacton thelivesofself-employed womenartisansthroughthe formationofcraft cooperatives.Thesemembership structuresallowedthemto workwithinequitable structure sandreceivecredit, designandmarketinginputs, withoutfearofexploitation bymiddlemen. The Evolution and Role of Non Profit Interventions Non profit organizations have been the strongest supporters of the craft industry, both in terms of livelihoods promotion as well as cultural preservation. Following post-independence industrialization, the crafts industry was no longer viewed as an economic priority by the Government, which created a void in terms of support and finance available for the sector.A number of non profits were established in the 1970s and 1980s to fill this void and enhance the sustainability of artisans livelihoods. Many of these were run with the help of volunteers and were able to grow and thrive under a strong, charismatic leader with a clear vision for the sector. Examples of successful social businesses in the crafts sector include: ? Rangsutra- Enabling Artisans to Own a Share of their Crafts: Rangsutra was set up as a company of artisans, all of them shareholder s, from remote parts of the country.It seeks to be a bridge between â€Å"artisans and customers, tradition and contemporary, and change and continuity† and ensures a fair price to the producer and quality products for customers. It currently has 1,100 shareholders and has attracted investments from Avishkaar and Artisan Microfinance Private Limited (AMFPL), a subsidiary of Fabindia. Photo Credit: Sahaj 22 23 Most non profits functioning in the crafts space today are registered as trusts, societies or Section 25 companies. They are broadly of two types, based on their scope of work: ?Producer Groups: A majority of non profits in this space ? work directly at the grassroots level, organizing crafts producers into collectives to realize various economies of scale in financing, marketing and product development. Examples are URMUL, Kala Raksha and SEWA Ahmedabad. ? Apex Organizations: These focus on enhancing the sector ? by providing services ranging from design interventions t o market linkages to groups of producers, who typically serve as part of their membership base.They vary in scale and level of outreach from national to state to local levels. Many apex organizations are well-positioned to act as a bridge between producer groups and Government bodies, both by channeling information regarding relevant Government schemes as well as by influencing Government spending. Prominent examples are Dastkar, AIACA, Dastkari Haat Samiti and Sasha. Non profit approaches have evolved significantly in two main areas: focus of the model and financial sustainability.Most non profit groups have focused on all parts of the value chain from organizing artisans to marketing products, largely due to a lack of other players specializing in certain areas. This has resulted in limited capacity to scale their operations. Fresher non profit approaches focus on one or two parts of the value chain such as aggregation or working closely with artisans’ groups. Further, ther e has been a realization in recent years that traditional grant funded projects for creating crafts production structures have not succeeded in establishing commercially sustainable structures.Newer non profits have attempted to embrace this change in perspective by incorporating fee-based enterprise development projects into their scope of work, others have spun off business models that target aggregation and marketing, while the non profit focuses on building artisan capacity. The different stakeholders described above have each made significant contributions to the crafts sector. However, since they act in isolation from each other, their impact remains limited and they have not been able to halt the downward slide of India's crafts sector. 24 25 III. CHAPTERHarnessing the Potential of India's Crafts Sector Photo Credit: Jaipur Rugs Foundation 26 The crafts sector in India has vast potential to improve livelihood opportunities, generate additional income and strengthen the purcha sing power of rural communities. For this potential to be fully realized, the gaps, overlaps and challenges in the value chain must be overcome to create an ecosystem that enables crafts to thrive. The different stakeholders involved need to come together to build what we call the four cornerstones of artisan sustainability. Non profits have a particularly important role in such a program.Based on Dasra’s research, interviews with experts in the crafts sector and advisory committee discussions, Crafting a Livelihood suggests four key actions with the potential to transform artisans’ livelihood in India. The four cornerstones are: 1. Handholding the Artisan through the Value Chain Any investment in improving the craft ecosystem as a whole must pay particular attention to strengthening the individual artisans and enterprises engaged in production. Since challenges faced by artisans are pushing them into other dailywage earning jobs, concerted efforts are needed to upgrad e the current piecemeal nature of production.Crafts promotion efforts should focus on making artisans aware of the value of their skill, which would make them take greater pride in their work and encourage the second generation to enter the sector. Further, it is essential to help artisans continuously upgrade their skills and product offerings. This requires design inputs and skills development efforts. 2. Increasing Demand for Crafts and Strengthening Market Linkages There is an urgent need to revive consumers’ interest in crafts and make crafts relevant to increasingly urban lifestyles.Efforts are needed to sensitize the emerging middle class consumer to the history and value of crafts in India to ensure a robust domestic market. Strengthening branding efforts and introducing geographical indicators such as a â€Å"Handmade in India† classification, will enable Indian crafts to compete in increasingly global markets. Crafts can be branded on the national, regional o r local, and enterprise level. On the national or regional level, some countries are known or even famous for their excellence in handicrafts, or in specific crafts.The branding of a country's handicraft image depends on the public perception of that country's culture and handicraft skills. Countries that, for different reasons, de-emphasize their indigenous culture and traditions and focus on their modernism create a much tougher environment for the promotion and export of their indigenous handicrafts. 21 Crafts lies well within the informal sector, bringing with it challenges of taking a completed product to market. Most artisans produce at relatively low volumes and at irregular intervals, creating few opportunities to market products at scale.New business models are needed that blend social and commercial goals to provide value added services to artisans particularly in aggregation of products and intermediary trade. As artisans are scattered across geographies, there is a need for players who can source products from them in a centralized fashion and introduce economies of scale into the supply chain. These intermediaries will provide the essential bridging Asartisansareoftenproducing formarketsthatarealiento them,theyneedsupport servicessuchastechnicaland designskillbuildingtohelp reachtheincreasinglyurban consumer.Theseinputswill increasetheirbargaining powerandbuildtheircapacity tosupplydifferentmarkets. Dasra'sfieldresearchhas shownthatbuildingthe capacityofartisansinthis mannercanresultinuptoa ten-foldincreasein incomes. 