Saturday, June 25, 2011

Reaching Your Goals

Lots of people ask, "What are your goals?" and it seems like whoever can list the most goals wins. All they are doing is telling all the things they want but they may never get there. What people really need to ask is, "What will you do to make sure you reach your goals?" Having these goals will help motivate you to do something.
Anyway, let me tell you what this goal business is all about. It's actually pretty neat. There are three main steps to getting to where you want to go.

First, there’s the dream.
We do this all the time. However, sit down and write it out. By writing it you will get a better idea of where you really want to go. Think about how you would like to be. Imagine yourself at the end of the quarter or the end of the year or maybe in five years. What do you see? How do people see you? What are you doing? Are you successful? How do you know?
I'll give you an example. This is my first year away at college and away from home. I hope my first year is a good one. I really want to have as good an experience at college as possible. I'd like to do pretty well with grades and I really hope my parents are proud of me. I'm going to really miss my little sister. I hope a year from now she and I have as good a relationship as we do now. In fact, I hope I still have a good relationship with all my high school friends. I also hope to go on a Spring break someplace.
Well, that's kind of my dream. A dream is just that, it's a vision of the future, of how you see yourself in the future. Once you know the direction you want to go than you can begin working on some goals.

Second come the goals.
Goals are "wants". So are dreams, but goals are more specific. Look back at your dreams. Start a list of specific things you want. Be really clear what you mean. If you want to be rich, tell how much money you need to be rich. If you want good grades, tell what you mean by "good" grades. In fact, the more specific the goal is, the easier it will be to get it. Now there are some rules for setting goals, and here they are.
• Goals are always things you want. They are never things you don't want.
Right: I want to stay at my current weight. Wrong: I don't want to gain weight.
• Goals need to be specific. Tell exactly what you mean. Give numbers and times. Don't use words like "lots" and "more". Tell exactly what you want.
• Be realistic. Ask yourself if it is possible. Yea, winning the lottery is possible but it's not realistic.
I'll give you my example. I look back at my dream and then start to really think about what I want.
My Goals
I want a "B" in each of my classes.
I want to keep a good relationship with my sister.
I want to keep in touch with my friends.
I want to be involved at the U.
These are just a some of my goals but you get the idea.

Third are the objectives.
This is the neat stuff. So far, all we have is a wish list. This is where the action takes place. Objectives are the things we do to get our wants. If I look forward to being independent in college (dream) and I want a car (goal) and I save money (objective) now I can buy a car and I've fulfilled my dream!!
Now again there are some rules. Keep in mind that objectives are things you will DO.
• Objectives are very specific. They tell exactly what you will do and when you will do it.
• When you think about what you will do, make a commitment to it. Objectives are written: I WILL ... Don't use words like "try or maybe" Very bad words to use. Very, very bad.
• Be sure your objectives can be measured. Every day or every week I can say, "Did you do this?" and you answer with either a yes or a no. Don't leave room for maybes.
OK time for more examples. I said I want a "B" in each class. My objectives are:
• I will go to every class every day.
• I will sit in the middle of the class.
• I will re-read my notes from every class every day.
• I will begin every assignment the day it is given.
Goal: I want to be involved at the U.
My objectives are:
• I will meet my advisor in his/her office the 1st week of school.
• I will join an intramural team.
• I will join a student club or organization.
Well, you get the idea. Each of my objectives is specific and each one can be measured. If I do all my objectives there is a pretty good chance I will get what I want which will then mean I'll fulfill my dream. When you do this, write it out; it will be easier for you.

What shall we do to save the generation of Innovators?

