Syria: The World Is Watching’ - Humanitarian leaders stand with civilians under fire in Idlib

27 Jun 2019

Eleven chiefs of global humanitarian organizations today spearhead the launch of a worldwide campaign in solidarity with civilians under fire in north-western Syria.

Three million civilians, among them one million children, are in imminent and mortal danger from the escalating violence in Idlib governorate and surrounding areas.

In a direct video address, the humanitarian leaders stress that civilians face the constant threat of violence and armed conflict and desperately need protection. Stressing that “too many have died already” and that “even wars have laws”, they deplore the devastating impact of the fighting on hospitals, schools and markets.

“Idlib is on the brink of a humanitarian nightmare unlike anything we have seen this century,” they warn.

“Our worst fears are now materializing,” added UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock. “Yet again, innocent civilians are paying the price for the political failure to stop the violence and do what is demanded under international law – to protect all civilians. For the women, children and men in Idlib, it can be a death sentence. Our campaign expresses solidarity with the families under attack and tell everyone that we are watching and witnessing what is happening.”

A huge influx of displaced people from other parts of Syria since 2015 has doubled the size of the population in Idlib. At least 330,000 people have been displaced internally in the region during the last two month’s surge of violence. They have nowhere left to flee to. The UN Secretary-General has warned about the violence for months, but it hasn’t stopped, or even slowed.

The campaign video is available here, and global leaders and the public are encouraged to share it with their own networks to show solidarity and to emphasize that they are witnesses to what is happening in Idlib.

Join us by sending the message that you are watching too.

We see you
We stand with you
You are not forgotten
You are #NotATarget
#TheWorldIsWatching

#TheWorldIsWatching campaign is supported by:

Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Mark Lowcock, UN OCHA Jan Egeland, Norwegian Refugee Council Carolyn Miles, Save the Children Abby Maxman, Oxfam America Justin Byworth, World Vision Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Sam Worthington, InterAction

Caroline Kende Robb, CARE International David Miliband, International Rescue Committee Neil Keny-Guyer, Mercy Corps António Vitorino, International Organization for Migration Dominic MacSorley, Concern Worldwide David Beasley, World Food Programme

SWOT Analysis

Business SWOT Analysis

     What makes SWOT particularly powerful is that, with a little thought, it can help you uncover opportunities that you are well-placed to exploit. And by understanding the weaknesses of your business, you can manage and eliminate threats that would otherwise catch you unawares.

     More than this, by looking at yourself and your competitors using the SWOT framework, you can start to craft a strategy that helps you distinguish yourself from your competitors, so that you can compete successfully in your market.

How to Do a SWOT Analysis

You can use it in two ways – as a simple icebreaker helping people get together to "kick off" strategy formulation, or in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool.

Note:

Many people attribute SWOT Analysis to Alber S. Humphrey, however, there has been some debate on the originator of the tool, as discussed in the International Journal of Business Research.

Tip:

Strengths and weaknesses are often internal to your organization, while opportunities and threats generally relate to external factors. For this reason, SWOT is sometimes called Internal-External Analysis and the SWOT Matrix is sometimes called an IE Matrix.

SWOT Template

To help you to carry out your analysis, download and print off our free worksheet, and write down answers to the following questions.

Strengths

• What advantages does your organization have?
• What do you do better than anyone else?
• What unique or lowest-cost resources can you draw upon that others can't?
• What do people in your market see as your strengths?
• What factors mean that you "get the sale"?
• What is your organization's Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

Consider your strengths from both an internal perspective, and from the point of view of your customers and people in your market.

Also, if you're having any difficulty identifying strengths, try writing down a list of your organization's characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!

When looking at your strengths, think about them in relation to your competitors. For example, if all of your competitors provide high quality products, then a high quality production process is not a strength in your organization's market, it's a necessity.

Weaknesses

• What could you improve?
• What should you avoid?
• What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?
• What factors lose you sales?

Again, consider this from an internal and external perspective: do other people seem to perceive weaknesses that you don't see? Are your competitors doing any better than you?

It's best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.

Opportunities

• What good opportunities can you spot?
• What interesting trends are you aware of?

Useful opportunities can come from such things as:

• Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale.
• Changes in government policy related to your field.
• Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, and so on.
• Local events.

Tip:

A useful approach when looking at opportunities is to look at your strengths and ask yourself whether these open up any opportunities. Alternatively, look at your weaknesses and ask yourself whether you could open up opportunities by eliminating them.