1. Handholding the Artisan through the Value Chain 2. Increasing Demand for Crafts and Strengthening Market Linkages AconsumersurveyinEurope revealedthat40%of consumerssurveyedwere willingtopayapremiumof 10%fororigin-guaranteed products. SalesofIndian craftsstandtoincrease 20 fromsuchefforts. 3. Strengthening the Decentralized Production Model 4. Building a Multi-Stakeholder Approach 7 28 services between small producers and the diff erent markets where products can be sold and thereby smoothen seasonality of production. Creativeclustershavebeen identifiedasanimportant meansformicroandsmall enterprisestogrowstrongly throughmutualstimulation andleveragingofcommon knowledgeandmarkets. Typicallytheybenefitfrom lowerVAT,tariffsandexcise dutiesonhandmadeproducts. Creativeclustershavethe potentialtonotonlycreate productionefficienciesbut alsoprovideaplatformfor artisanstoaccesslocaland domesticmarkets. 3. Strengthening the Decentralized Production ModelThe fragmented supply chain, lack of organization and seasonal production characteristic of the craft sector need to be overcome to maximize production potential. Geographically scattered production, which is typical of the crafts sector, requires services at artisan's doorsteps. Leveraging technology for information as well as for innovations in process will infuse efficiencies in craft production and enable artisans to produce more. Limited education and low exposure to the skills essential to running a business prevent artisans from scaling up their operations.Providing business support in areas such as quality control, standardized processes, inventory management, cashflow management and securing credit would help them create strong enterprises. To this effect, capacity building cooperatives and producer owned companies would ensure standardized systems and processes, quality control, and professionally run businesses that can access capital and enable them to compete in markets. Dasra's field research has demonstrated a potential three- to five-fold increase in individual income through these efforts.Moreover, fragmentation in the value chain can be overcome with clusters such as Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for crafts. These are defined as a combination of production and distribution activities operating within a common structure, capable of promoting creativity, research applications and distribution systems. Historically, clusters in Indi a have been created for production and bureaucratic efficiencies, ignoring their function as a sales platform. While the sales focus has been tried at Bhujodi in Kutch, creative clusters are generally the exception in India. ensitizes them to crafts, deepens their understanding of tradition in a way that they can implement in the mainstream. This fosters the perseveration of culture by continuously adapting it to modernity. Setting up academies for

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David Contracts Written Project - Essay Example Offer There must be an offer in any form if a contract. A contract includes an offer by indication of an offerer who is the person or party that makes the initial offer to enter a contract, and an offeree. The offeree is the person or the party to whom accepts the offer under certain terms. A contract can only come into existence when the offeror presents his or her offer to the offeree under certain conditions and terms and the offeree accepts it willingly without supplementary negotiations. An offer is an affidavit or a proclamation of the terms on which the offeror is amenably obligated to in the agreement (Gillies 85). It is the current intention to be in obligation in an agreement with certain and definite terms presented to the offeree. Expression of willingness to a contract can take different forms such as email, fax, letter and even conduct provided it presents the basis by which the offer is ready to contract. The court of law determines whether parties have a valid offer o r an agreement by using a test called the objective test. The contractual intention to be obligated in a contract is judged objectively and evenhandedly in the courts of law (Gillies 89). Courts emphasizes that the most important thing is how a reasonable individual would view the situation in a contract and not a party’s or individuals real intentions in a contract that matters. The conditions and requirements of an offer should have the following: terms of payment that includes detailed information of the item on offer and date of payment, price and delivery date. Without any of the above-mentioned conditions being fulfilled in an offer, the offer on sale is not an offer but rather an advertisement. An offere can decide to revoke an offer before acceptance by the offeree. Nevertheless, the offere must inform the offeree of the planned revocation. However the offere may not revoke an offer if has been sheathed in an option. In a unilateral contract, the offere may revoke the offer at any given time. Meeting of the Minds. Meeting of the mind an element in a contract, is sometimes called consensus ad idem, mutual assent or mutual agreement. Meeting of the minds in contract law refers to the intentions of the persons on parties in a contract. It refers to the situation where the parties forming a contract have a common understanding in the particular contract. The reasoning behind the mutual assent is that no person or party is held to an agreement that they are not aware exists. Legal remedies may not come into action where a particular obligation in an agreement is mainly a moral one and not a legal obligation. There can only be a meeting of minds when all parties forming a contract are well aware of the legal obligations. The destruction of mutual assent can occur in the event of fraud, misrepresentation, duress, mutual mistake or undue influence.   Consideration Consideration refers to the legal value pertaining to contracts. Consideration refers to the things of value a party expects from the other in future pledged while forming a contract (Yelpaala 78). The consideration takes the form of services, money, physical objects, abstinence from future actions, physical objects to mention just but a few (Yelpaala 78). A payment is not a consideration if by pre-existing