Education should be a lifetime experience, not limited to the youth years. Educators are switching to test because there is a crisis in education of their own making and society wants measurable results. This pressure is passed on to political leaders who base political decisions on what is measurable, which is academic test and test are based on acceptance of the status quo. Ever student must now accept the status quo and be an academic intellectual or be labeled a failure. Natural talent and knowledge processing skills does not count. Students receiving the failure label are growing in numbers and percent, all because the system measures selected knowledge on a one day standardized paper test.
Fact: Self-made millionaires are not "A" students in the classroom. The way they process knowledge is in conflict with classroom priorities. The self-made millionaire has a vision, then he researches specific knowledge, applies intuitive knowledge and process all the elements, searching for a workable solution. Finding alternative ways to do common tasks makes millionaires. The secret is vision, research and processing, not pre stored knowledge.
The student population is exploding while qualified teachers are leaving the system. It takes an experienced teacher, with curriculum freedom, to inspire a motivating vision in students.
The education industry and their view of a success personality, is destroying the potential of many teenagers who should be focusing on their natural talent. But... Who can argue against high academic standards? Society has bought the education establishment's belief that every teenager can, and must, learn academics in passive classroom environments before given opportunity. Because society has accepted the industry's version of a success personality, the education monopoly is gaining strength and the high school dropout problem is growing. It is in the industry's interest to keep all students, including non-performers, in the system and under their control. With no opposing forces, society has embraced the opinion that academic achievement is the ONLY path to success. For some they are right, for others they are wrong.
Why do some high school dropouts become self-made millionaires? Do they hold the secret to a success personality? Consider that their skills were NOT molded by classroom environments. Society says these people should never have found success.
What do these self-made millionaires have that many highly educated people don’t have?
What are the characteristics of high school dropouts that go on welfare and those who find success?
True education is based on inspiration and motivation, not memorization. Education based on standardized test (memorization) does not inspire or motivate, it serves the goals of the formal education bureaucracy.
Today, government controls in the classroom and standardized testing threatens passing students as well as failing students. As a result, the young generation is entering a phase where they are learning how to unit and fight the system. In the past, government policies negatively affected failing students and they left the system, now it affects all.
Federal and state governments are increasing regulations in the classroom, which are based on the acceptance of the status quo. Only the status quo can be measured, not creative thinking or other forms of education. As pressure increases for students to accept the status quo, an increasing number will rebel and fight the system. Their subconscious tells them their creative freedom is being taken away and the outward expression is to fight back. They do not understand what they are fighting, other than the system builds unbearable stress. They give into stress or fight it.
Because of government policies, the number of at-risk youth will grow and the number of creative thinkers (visionaries) will shrink. As the government increases controls over the classroom, many A & B students will lose interest in classroom education, give up the effort and enter the at-risk category. Students who are good at memorizing and accept the status quo will be rewarded.
Our high schools are designed to prepare students for college, not the world most will enter. Parents are influenced by society and they want their children to reflect the ideal for success, that is, academics with music lessons on the side, becoming a polished professional, achieving a status that can change the world. Parents want the education system to maintain high standards so their child has opportunity to achieve this ideal. This sounds great in theory - one out of a thousand will achieve that ideal. The problem is, this standard robs non-college students’ job skills they need to enter the real world.
From the beginning of man to the late 1800s, an educational institution was the only source of information and attending them was the only way to acquire information. Times have changed. Today, we are an information society with hundreds of sources of information. Last year’s facts, or yesterday’s, may not have any value today. Skills learned today will soon become obsolete and new skills must be mastered. For this reason, knowing how to learn, search for and acquire information is more valuable than being a learner-of-facts. Because most high schools students enter the work force, their knowledge should be measured by their ability to acquire information and turn it into useful knowledge rather than their ability to memorize. For some licensed professions such as lawyers and doctors, learner-of-facts is a necessity.
Society is now drugging our youth with behavior control pills, nulling the skill that makes them creative. They learn to accept the status quo. This new generation may make a comfortable living, but they will have lost the ability to be an innovator. Soon, the world will have a generation of people who can earn "A's" in the classroom, but have no vision in the real world.
Our society values academic achievement above all other skills. In the classroom, creativity, love-to-learn, accepting risk, learning from failures, motivation, and aggressiveness are replaced by dependency on authority, indifference, embracing the status quo, and accepting the follow-the-crowd mentality. Behavior control drugs are forcing students to accept the teachers' view of success while destroying the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The Roman Empire was built by very intelligent people. They developed technology that allowed them to control the known world. They were also wealthy, which led to their downfall. For example, they love to drink wine and wine for the wealthy was stored in lead bottles. Slowly, over generations, they were poisoned by lead in the wine. Their creativity was subdued, their desire-to-learn was turned off and finally they feared risk. When indifference replaced innovation, they were easily conquered by people using low technology weapons
People who have a vision control their destiny and lifestyle. For people without a vision, their destiny and lifestyle is controlled by others.
What is success, money or a desired lifestyle? Our society measures success with money. A lifestyle of personal achievement is real success - money is a reward or byproduct.