Threats

• What obstacles do you face?
• What are your competitors doing?
• Are quality standards or specifications for your job, products or services changing?
• Is changing technology threatening your position?
• Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
• Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

Tip:

When looking at opportunities and threats, PEST Analysis can help to ensure that you don't overlook external factors, such as new government regulations, or technological changes in your industry.

Using SWOT Analysis in Project Management and Marketing

If you're using SWOT as a serious tool (rather than as a casual "warm up" for strategy formulation), make sure you're rigorous in the way you apply it:

• Only accept precise, verifiable statements ("Cost advantage of $10/ton in sourcing raw material x", rather than "Good value for money").
• Ruthlessly prune long lists of factors, and prioritize them, so that you spend your time thinking about the most significant factors.
• Make sure that options generated are carried through to later stages in the strategy formation process.
• Apply it at the right level – for example, you might need to apply the tool at a product or product-line level, rather than at the much vaguer whole company level.
• Use it in conjunction with other strategy tools (for example, USP Analysis and Core Competence Analysis) so that you get a comprehensive picture of the situation you're dealing with.

• Note:

You could also consider using the TOWS Matrix. This is quite similar to SWOT in that it also focuses on the same four elements of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. But TOWS can be a helpful alternative because it emphasizes the external environment, while SWOT focuses on the internal environment.

SWOT Example

A small start-up consultancy might draw up the following SWOT Analysis:

Strengths

• We are able to respond very quickly as we have no red tape, and no need for higher management approval.
• We are able to give really good customer care, as the current small amount of work means we have plenty of time to devote to customers.
• Our lead consultant has a strong reputation in the market.
• We can change direction quickly if we find that our marketing is not working.
• We have low overheads, so we can offer good value to customers.

Weaknesses

• Our company has little market presence or reputation.
• We have a small staff, with a shallow skills base in many areas.
• We are vulnerable to vital staff being sick or leaving.
• Our cash flow will be unreliable in the early stages.

Opportunities

• Our business sector is expanding, with many future opportunities for success.
• Local government wants to encourage local businesses.
• Our competitors may be slow to adopt new technologies.

Threats

• Developments in technology may change this market beyond our ability to adapt.
• A small change in the focus of a large competitor might wipe out any market position we achieve.

As a result of their analysis, the consultancy may decide to specialize in rapid response, good value services to local businesses and local government.

Marketing would be in selected local publications to get the greatest possible market presence for a set advertising budget, and the consultancy should keep up-to-date with changes in technology where possible.

Key Points

SWOT Analysis is a simple but useful framework for analyzing your organization's strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats that you face. It helps you focus on your strengths, minimize threats, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available to you.

It can be used to "kick off" strategy formulation, or in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool. You can also use it to get an understanding of your competitors, which can give you the insights you need to craft a coherent and successful competitive position.

When carrying out your analysis, be realistic and rigorous. Apply it at the right level, and supplement it with other option-generation tools where appropriate.

Self Awareness

   Self Awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Self Awareness allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them in the moment.

      We might quickly assume that we are self aware, but it is helpful to have a relative scale for awareness. If you have ever been in an auto accident you may have experienced everything happening in slow motion and noticed details of your thought process and the event. This is a state of heightened awareness. With practice we can learn to engage these types of heightened states and see new opportunities for interpretations in our thoughts, emotions, and conversations. Having awareness creates the opportunity to make changes in behavior and beliefs.

Why Develop Self Awareness

      As you develop self awareness you are able to make changes in the thoughts and interpretations you make in your mind. Changing the interpretations in your mind allows you to change your emotions. Self awareness is one of the attributes of Emotional Intelligence and an important factor in achieving success.

     Self awareness is the first step in creating what you want and mastering your life. Where you focus your attention, your emotions, reactions, personality and behavior determine where you go in life. Having self awareness allows you to see where your thoughts and emotions are taking you. It also allows you to take control of your emotions, behavior, and personality so you can make changes you want. Until you are aware in the moment of your thoughts, emotions, words, and behavior, you will have difficulty making changes in the direction of your life.

Self Awareness in Relationships

      Relationships are easy until there is emotional turmoil. This is the same whether you are at work or in your personal life. When you can change the interpretation in your mind of what you think you can change your emotions and shift the emotional quality of your relationships. When you can change the emotions in your relationships you open up entirely new possibilities in your life.

     Having a clear understanding of your thought and, behavior patterns helps you understand other people. This ability to empathize facilitates better personal and professional relationships.