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Data Compression Algorithms.Use of Compression Algorithms in Forensics - Essay Example Therefore, each algorithm has a number of strengths as well as weaknesses. The compression algorithms are also commonly used in forensics. These algorithms are used to reduce space amount required to store data on the computer hard disk. Usually, these algorithms are employed on the large files so that their size may be reduced. Mainly, there are two types of the compression algorithms include: lossless and lossy algorithms. The lossless compression algorithms have been developed to compress the data with hundred percent (100%) original data reconstruction from the compressed data. In these algorithms, you do not lose any data, as it preserves all the data as it is in novel form. For compressing the text or images, the algorithms that are used include: LZW, Borrows-Wheeler transform and LZ77 and Prediction by Partial Matching (also known as PPM). General purpose lossless compression algorithm include: run-length encoding, Lempel-Ziv 1978 (LZ78) and Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW). On the othe r hand, the lossy compression algorithms are mostly used to compress audio and video data or files. These algorithms are used to endeavour reducing or even eliminating the superfluous or redundant information from the video or audio files. Typically, the lossy algorithms or techniques attain a advanced level of compression by plummeting the by and large quality of the sound or image. In order to compress an image, the lossy algorithms that are used include: Wavelet Compression, block truncation coding, fractal compression, etc. Whereas, for video files, the algorithms include: DV, MPEG (I to IV), etc. and for the audio file famous techniques are MP3, MP2, AAC etc. Use of Compression Algorithms in Forensics The data compression algorithms are commonly used in forensics tools to get help during electronic investigations. There are a number of implications for the forensic inspector during an analysis or investigation these include: only the lossless compression can be utilized in fore nsics analysis, however, lossy compression cannot be used because it alters the original data but through the hash collisions , a compressed folder or file could be in a combination of both compressed and uncompressed data, it is recommended that the text file or data can always be compressed or decompressed by the lossless algorithms as a word document may contains a number of documents, therefore it is critical to lose any document. It should be kept in mind that if a Word document presents on hard disk in a compressed structure, when deleted then it resides in its compressed form. Therefore, searching a hard disk intended for a keyword will not get any result if the keyword only contained by the compressed deleted file. Whereas, on the other hand, an image file such as the JPEG has already been compressed in high format, therefore, it will yield deprived compression. In fact jpg’s usually have a compressed first cluster (this normally contains manufacturers info) followed by uncompressed clusters and compression units. It should be known to the forensic examiner that decompressing a file without remedy to the files Master File Table (MFT) record might not be achievable i.e. the only sign of whether a compression run has been compressed is within the MFT. It means that if a record of a file named ‘document’ is not available in the MFT, the operations of decompressing the file or extracting the compressed file may not be successful. PST Viewer According to the Forensic Control Limited in June 2012, the top (10) free computer forensic software are OSForensics, FTK Imager, Forensic Image Viewer, FoxAnalysis, Mail Viewer, PST Viewer, USB Write Blocker, P2 Explorer, Encrypted Disk Detector, and Dumplt. From the above most famous forensic software I have

Global warming - new business challenges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global warming - new business challenges - Essay Example These losses are elevated in pollution and other devastating factors depleting the richness of these natural resources. Over exploiting will result in the extinct of these resources and loss of many diversified species. A flood, deludge whether is something which runs any business entitew into huge losses. heat wave like the one that gripped Britain in 1995 led to losses of 1.5 billion pounds1(Swiss Re, Business week) A business entity which ignores the basic external factors will lead to failure. Environment consiousness should be considered along with the development Global warming does reflect its adverse effects at places even far from places of pollution origin. Thus it reveals that the global warming issue is a concern for entire world but not for particular region. Business entities has to look into diversified and complex situations where in it will necessary to look in to issues like1 the demographic, economic conditions and the atmospheric conditions. The main challenges put in front of any organization would be the investment into non-revenue generating entities, high initial investments, the business planning complexities, extra employees benefits, safety and security systems. Non revenue generating entities are the features added in a production or manufacturing unit to make the ambience more secure like the alarm and security systems, the greenery maintaining. High initial investments are required to install these specialized devices in an work environment and complex to maintain as th equipments and devices are specially configured. The employee benefits are necessary to put into to safe the employee interests and to avoid turnover frequently. The employee benefits include high insurance payments, compensation, rehabilitation, pensions and medical allowances etc. Chapter-04: Case example-China coal industry The devices like the solar energy systems are costly as the market for the devices is limited and the technicians are to be maintained separately for operating these devices. China a rapidly developing Asian country has enhanced its energy utility base to nearly three times. The usage of home appliances has pressurized the domestic power consumption. The main raw material for power generation is coal extracted from earth crust. Depending upon the quality of th2e coal extracted the efficiency of energy produced would alter. The coal as a raw material has extremely polluted which spreads far to the neighboring countries. The increase in global-warming gases from China's coal use will probably exceed that for all industrialized countries combined over the next 25 years, surpassing by five times the reduction in such emissions that the Kyoto Protocol seeksNew York times2. The carbon dioxide emanating from Chinese coal plants will last for decades, with a cumulative warming effect that w ill eventually overwhelm the cooling from sulfur and deliver another large kick to global warming. China being a the worlds most populous country needs huge energy resources, however the huge expanse of china has provided with some gifted reources which were squised to the extreems by the business entities. The utilization of coal has risen to an alarming concern effecting china and its neighboring count