To start, your need a vision of the person you want to be.
Being debt free and living a dynamic lifestyle sounds great to all of us. The reason most people only wish and do not act is because they have no clear vision of the person they want to be. All they know is they want more money. Without a clear vision, nothing is going to happen. Most people, in their youth, had a vision, but family and friends killed ambitions by making a mockery of their ideas. The pressure to be socially acceptable was strong and they gave up the dream, then the realities of adult responsibility sealed their fate.
For people without a vision, the best way to start is to go back to their youth and dig up old dreams. Start researching and see where they lead.
Classroom education is needed to meet employer's hiring qualifications. Classroom education is NOT needed to become a super achiever. Project base education is a natural builder of super achievers.
A person, who depends on classrooms for education, depends on someone to promote them. A person who can educate themselves will promote themselves.
All youth enter the teen years with visions of doing great things. For at-risk students, these visions are out of step with the formal education system. Society pressures them to give up wild visions and accept the status quo, which includes goals achieved with a college education. As a result, student's natural talent, desires and social pressure are on a collision course. The teenager does not know how to cope and gives up all ambition.
The argument is that teens need to learn basic skills for the adult world. High schools are designed to prepare students for college, not the adult world most will enter. For blue-collar trades, high level of academics is not necessary. Pushing high academic achievement on blue-collar types produces negative results. Many academic subjects can be delayed to a later time in life when there is a need to know. This is the way the system works in the adult world, why not let teenagers join it instead of fight it? If there was less pressure on academics, at-risk students could pursue natural talents that would lead them to a productive lifestyle in the blue-collar world.

Take this as your mission, making a Difference...Wherever You Are!

"When you were born you cried and the world rejoiced, live your life so that when you die the World cries while you rejoice!"
I was in secondary school, the year 1998, 14 yrs old, when my Sunday school teacher told me the above quotation. That sentence changed my life completely for from that day I started living that sentence.

Making a difference in a society constantly pays. It pays a lot more than money can pay. It costs slightest but pays exceedingly. I am well paid and still receiving those pay, and believe that those who will come after me will also be well paid, from my groundwork

It is our role society members to coach our teenagers to live while making a difference wherever they are. Parents of this era live with their children for only few years, before the children are taken away with the school issues. During school time, children stay with the society and no longer with lovely parents. It is easy to distinguish a child who was couched well from a child who wasn’t well couched.

Parents take it from me that couching our children in the above mission will help them be productive in the society. It’s obvious that every parent would like to see his/her child growing into a respectful teenager, youth, parent, grand parent, as well as a wonderful recipe in the world. So it’s necessary to up bring our sons and daughters in the above mission.

It’s not possible for a parent who isn’t living the above mission; because one can not preach what he/she doesn’t practice.
Every one can do it, making your child becoming ‘The tallest tree in the forest' like Leone Sullivan who couched his daughter to making difference wherever she is. Today even in his absence, Dr Julie Helen Sullivan can live like a tallest tree in the forest.
Find about Leone Sullivan at http://www.wvculture.org/history/africanamericans/sullivanleon02.html

Thursday, April 28, 2011

early Pregnancies in Tanzania (Talking notes on a TV Talk show)

Balaa au baraka kuzaliwa msichana Tanzania?

Ninajiuliza sipati jibu kama kweli Serikari na jamii ya kitanzania imeshindwa kutowesha tatizo la mimba za wanafunzi. Takwimu zinatisha!

Ukubwa wa tatizo
• Takwimu za wizara: kutokana na mimba kila mwaka wasichana 8,000 hawamalizi shule, ambapo 5,000 ni shule za misingi na 3,000 ni sekondari.