Develop Self Awareness

      Self awareness is developed through practices in focusing your attention on the details of your personality and behavior. It isn’t learned from reading a book. When you read a book you are focusing your attention on the conceptual ideas in the book. You can develop an intellectual understanding of the ideas of self awareness from a book, but this is not the same. With your attention in a book you are practicing not paying attention to your own behavior, emotions and personality.

     Think of learning to be mindful and self aware as learning to dance. When learning to dance we have to pay attention to how and where our feet move, our hands and body motion, what our partner is doing, music, beat, floor space, and other dancers. Dancing isn’t learned from books and Self Awareness isn’t either. A dancer needs awareness of their body movements. Self awareness is what you develop when you pay attention to your expressions of thought, emotions, and behavior. In my years of study and working with clients I have discovered many useful techniques that accelerate this learning. I have incorporated these techniques into the Self Mastery audio course. The first four sessions are available free.

     In the process of these sessions I am not telling anybody what to believe, how they should think, or what they should do. I am basically sharing with people exercises in raising their self awareness. When you become more self aware you instinctively begin to see aspects of your personality and behavior that you didn’t notice before.

     If you have an emotional reaction of anger or frustration, you notice many of the thoughts and small triggers that build up towards those emotions. You also notice moments when you can change the interpretations in your mind, or not believe what you are thinking. In this heightened awareness you instinctively make better choices in your thought process long before an emotional reaction or destructive behavior.

CHILD LABOUR  

"Out of school children comprise the workers and non workers. In our view they together signify a measure of deprivation among children and can be considered as a potential labour pool always being at the risk of entering the labour force" - NCEUS, 2007

     India is sadly the home to the largest number of child labourers in the world. The census found an increase in the number of child labourers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.59 million in 2001. M.V. Foundation in Andhra Pradesh found nearly 400,000 children, mostly girls between seven and 14 years of age, toiling for 14-16 hours a day in cottonseed production across the country of which 90% are employed in Andhra Pradesh. 40% of the labour in a precious stone cutting sector is children. NGOs have discovered the use of child labourers in mining industry in Bellary District in Karnataka in spite of a harsh ban on the same. In urban areas there is a high employment of children in the zari and embroidery industry.

     Poverty and lack of social security are the main causes of child labour. The increasing gap between the rich and the poor, privatization of basic services and the neo-liberal economic policies are causes major sections of the population out of employment and without basic needs. This adversely affects children more than any other group. Entry of multi-national corporations into industry without proper mechanisms to hold them accountable has lead to the use of child labour. Lack of quality universal education has also contributed to children dropping out of school and entering the labour force. A major concern is that the actual number of child labourers goes undetected. Laws that are meant to protect children from hazardous labour are ineffective and not implemented correctly.

     A growing phenomenon is using children as domestic workers in urban areas. The conditions in which children work is completely unregulated and they are often made to work without food, and very low wages, resembling situations of slavery. There are cases of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of child domestic workers. The argument for domestic work is often that families have placed their children in these homes for care and employment. There has been a recent notification by the Ministry of Labour making child domestic work as well as employment of children in dhabas, tea stalls and restaurants "hazardous" occupations.

     According to HAQ: Centre for child rights, child labour is highest among scheduled tribes, Muslims, scheduled castes and OBC children. The persistence of child labour is due to the inefficiency of the law, administrative system and because it benefits employers who can reduce general wage levels. HAQ argues that distinguishing between hazardous and non hazardous employment is counter-productive to the elimination of child labour. Various growing concerns have pushed children out of school and into employment such as forced displacement due to development projects, Special Economic Zones; loss of jobs of parents in a slowdown, farmers' suicide; armed conflict and high costs of healthcare. Girl children are often used in domestic labour within their own homes. There is a lack of political will to actually see to the complete ban of child labour.

     Bonded child labour is a hidden phenomenon as a majority of them are found in the informal sector. Bonded labour means the employment of a person against a loan or debt or social obligation by the family of the child or the family as a whole. It is a form of slavery. Children who are bonded with their family or inherit a debt from their parents are often found in agricultural sector or assisting their families in brick kilns, and stone quarries. Individual pledging of children is a growing occurrence that usually leads to trafficking of children to urban areas for employment and have children working in small production houses versus factories. Bonded labourers in India are mostly migrant workers, which opens them up to more exploitation. Also they mostly come from low caste groups such as dalits or marginalised tribal groups. Bonded child labourers are at very high risk for physical and sexual abuse and neglect sometimes leading to death. They often are psychologically and mentally disturbed and have not learnt many social skills or survival skills.