Assertion of the Supreme Court Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assertion of the Supreme Court - Research Paper Example Bill of Rights – was founded on this concern; inclusive of all its prohibitions, pertaining to various issues of legal justice and jurisprudence. In this regard, issues focused on within the prohibitions include: - the rights of all Americans against self-incrimination, right against unwarranted and unreasonable searches and seizures, and importantly; with regard to the issue under focus – the right to trial by jury. This right to a jury trial, plays a vital role within the American justice system; hence the need to not only understand prevailing weaknesses and strengths, but further still, on the critical function of the jury, within criminal matter contexts (Vogler, 2005). The American Supreme Court, has in recent history continuously asserted on the fact that a defendant is not entitled to a jury that is composed in part, or whole, by individuals of his/her own race or ethnic identity. These rulings are without doubt well-intentioned, given the sensitive nature of criminal trials in any given locality or state. While viewed as a positive way forward, the rulings in no way obligate the utility of racially mixed juries in given case scenarios, nor do they prohibit states from utilizing such a jury. In fact, as Jeffrey (1994) asserts, quite a substantial number of legal scholars and policy makers are of the view that the utility of racial criteria, can in fact aid in the promotion of racial diversity within prevailing American juries. Suggestions have been further provided, on the need to ensure larger proportions of racial minorities are included; by way of removing some of the majority-race jurors present (Jeffrey, 1994). According to the Sixth Amendment of the American Constitution, a jury trial is guaranteed to anyone facing all manner of criminal cases i.e. misdemeanor, felony, state or federal in nature. Presently however, as Forsyth & Appleton (2009) allude, it is more common to those individuals facing potential imprisonment, of at least six

Empowering Women - Culture vs Modern Life Essay Example for Free

Empowering Women Culture vs Modern Life Essay The world today has allowed women to hold other positions apart from their traditional roles which are being temporarily pushed aside. Temporary because traditional roles and family responsibilities can never be ignored or eliminated and it is this responsibility that women need to be empowered to encourage and give them the confidence to venture out and earn income to meet the demands of everyday life. The 20th century has become familiar with gender equality and more women and girls are stepping out of their traditional roles and embracing success despite facing economic, social, cultural and educational issues. This essay will discuss the issue of empowering women as a strategy used to help women and investment in education as the driving forces of overcoming problems and help forge a better future. Firstly, in our environment today we see more women stepping out of their traditional roles to work regardless of low or high paid income. The disadvantage on the economical level they face is the power of wealth where unnecessary spending does not allow for savings for the future. Women tend to give in to husbands demands and with peer pressure want for luxury items far beyond their affordability. For instance, our environment can influence the way we spend especially wanting what others have, for example, purchasing a vehicle can exhaust funds and create debt and borrowing. Economically this slows the growth of the economy and encourages poverty within families and the community. Secondly, the social disadvantage women face as they begin to take up higher responsibilities and thus, decision making within their household and at work encourages them to stand for their rights on any issues they face. This can lead to many social problems as they are exposed to many lifestyles such as the way they dress, attitudes and behavior changes. These changes can result to problems within the household and the community which leads to violence within families and between husband and wives or women and the community. In Bagdad, Afghanistan women who sought work in town are changing the way they dress from wearing their cultural wear, burqa (clothes that cover most of their entire body) to wearing short skirts and blouses to work. This has angered some husbands and in February 21st Pritka Singh’s husband killed her for bringing shame into the family as a mother. (Fiji Times, March 4 2013 p.19) Lastly, in most Pacific Island countries and some places within the Asian and Middle East countries, women’s role is to stay at home and look after the families while the husbands earn income to support the family financially. But as women begin to shift roles and work to earn an income, most women begin to spend most of their time at work rather than at home. For this reason most families system begins to breakup as children are left to care for themselves and the upbringing by their caretakers are under supervised can lead children to poor health. Also, divorce and broken homes happen when mothers and fathers spend time away from each other and reconciliation is beyond repair. (Personal communication Priscilla Tongi) However, even though the disadvantages are discouraging I feel that these problems can be fixed and overcome as strategies of empowering of women begin to take place. In the past, women were not allowed to stand up among men to participate in decision making but the 20th century has allowed this and why empowering of women has made a positive impact on women so far. Firstly, the advantage of empowering women to do more and engage in formal work possibility leads to economic growth. A study shows that women in Australia who held positions as board directors significantly had higher financial returns, including 53 percent higher returns on equity, 24 percent higher returns on sales and 67 percent higher returns on invested capital (www.wikipedia.org). This shows that female workers use strategies that communicate well with their employees to motivate them to perform well within the environment they work in. Secondly, the mentalities of men as the superior of both genders begin to change as women become empowered and begin to take up responsibilities similar to men. Here women have the confidence and courage to make decisions within their household, workplaces and the society as a whole. They rise from fear of being teased, mocked, seen as worthless and not important and begin to take part in important discussions with males to help their families and communities. (www.ifad.org) This social advantage helps in confirming fundamental rights of women. Finally, Education is an important element to any development within a society and without proper education poverty emerges. Through empowering of women, this strategy has encouraged more women to attend school and given the same opportunities as the male. Universities and other formal education enhances understanding on different fields like health, economics, politics etc to help them make good decisions within their families and society.(www.ifd.org) For example in Honiara at the Anglican Satellite church at Burns Creek , Literacy classes for the rural uneducated mothers are held twice a week to help them to read and write . Hence, confidence in attending community meetings and sharing in decision makings with the community become easy. Investment in education should be a priority to assist women become good role models and with educational achievements of women are more likely to be looked upon as setting good examples. (personal communication Shirley Nokia) Based on the evidence presented in this essay, empowerment of women is a positive strategy which encourages women, whereas in the past, little was done to allow women to step out from their traditional roles and into higher positions. Although the disadvantages hinder women through economical, social and educational issues, the advantages are more promising and through investment in education especially, women and girls can have a better future and make a better world for all.