BEST(Basic Education Statistics of Tanzania) - 2004- 2008: Wasichana 28,590 hawakumaliza ambapo 11,599 ni wa sekondari na 16,991 wa shule za misingi

BEST 2009: Wasichana 6345 (waliogundulika tu na kuthibitishwa) hawakumaliza sekondari kutokana na mimba na 11,264 kutokana na utoro (mimba na ndoa za utotoni zikiwemo)

Takwimu zaidi (school girl pregnancies, national situation causes and impact ya MOEVT: 2004- 2009) wasichana 36,705 walipata ujauzito

Tatizo linakua kila mwaka. Mf. Mwaka 2004 zilitibishwa mimba 772 ikaongezeka kuwa 4,965 mwaka 2008 kutoka shule za sekondari pekee

• Lindi pekee: kila mwezi wasichana 5 hupata mimba (The citizen Julai 2010)

• Tanga 2009: wasichana 300 (Nipashe Machi 15,2010)

• Kagera 2009: wasichana 880(Jambo leo January 12, 2010)

• asilimia zaidi ya 15 ya watoto wote walioacha shule mwaka 2009 ilisababishwa na mimba za utotoni.

Vyanzo
• Ubakaji (Mf. Karagwe angalau watoto 54 walibakwa mwaka 2009)
• Wanafunzi kupanga mitaani (Gheto) (Mf. Singida kuna sec schools 153 ila zenye mabweni ni 21 tu)
• Mila potofu (jando, unyago, kutoa wari)
• Umaskini wa wazazi
• Umbali na usafiri wa shule
• Ujinga na nguvu kidogo ya kushinda vishawishi
• Elimu duni juu ya afya ya uzazi
• Kutoshughughulikiwa na duty bearers (Madiwani, wabunge, n.k)

Madhara ya mimba za utotoni
• Kufa kwa ndoto zao watoto
• Kupoteza uhai kutokana na utoaji mimba
• Maambukizo ya VVU (Mf. Karagwe mwaka 2008 asilimia 85 ya waliopata ujauzito ambao ni 102 walipata maambukizo)
• Maradhi yatokanayo na uzazi mf. fistula
• Kudharaulika kwa elimu ya mtoto wa kike
• Umaskini endelevu ktk jamii
• Uadui ktk jamii

Ugumu wa kesi
• Mianya ya rushwa
• Kuyamaliza kifamilia
• Udanganyifu wa wahusika
• Vitisho kwa wasichana
• Kukosa ujasiri wa kujitetea
• Umbali kufikia dola
• Muda mrefu wa kesi na gharama (mf. Karagwe kesi 167 mwaka 2008 ni kesi 12 zilizoshughulikiwa hadi 2010)

Nini kifanyike
• Ujenzi wa mabweni kwa shule zisizo na mabweni, ulinzi na elimu ya umuhimu wa mabweni
• Mafunzo kwa walimu wa afya na malezi
• Semina za mara kwa mara za kujitambua kwa vijana na upimaji wa mara kwa mara: mashuleni, maeneo ya ibada, n.k
• Kamati za shule, Madiwani na wabunge kuwajibika
• Vyombo vya dola kusimamia kesi ipasavyo
• Chakula cha mchana shule za kutwa
• Tuwaache watoto wawe watoto
• Utekelezaji wa re-entry policy

Sera ya Re entry
• Kwanza tukazanie kupunguza tatizo
• Watoto wasamehewe. Makosa yao yana misingi ambayo wazazi na jamii kwa ujumla wamechangia
• Wapewe fursa ya kuwa watoto tena na wajifunze kutokana na makosa yao (walimu wa malezi, washauri na wanasaikolojia)
• Wasaidiwe ulezi wa watoto wao
• Waandaliwe utaratibu wa kuhudhuria masomo/mitihani yao bila unyanyapaa.(ref. Nganza, au madarasa ya jioni)
• Wale wote wanaowapatia wanafunzi mimba wanawajibishwa kisheria pamoja na kulazimishwa kulipia gharama yote ya kukatisha masomo na malezi ya mtoto hadi mtoto afikapo miaka 18. Na wale ambao wanafanya vitendo hivyo kwa mabinti wa chini ya miaka 18 washtakiwe kwa mujibu wa sheria kwa makosa ya ubakaji (statutory rape).
NB:
Tanzania imepoteza mabinti wengi walioachishwa shule kwa sababu ya ujauzito ambao kama wangepata nafasi ya kuendelea na shule wangeweza kutoa mchango kwa taifa

Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: “Everyone has the right to education…education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality.” That access to education for girls needs to be granted and protected to making sure that they acquire full development of their personalities

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Youth Unemployment in Tanzania

In Africa, the problem of youth unemployment is more complex than in some other parts of the world. Young people make up more than 50 per cent of the population of most member states of the EAC. These young people are a potential resource for growth and social development if gainfully and productively engaged. But they could also be a source of devastating social tension and conflict if not.

In many countries, the degree to which youth can contribute to the possibilities of their countries in particular and the continent in general is constrained by circumscribed life chances, with the lack of job opportunities being one of the major circumstances. The countless number of young people loitering around and peopling the streets of major African cities bears ample witness to the limited job opportunities that the youth of the continent have.

It is still critical for African countries to come up with specific plans that target young people. Most employment policies fail to take into account the particular needs of young people. There is a realization in many countries that youth, both male and female, are at a disadvantage on the job market. Even if they have had some schooling, many lack skills and job experience. Those who want to set up their own businesses lack capital. In many companies, last-in, first-out hiring policies mean that young people are the first to lose their jobs when a company is in distress.

Data on unemployment in general in Africa are lacking. The ILO's Key Indicators of the Labor Market 2001 - 2002 has data for only about 10 countries; and even then, not the most recent data. But one really does not need to have data to recognize that youth employment is and should be a priority in Africa. On 16.04.2003 ILO released the labor force survey, with new unemployment baseline indicators, which highlighted the gradual increase in unemployment in Tanzania. The survey was accompanied by an increase of the number of under-employed persons over the past ten years. Despite encouraging positive economic growth over the past few years, the underlying economic reforms have failed to reduce unemployment in the country. Instead, unemployment rate has increased in both rural and urban areas, with the latter five times as high (compared to rural), doubling the number of unemployed persons ten years ago to about 1 million. Youth unemployment rates are approximately twice as high as adult unemployment rates.

Youth Unemployment: Causes and Effects
A number of possibilities to explain patterns of high and persistent unemployment amongst the young are:
· Less knowledge on self employment, entrepreneurship, job creation and self independence.
· Poor education system. Our system slightly prepares youth to face real life; we miss things like career guidance, WTS Programs, motivational talks, and other counseling and guidance programs
· The size of the youth cohort - the higher the number of young people, the more jobs that will be required to accommodate them.
· Lack of skills- It is as well argued that in this new technological age the young do not possess the skills that firms need. There is less demand than in the past for unskilled jobs, particularly because of new technology, and this substantially affects the young.
· Hard working conditions; mistreatment and value for money issue but also laziness
· Globalization speed threat to employers; this discourages employing unskilled young people/fresh from school
· Slow-growing economies are unable to generate enough job opportunities to absorb the large number of young people qualifying from institutions of learning every year
· Lack of volunteerism spirit but also lack of support after graduating
· Daring fear and hence long time unemployment

Effects of unemployment increase
· Unemployment threatens peace and security
· Unemployed youth are much more likely to engage in risky behavior which could increase their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

· Jobless youth are often marginalized and excluded from the larger society. The social exclusion can lead to alienation from society and democratic political processes, and subscription to radical and even terrorist ideologies. One very visible consequence of youth unemployment in Africa is the rising rate of crime.

· Unemployment has social as well as economic consequences for young people. Unemployed young people are forced to find alternatives to generate income, including activities in the survival-type informal sector and, in extreme cases, criminal activity.

· Urban youth unemployment is further exacerbated by rural-urban migration. Rural migrants believe that more jobs and social opportunities are available in urban areas, but once in the cities they find themselves without a job and with limited social networks.