     In 2000 the ILO estimated 5.5 million children had been forced in labour in Asia, while the Bonded Labour Liberation Front placed 10 million bonded children in India alone. In 1998 the government of India labelled bonded child labour as a marginal problem with only 3000 or so cases. A survey in Tamil Nadu in 1995 found 125,000 bonded child labourers in the state alone. Child bonded labour in India is mostly in the agricultural sector but has in recent times been moving into other sectors as well such as beedi-rolling, brick kilns, carpet weaving, commercial sexual exploitation, construction, fireworks and matches factories, hotels, hybrid cottonseed production, leather, mines, quarries, silk, synthetic gems, etc.

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PUBG Marked as ‘Harmful’ and ‘Negative’ by Commission for Protection of Child Rights

   The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has announced that online video games like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto, God of War, Hitman, and more as harmful, negative and having an adverse impact on the children's brain.

    While there is no such ‘ban’ on any of these games, the announcement was made in the wake of multiple cases of addiction and even suicide because of the highly popular game PUBG.

   Last month, the Gujarat government issued a circular asking district authorities to ensure a ban on the online multiplayer game. The state primary education department's circular was issued after a recommendation by the Gujarat State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

   An eleven-year-old boy was recently in the news as he had written a letter to Maharashtra state government asking them to ban PUBG. In the letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, he said that this is an "appeal to forthwith ban online game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds [PUBG] as it promotes immoral conduct such as violence, murder, aggression, looting, gaming addiction and cyber bullying". The boy further wrote in the letter, "I will be compelled to seek appropriate legal [civil and criminal] proceeding as per law; naturally at your cost and consequences" if the game is not banned.

   Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aware of the game. While answering a number of questions during discussions with students and parents as part of Pariksha Pe Charcha 2.0, PM Modi answered a question asked by a concerned mother with, "PUBG wala hai kya?"

   Just a couple of days back we heard of an 18-year-old boy allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself. The reason given for the boy’s extreme step was that he had an argument with his family who denied a new mobile phone for playing PUBG Mobile. According to the police, the teenager demanded a high-end smartphone which was priced around Rs 37,000 to play the battle royale game. The boy’s family refused to pay for his demand and said that he will not be given a mobile phone more than Rs 20,000. Upset that his demand was not met, the teenager took a rope and committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his residence.

Mythology and Folklore

     Our ancient religious texts and epics give a good insight into the water storage and conservation systems prevailing in those days. For instance, the sage Narad during his visits to different kingdoms would invariably enquire about the state of the ponds and other water bodies and whether these had enough water for the population. In the Ramayana, Lord Hanuman is wonder struck by the beauty and grandeur of Lanka especially its well-maintained lakes, baolis, wells, gardens, orchards and forests.

     In our villages there are countless stories from mythology, folklore and songs extolling the glory of our sacred rivers and lakes. The story of Bhagirathi single handedly training the mighty Ganga has been told from generation to generation.

     By all accounts, there was no water problem in those days and every household could meet its minimum water requirements through these rudimentary local water collection and management measures. It was this basic infrastructure, which served as the foundation for building large and powerful empires. 

     World history, as indeed our own, is replete with instances of rise and fall of empires and civilizations as the direct result of the strength or weakness of this foundation. Let us go back in time and take a quick view of entire water scenario in a historical perspective, ponder over the present water crises and draw lesson for future course of action.

Historical Overview

     India is a country with very deep historical roots and strong cultural traditions. These are reflected in our social fabric and institutions of community life. In spite of social movements of varied nature through the millennia we have retained the spirit and essence of these traditions and have remained attached to our roots. Some of our traditions, evolved and developed by our forefathers thousands of years age have played an important role in different spheres of life. Most important among these is the tradition of collecting, storing and preserving water for various uses.

     It all started at the dawn of civilization with small human settlements coming up on the banks of rivers and streams. When due to vagaries of nature the rivers and streams dried up or the flow dwindled, they moved away to look for more reliable sources of water. In due course of time large settlements came up along perennial rivers that provided plentiful water. As the population increased, settlements developed into towns and cities and agriculture expanded, techniques were developed to augment water availability by collecting ans storing rain water, tapping hill and underground springs and water from snow and glacier melt etc. Water came to be regarded as precious and its conservation and preservation was sanctified by religion. Various religious, cultural and social rituals prescribed, interalia, purification and cleansing with water. Water itself had many applications in different rituals. 

     Development of reliable sources of water like, storage reservoirs, ponds, lakes, irrigation canals. Came to by regarded as an essential part of good governance. Emperors and Kings not only build these on their own. Wide-ranging laws were made to regulate their construction and maintenance and for conservation and perseveration of water and its proper distribution and use.