A Study on Libya and its Education System

A Study on Libya and its Education System Libya is an Arabic country located in North Africa on the Southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The economy of Libya is highly dependant on oil as it has many reserves of oil. The total area of the country is approximately 1,759,540 square kilometres (i.e. 679.182 sq miles). It also has the longest coastline among the littoral states of the Mediterranean Sea with a length of approximately 1.955 km. Libya is surrounded by a number of countries: Egypt in the east, Sudan in the south-east, Chad and Niger in the south, Algeria in the west and Tunisia from the north-west, and it is a member state in a number of organizations, regional groups and international organizations such as the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab Maghreb Union, League of Arab States, Non- Aligned Movement, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and OPEC (Oxford Business Group, 2008; The Peoples Committee for Education, 2001). Libyas population is approximately 6,310,434 which is considered a small nu mber compared with the countrys area. This number also includes tens of thousands of non-citizens who migrated to the country in search of work opportunities, particularly after the discovery of oil and the attractive offers provided to foreign professionals, especially at the universities and higher education institutions (Hanley and Mayfield, 2001). 1.1.2 Education in Libya: The Libyan Government has embarked on a developmental program aiming to the expansion, upgrading and modernisation of its fundamental infrastructure, where education is of high priority (Hanley Mayfield, 2001). The Libyan secretary of education (2000) stresses that education, health and social services are the highest priority for Libyas infrastructure development programme. According to Hanley Mayfield (2001), The Gaddafi Development Foundation has taken the responsibility for developing education system and infrastructure in Libya, accordingly 5,000 existing schools and colleges directed to be modernised and enhanced. This enhancement requires various equipment and expertise at all levels to create model educational establishments for the future Libyan generation. In addition, their agenda will include the following points: Improvement of the curriculum in schools and universities including the scientific journals, periodicals and books. Opening the door for merging Libyans with the global community through many programs, such as providing a great number of young Libyans the opportunity to continue their studies abroad and to gain international qualifications. The initiation of an 18 month plan to provide one million computers to one million Libyan children. The initiation of a program to connect Libya with global educational community through broadband Internet. Every major hospital will become an educational hospital managed by an already established international hospital that will provide training of hospital management and process etc for the next five years with 20 hospitals currently targeted for this purpose. Initiation of one million companies for one million Libyans. To do this, our young entrepreneurs need to be trained and enabled to help them be successful in their new ventures. The establishment of e-government where registering a new company will not take more 30 minutes to complete. Opening the door for cooperation between local universities/educational interests and international educational interests through cooperative contracts and memorandum of understandings. Gaining funding for the educational development of Libya through donations, and various forms of foreign investment. Offering full scholarships to the top students in the country to 990 students for undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Most scholarships are in the medical and engineering field. The major countries considered are mainly the UK, North America (Canada and the USA), Malaysia, Egypt and Australia. In academic year 1975/76 the number of university students was estimated to be 13,418. Today, this number has increased to more than 200,000, with an extra 70,000 enrolled in the higher technical and vocational sector. The rapid increase in the number of students in the higher education sector has been mirrored by an increase in the number of institutions of higher education. Since 1975 the number of universities has grown from two to nine and after their introduction in 1980, the number of higher technical and vocational institutes currently stan From its inception the revolutionary regime placed great emphasis on education, continuing and expanding programs begun under the monarchy. By the 1980s, Libya had made progress, but the country still suffered from a lack of qualified teachers and enrolments in vocational and technical training lagged. Both of these shortcomings have resulted in a reliance on foreign-born professionals to fill teaching posts, technical positions in many sta te industries and service sector jobs in fields such as health care (Secretariat of Education, 2000). In 1980, to redress the balance, Libya enacted what was known as the New Educational Structure. School curriculums were restructured in favor of technical subjects and, in the humanities, Arabic language and Koranic education were particularly emphasized. The study of English from the seventh grade was also initiated. At the high school level the plan enabled the creation of specialized vocational and technical schools in addition to traditional academically oriented schools. The new structure also required the establishment of technical and vocational education at the tertiary level, which has led to the creation and strong growth in the number of higher technical and vocational institutions In March 2000, the General Peoples Committee for Education and Vocational Training was dissolved and all of its responsibilities transferred to the regional peoples committees (Secretariat of Education, 2000). 1.1.2.1 General education: According to the Economist (2009), most of the governments of the Arab countries are well aware that their university and school systems were and still doing badly, Arab governments including Libya have been struggling to improve their education infrastructure and facilities. In 1996, students were estimated to constitute 27% of the Libyan population, where the number of university students was 13,418, a considerable number of those students are immigrant learners who entered Libya with their families, or as employees and then joined the education institutions. Currently, the numbers of students in primary and secondary education are rapidly increasing driving the number of university students to exceed 200,000, in addition to about 70,000 who joined the technical and vocational sectors. The strategy to redress the balance which called the New Educational Structure, has been implemented in 1980, consequently, the schools curriculum was reformed in order to introduce and emphasize tec hnical subjects in addition to Arabic language and Qurans studies and humanities. The strategy intervention at the secondary education emphasised the launch of vocational and technical schools beside the traditional academic schools. This strategy also emphasised the initiation of technical and vocational institutions in different regions of the country which has contributed considerably to the development of these regions (Country Review 2006; and El-Hawat, 2003). The previous educational system in Libya was following a 6-3-3 pattern for the primary, technical and pre-university education (i.e. primary stage begins at age 6 and continues for six years, followed by three years of preparatory school and three in secondary school),while the current system follows 2 nursery, 9 basic education and 3 or 4 secondary education according to the specialisation (Clark, 2010). Eventually, successful candidates get General Secondary School