· The longer unemployment spell, the more difficult it is for that person to find work because of the loss of skills, morale, psychological damage etc. There are three major reasons why unemployment while young, especially for frequent or long periods, can be particularly harmful:
v Early unemployment in a person's career may permanently impair his or her future productive capacity.
v Barriers to employment can block young people in the passage from adolescence to adulthood, which involves setting up a household and forming a family.
v There is some connection between youth joblessness and serious social problems such as drug abuse, petty crime and single parent families.
· High levels of youth unemployment may, at an aggregate level, lead to alienation from society and from democratic political processes, which may give rise to social unrest. Unemployment makes people unhappy

What should be done?
The Vision of the Ministry of labor, youth development and sports is to have industrial harmony, health and safe working environment; effective social welfare conditions for the people; enabling environment for human labor deployment and; to have well brought up and responsible youth in society.
The mission of the Ministry is to promote labour standards, employment, social welfare and youth development as well as sports development.
The functions of the ministry are;
· Coordinate Labor Policy, National Employment Policy, Trade Unions, Human Resources Development Programmes, International Labor Organizations, Co-ordination and Facilitation of Informal Sector, Youth Development, Employment and Youth Self-reliance Projects, Vocational Training Youth Organizations, Social Welfare Policy, Probation and Repatriation of Destitute, Policy on Games and Sports Development and its implementation.
· Development of Human Resources under this Ministry.
· Extra ministerial Departments, Parastatal Organizations and Projects under this Ministry.
· Ensure development of all sports at national and international levels.
Source: www.tanzania.go.tz/labour
Very comforting, but poorly achieved! But we can still advice the following.
“Reducing the world’s rate of youth unemployment by half could add $2,200 bn – $3,500 bn to the global economy”, estimates the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Improve Education and training
It is clear that to rise out of poverty, the people of our continent need jobs and education. Not just any job, but one that provides a decent wage and employment conditions.
To increase the employability of the 1 million young school-leavers entering the job market annually without appropriate skills, the Egyptian government in 1991 began to provide technical and vocational training to secondary school students. Over a three-year period, students spend two days a week at school and four days a week in training in a business. More than 1,600 companies are involved in the programme, which has so far reached more than 15,000 students. Graduates often find immediate employment or set up their own small enterprises.
Promoting Entrepreneurship
Another focus of action has been on spreading entrepreneurship skills beyond the schools. A number of countries have introduced entrepreneurship training programmes, including Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Policymakers believe that the promotion of small-business enterprises and the informal sector offer quick solutions to joblessness.
In Nigeria, which has more than 10 million small-business owners, the government supports new entrepreneurs through a network of about 20 industrial development centers that train youth, help them turn their ideas into feasible business ventures and supply them with credit.
Policy improvement
For successful poverty reduction we must have to be in the driver’s seat, because we are the ones who know best where the shoe pinches. We should craft their own poverty-reduction strategies based on national realities.

Initiating Innovative programs
The urgency and seriousness of the problem of youth unemployment in Tanzania should convince all of us to draw number of innovative programs for young people.

Setting legal protection for youth
Our Govt can make it a regulation for every company or organization to hire a certain amount of employees whether fresh graduates or not into their organizations or companies for this will help in giving a certain amount of youths the opportunity to grow in the market and gain more experience.
Even though, we have said a lot on government accountability regarding this matter, but we still have the increased unemployment rate. The Government knows what to do but to them its “kelele za chura….” Today the Govt is facing by a lot of challenges hence it’s unrealistic to wait for the Govt to bring us changes. Changes should begin from us. We can shape our own destiny. We can propose ideas to solve the problem which can be applicable from the government to an individual level.
For youth

Youth must stop, reflect, theorize, re-plan and then act in accordance with better future. A youth must at individual level improve personal skills like being self esteemed, independent, decisive, critical, thinking positive, determinant, dynamic, hard working, creative, networking with different exposures, increasing knowledge beyond classroom knowledge, learning persuading skills, seeking technological knowledge, improving altenative communication ways, be open, responsible, ethical, patriot and prove your ability to master environment surrounding you.

Conclusion
This paper has briefly discussed the problem of youth unemployment in Tanzania. The discussion has not been exhaustive. Summing up I recommend the need for data on youth unemployment in Tanzania. The lack of data - reliable, consistent, and timely – is a hindrance to informed decision-making in our country. The lack of data is therefore an important area for discussion for evidence-based policy-making on youth unemployment. We need to improve the overall data collection capabilities.