certificates or alternatively, in the case of technical school a diploma. In addition, there is a training/vocational branch that follows the preparatory cycle and lasts for two or four years. Those who successfully pass with sufficient high marks can proceed into higher education that is provided by sixteen institutions, nine universities and seven advanced learning institutions (Al Gaamatti, 2005). Moreover, in our time, and according to Sophie (2009), the Libyan government is working on one of the biggest projects in the country. The government is embarking on the worlds largest university building programme for the purpose of motivating the next generation of education seekers to choose to study and work at inside Libya rather than travelling to other countries. Another reason for this project is to reduce the large number of intelligent Libyan students who have left the country in the last few decades in order to gain higher university degrees oversees. As part of this project, and in 2006, the Education Ministry created a five-year strategic plan running from 2008-13 to upgrade the countrys educational facilities and infrastructure. In addition in 2007, the Organisation for the Development of Administrative Centres, which is a state department that manages strategic infrastructure projects, declared its intention to build or enlarge 25 Libyan universities. New strategic joint venture and partnerships between a number of Libyan universities and well-recognized foreign universities were made in order to enhance education. For example, the partnership that was created between Sebha University in Libya and Edinburghs Heriot-Watt University in the UK, which offers high-level teaching and experience from its Institute of Petroleum Engineering. 1.1.2.2 Higher Education in Libya: As mentioned earlier in this report, and according to Sophie (2009), the rapidly growing numbers of students at all levels of education required an expansion in the numbers of education institutions, especially the higher education institutions. For example, the number of universities has increased from two universities in 1975 to nine in 2003, while, the number of higher technical and vocational institutes has reached 84 since their initiation in 1980. The first university initiated in Libya in 1951 after the countrys independence, in Benghazi. It had only one college of Arts and Education, until the Faculty of Science was established in Tripoli in 1957. The main objectives behind initiating universities at that time was not more than providing teachers of intermediate and secondary schools with training, and building the capacities of the government employees (Peoples Committee for Education, 2000). These colleges were followed by the initiation of the college of Economics and Commerce in 1957, followed by the College of Law in 1962, the College of Agriculture in 1966. By 1967, the Libyan higher education witnessed a significant expansion when the College of Advanced Technical Studies and the Higher College of Teachers Training. The expansion continued with the initiation of the College of Medicine in 1970, Al-Bayda Islamic University in, and with the flourish of oil production, the Faculty of Oil and Mining Engineering was founded 1972. The Libyan University was divided into two universities in 1973: Tripoli University and Benghazi University. Currently, these universities have been expanding and named El-Fateh University in Tripoli and Gar-Yunis University in Benghazi. But, since 1981 the number of universities has been increasing in order to serve the growing number of students enrolling in higher education, the universities were subject to new educational management policies and accordingly the number of universities increased to 13 in 1995. These successive expansions of higher education in Libya required the country to encourage the migration of skilled and intellectual people to migrate to Libya and join its education institutions (Al-Shapani, 2001). As such, higher education in Libya is offered in both public and private universities, as well as higher institutes, and since 2000 the peoples committees, have been responsible for the management of education in the Libyan regions, where the overall management of educational policies in the country is the responsibility of the General Peoples Committee (El-Hawat, 2003). Higher education in Libya is managed by the Higher Education Peoples Committee, while each university is managed by its own University Peoples Committee with a secretary assigned to manage the university and deans as head of faculties and departments, each head department is a member in the Peoples Committee of faculty, while the secretaries of the faculty peoples Committee are automatically members in the university Peoples Committee, where as there are Peoples Committees for the students established to manage the students affairs and activities (Secretariat of Education, 2000). Higher education institutes and unive rsity colleges were introduced by the private sector and local public administration (Shabiat), were the higher education policies in Libya permitted that in order to handle the growing number of students at the age of university, however, to the local public administration sponsors of these private higher education institutes were responsible to mobilise their financial resources from local community sources, while the government had no any obligations towards the private sector. As a result, more than five private universities were built by the local administration authorities during 1997-2000 (Al falugi, 2008). 1.2 The learners of immigration: 1.2.1 The global context: Migration all over the world has become a distinguished feature and characteristic of globalization (IOM, 2003). That flows of immigrants are in most cases a response in one hand to the low income offers and limited employment opportunities at the countries of origin, and on the other hand to better opportunities and attractive offers at the countries of destination (Kuptsch and Pang, 2006). Thus the process of migration is thought to have joint benefits for both the sending countries of the migrants and the receiving countries; these benefits include sharing the capacities of the innovative migrants and disseminating knowledge among nations, while on the other hand the financial contribution of those intellectual migrants to their countries of origin is no doubt a considerable contribution to the national income, however those migrants themselves and their children achieve further benefits when they settle in the country of destination and become part of its social and education sys tem, as such they become learners of immigration. These flows of immigrants have enforced the receiving countries to adjust their educational management regulations and laws from being restrictive and hindering to become flexible for the immigrants to integrate. (Kuptsch and Pang, 2006). These attempts of integrating the immigrants in the education systems of the receiving countries include some programmes designed by the receiving countries specially to facilitate the immigrant students in learning the language and become totally integrated in the society (Winzhen, 2000). Recently, immigration is best used by several countries to enhance various public and private sectors, to build the capacities of the local labour force, to share knowledge and experience, to learn from successful and best practices, and to produce new generations of intellectual and skilled citizens. However the trend of learners of immigration is prominent in several countries of the developed world, supported by the immigration schemes launched some developed countries for various political, economic, demographic and other reasons. Several countries have utilised their repute status in different aspects such as the rich economy, educational reputation, etc to attract the most intelligent people in the world, where the integration of their children in the educational system of the receiving countries is a big incentive and attractive offer, where the new trend in this regard is to utilise the incentives instead of affording easy procedures and limiting the restrictions (Kuptsch. an d Pang, 2006). In this regard, in 2002 Norway implemented a scheme which provided high skilled foreigners three months permit to stay as job seekers, so that they can enter Norway to seek for job, and whenever they have found job and decided to settle they may bring their families to settle with them and then join the education in Norway (Kuptsch and Pang, 2006). Among these schemes, the trend is more obvious in the United Kingdom, where its Programme of Highly Skilled Migrant launched in November 2006 witnessed a major amendment, so that a new point system was implemented to select those applicants of the most highly qualifications, who can contribute to the countrys national economy, this programmes has provided the highly skilled migrants permit to enter and seek job or establish their own business in a period of two years (HSMP, 2009). The highly skilled migrants system has also been adopted by Canada where it was significant to stimulate the highly skilled and talented in the developing countries to immigrate to Canada. Other developed countries have implemented similar different policies to encourage immigration, such as The United States and Australia. However, although the components of these systems and their procedures of implementation are different, they show sound success in attracting the most qualified people (Winzhen, 2000) an d in integrating their children in the education systems without being hindered by linguistic or cultural barriers. 1.2.2 The Libyan context: The term learners of immigration used in this study refers to the immigrants to Libya who then decide to study in the country. This include the children of immigration that then enter the school system, as well as the adults who move to Libya as migrants whether they are social migrants or economic migrants, and then may be work or may not be working. They then decide to enter University education as full time or part time students. No doubt it needs to understand the challenges that the educational system and the educational management may face when various people from various cultures join the same educational system. Educational managers who are involved in planning and development of managerial thoughts and knowledge production should be aware of such challenges and how to manage and organise through official channels in a framework that is a part of an existing system structures such as colleges and universities. These channels provide studies for academics and allow them to go for further research which seeks to achieve and acquire skills by examining the output field in order to help to determine the shape and nature of the theory for enhancing the effectiveness of the educational system in order to link between the real local life options and intellectual work taking into consideration the dynamics of the corporate strategies that could facilitate the integration of the immigrant learners in the educatio n system (Gunter, 2003). In this trend of learners of immigration, Libya is not an exception; as such, the period of the oil boom in 1963 witnessed a significant augmentation in educational expenditure, and in the period between the seventies and eighties, the Department of Education in Libya stimulated skilled and intellectual migrants to come with their families and settle in the country through offering attractive contracts (Al gaamatti, 2005). In this regard, as suggested by The Libyan General Peoples Committee for Education (2005), The Libyan policy to stimulate intellectual migrants is supported by a number of pulling factors that is capable to stimulate professionals and talented migrants to enjoy comfortable life and settlement in Libya. These pulling factors which may distinguish Libya and encourage the intellectual migrants to prefer from other countries of the region may first include proximity of the Libyas location to Europe and the enormous opportunities there, alongside with the offered relati vely high income and competitive contracts, minimum to exempted taxes, simple procedures of visa and travel procedures, efficient network of telecommunication, high levels of security and safety for the migrants and their families, and low risk of racism and social discrimination as well as the easy integration in the education. The Libyan government implemented a policy in the early 1980s that encouraging intellectual immigrants and professionals from the region and from all over the world, so as to improve the capacities in different sectors of the government, with special consideration to the education sector which is believed to be the potential producer of intelligence and prosperity through the production of intensive knowledge and the achievement of an improved educational management. Beside the attractive offers provided to the intellectual immigrants, that policy aimed to ease the employment visa procedures for those who acquire the targeted skills and experiences. The policy of open doors implemented by Libya in the 1980s alongside with the oil boom at that period attracted vast investments to the country and large numbers of migrants stimulated to immigrate to the country by the employment opportunities created and the competitive offers afforded, and the education opportunities provided for them and their families. It is obvious that, the Libyan Government didnt adopt any of the aforementioned schemes, however the Libyan Ministry of Education and the Immigration Authorities implemented a policy in early 1980s to encourage foreigners to enter Libya and work in its different sectors, with special consideration to the education sector, this policy has a significant impact on the flows of immigrants attracted to Libya at that time, whereas these flows continued until the beginnings of this decade where the international political and economic embargo took place and the subsequent sanctions affected these flows and reduced its level (Al falugis, 2008). 1.3 Educational management 1.3.1 The concept of educational management: No doubt, management is an essential requirement for every human activity. It comprises the scientific research methods in all domains such as planning to achieve revenue with reliance on talent and intellectual creativity. Also, the concept of management is not different from the concept of control in terms of the general framework of the management process. But this difference can obviously be noticed in the application and practice. In the literature, there seems to be many definitions for management. For example, Druker (1974) described management as one of the most significant innovations of the 20th century, even though the roots of disciplines of management go back 150 years. Management is a multi-purpose function that aims to manage a business, manages managers and work. Management is also tasks, people and discipline. The field of educational management, according to Gunter (2002) and Bush (1995), is an area of study and practice that is mainly related to the operation of educational organizations and mainly concerned with the aims and objectives of education. These aims and objectives provide the crucial sense of direction to underpin the management of educational institutions (Bush, 2006). The field of educational management is also a term that is used to describe and understand intellectual work. This field of study was basically developed from what was known in the UK and internationally as Educational administration. Management of educational practice is as old as the human being. However, it has been growing gradually with the development of knowledge of human beings until it became a science in its own which has its theories and practice. In the past thirty years, however, the field of education management has grown rapidly in many countries especially in England and Wales, with members pos itioning themselves in all parts of the education system (Gunter, 2000). Elements of educational management may include but not limited to the following subjects: planning; management; coordination; routing; follow-up and calendar (Angus, 1994). In addition, education management focuses on a number of aspects such as: developing female talents in the field of educational management; understanding the purpose of competition; identifying the differences between leadership and management; thinking of what and how directors of education do; trying to understand the school as one way of educational management; and focusing on values and the basics of developing educational management. During the 1950s, there was no evidence for formal educational management structure; nevertheless, there were a president, deputy president and a secretary of mystery. This was the norm until 1956 when Burnham established the hierarchy of management and created all other managerial positions. It was believed that management includes the following aspects: understanding; empowerment; identification of what could be better and change (Gunter, 2002). Management was not identified as a science until the late 19th century. Bush (2003) stated that Educational management as a field of study and practice was derived from management principles first applied to industry and commerce, mainly in the United States. Theory development largely involved the application of industrial models to educational settings. As the subject became established as an academic discipline in its own right, its theorists and practitioners began to develop alternative models based on their observation of, and experie nce in, schools and colleges. By the twenty-first century the main theories of education management have either been developed in the educational context or have been adapted from industrial models to meet the specific requirements of schools and colleges (Bush, 2003). In addition, Bush (2003) classified the main theories of educational management and identified six major models: (formal, collegial, political, subjective, ambiguity and cultural) which have been subject to a degree of empirical verification in British education (Bush, 2003). Whereas, his classification may differ with other scholars views. However, his models remain significant in the literature of educational management. Moreover, Educational leadership and management has progressed from being a new field dependent upon ideas developed in other settings to become an established discipline with its own theories and significant empirical data testing their validity in education. This transition has been accompanied by lively argument about the extent to which education should be regarded as simply another field for the application of general principles of leadership and management or be seen as a separate discipline with its own body of knowledge (Bush, 2003). 1.4 Education management and learning diffusion In general, and according to Gunter (2003), any inquiry into learning diffusion and knowledge production requires interaction with, a description of, as well as understanding of the different people who receive the learning. Knowledge workers both use and produce knowledge creation and development of thoughts and knowledge could be managed and organised through official channels in a framework that is a part of an existing system structures such as colleges and universities to suit the diversity of cultural backgrounds among the learners. These channels provide studies for learners and allow them to go for further to achieve and acquire similar skills by examining the output field in order to help to determine the shape and nature of the theory for enhancing the effectiveness of the educational system in order to integrate both the native learners and those who joined the education system recently taking into consideration the importance of implementing the dynamic appropriate strate gies. Many people focus on management before moving into higher education which looks for the forms of activity by reading a magazine or a book and then understanding what is happening. Then allowing new insights to open the way for alternative practices since the academic perception is concentrated on the ability to analyse and become creative before the ability to train (Gunter, 2003). Based on the abovementioned discussion, it can be concluded that: there is a need to consider the link between development and emerging phenomena; such as learners of immigration and educational management; evolving relationship between theory and analysis in the field of educational management; follow the management approach that takes into consideration the changing culture and emerging phenomena; what knowledge and skills those have the potential to be improved via migration; and the role of field experiences and views of academics on the effect of migration on the improvement of educational management. 1.5 Migration and educational management in Libya The interest in management has led to the expansion of educational management and the educational improvement in Libya (Al Jiar, 2007). Migration has a significant impact throughout the Libyan history, the origin of the term Libya which was used to describe the region of North Africa which is located between Egypt and Tunisia, was derived from the Libyan tribes Lebo that inhabited this region for thousands of years, emigrated from Crete, the Greek islands around the 8th century BC. The Greeks founded the major cities in Libya which were the most prosperous cities in Africa in that era. The main ethnic groups in Libya are the Arabs and Berbers, who make up about 97% of the population, the rest belong to various ethnicities. However, historical records indicate that Libya was inhabited by ancient tribes of the Phoenicians who migrated from the coast of the western Mediterranean. In the 5th century AD, Libya was concurred by the Vandals and then the Byzantines, while in the 6th century AD, Libya became a Muslim territory. In the 7th century AD, the capital city of Tripoli was occupied by the Spaniards and then the Knights of St. John and was then liberated by the Ottoman Turks. The significant and noticeable impact of migration on the Libyan education was evident during the beginning of the Ottoman Empire occupation to Libya in 1865 which updated and developed many aspects of life both at the headquarters and the rest of the Caliphate. Moreover, the Knowledge Act was promulgated in 1869, to be a regular approach in schools which relied mainly on charity contributions of parents for the purpose of educating their children; bearing in mind that the curricula used both Arabic and Turkish languages and the le ngth of study was only three years. Afterwards, the Italians occupied Libya, changing the medium of education from Arabic to Italian. On the other hand, there were the Quran schools initiated by the Arab migrants, which concentrated on the Arabic language and religious studies. This instability of education resulted in high levels of illiteracy in Libya (UNESCO, 2002). Although, no accurate estimates are available about the numbers of immigrant learners in Libya, however, it is known to be considerable number in different educational level (Al falugi, 2008). Thus this study will attempt to provide an estimation of those immigrant learners, and its focus will be on the universities and higher education. Nasser Nations University was established in to accept the foreign students especially from the African and Arab countries, and then in it was opened for the Libyan students as well. The University has a special office to supervise the universitys cultural program that is concerned with the Universitys relations with educational institutions and follow-up agreements with universities outside Libya. Cultural and scientific agreements were held with: 1. University of Nouakchott and the