We are now at the end of the organisations and cultures course and i want to thank the teacher for all the work she has done. The course was very interesting, and applicable to today´´s situation, it was very interesting the fact of learning about other cultures and countries, the blog was a new activity for me and i personally think that it is a nice tool to learn more about the different topics seen in class, at the same time it leaves a window open for creativity which i think is great!!!
all of the activities done in class were applicable to the course and i think it pushed us a little bit more to make into practice the theory learned.

WHAT IS It?

http://www.bernan.com/IGO/images/PAHO_LOGO_tri_CMYK.jpg

According to http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=220
Is an international public health agency with more than 100 years of experience in working to improve health and living standards of the countries of the Americas. It serves as the specialized organization for health of the Inter-American System. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization and enjoys international recognition as part of the United Nations system.

PAHO COUNTRIES AND CENTERS

Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Aruba
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda
Venezuela
Bolivia
Brazil
British Virgin Islands (UK)
Canada
Cayman Islands
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Field Office, El Paso TX, USA
French Guiana
Grenada
Guadaloupe
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Martinique
Mexico
Montserrat
Netherland Antilles
Nicaragua
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Puerto Rico
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos
United States of America
Uruguay


WHERE IN COLOMBIA IS IT LOCATED?

Colombia
Dr. Cristina Nogueira
PAHO/WHO Representative Colombia

Carrera 7 Nr. 74-21, Piso 9
Edificio Seguros Aurora
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia

Country/City Code: 011-57-1
Telephones: 314-4141 SW
Fax: 254-7070

http://www.paho.org/col

Inside this organization exists those countries called:

The Priority Countries (PC),which are those singled out for special attention, due to the fact that their health status remains unacceptable to the Member States of PAHO. These countries are: Bolivia, Guyana, Haití, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Initially, those are the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), where the rate of debt payment leaves little national income for increasing expenditure in the development of the social sectors. In these countries, the health institutions and infrastructure are extremely weak. In the case of Haiti, while not an HIPC, its maternal and infant mortality rates, two of the most sensitive health development indicators, are the highest in the Region and among the highest in the world.

This organization has important governing bodies, in which each one plays an important role, those are:

*The Pan American Sanitary Conference: The Conference is the supreme governing authority and meets every five years to determine its general policies. The Conference also serves as a forum for the interchange of information and ideas relating to the prevention of disease; the preservation, promotion and restoration of mental and physical health; and the advancement of sociomedical measures and facilities for the prevention and treatment of physical and mental diseases in the Western Hemisphere.

*The Directing Council: The Council meets once a year and when the conference does not meet they can act on behalf.

*The Executive Committee: It´s composed of nine Member States of the Organization, elected by the Conference or the Council for periods of three years. The Committee, which meets twice a year, acts as a working party of the Conference or Council.Special meetings are convoked by the Director of the Bureau either on his/her own initiative or upon request of at least three Member States.

*The Committee has an auxiliary advisory body, the Subcommittee on Program, Budget, and Administration: this is an auxiliary advisory body of the Executive Committee with responsibility for aspects of Program, Budget and Administration. It reviews, and makes recommendations to the Executive Committee in these areas. It consists of seven Members.

REFERENCE
http://new.paho.org

INTERESTING WEB SITE TO VISIT IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS ORGANIZATION

http://www.youtube.com/pahopin#p/u

This law aims to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants. It was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona and allegates that immigrants now should carry with them their immigration documents as proof of their citizenship status and allowing to identify those who are illegal immigrants. This law has created many protests of immigrants but like in every situation there is some pros and cons LETS SEE:

PROS: *end to illegal immigration
*end of violence in the border and the dieying of millions of immigrants
every day
*more control in terms of immigration and as a result better quality of life
for legal immigrants

CONS: *invitation for harrasment
*discrimination
*violence and crime
*black mail
*corruption
*boycotts

www.kerenmalki.org/images/NBC_Arab_Bank_Front.jpg

As we already know the arab community have a great respect of their holy book "the quran" and all their everyday life activities are based in what is written in it. In regards to the banking system, with the development of viable alternatives
to conventional finance increasingly enables Muslims to participate in the financial
world without violating their Islamic principles and without bearing the economic
penalty that comes from non-participatio.
Currently, the Islamic banking industry consists of several hundred billion dollars,
and more than 300 financial institutions in and outside the Muslim world.

AND NOW..WHAT IS ISLAMIC BANKING???
Islamic banking can be considered banking with a consciencE; it is based on two main financial principles. Firstly, investment is to be made in the private sector through interest-free financing. Secondly, the development of financial instruments is to be done on the basis of profit and loss sharing as well as sharing risks. Another important fact is that this type of banking is based around Shariah (prohibition of interest charge).

WHY A PROHIBITION OF INTEREST CHARGE??
Islam considers interest an unjustified increase of capital, with no effort made to earn it, it is considered of false value, and therefore is prohibited.

NOW, WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ISLAMIC BANKING AND CONVENTIONAL BANKING???

ISLAMIC BANKING: -Interest is prohibited
-High degree of stability
-Customer shares the profit and loss with the bank
-The bank acts like an investment company, selling its stocks to
the public
-Bank and clients act like joint investors

CONVENTIONAL BANKING: -Charge of interest
-Lower degree of stability
-customer obtains fixed interest from
the bank and does not share loss

AN INTERESTING VIDEO...FEEL FREE TO WATCH IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VunoFPhZha8

http://colombiareports.com/pics/2008/10/cut.jpg


Aside from the three main national unions existing in Colombia, there are also other unions wich represent workers from a particular economic sector, like the USO of the oil industry.
The other major sector union is FECODE (Federación Colombiana de Educadores, or Colombian Teachers Federation, official website: ). It represents teachers nationwide.
There was a time during the 20th century where other sector unions and company's unions were very important as well, but now the three main national unions, (CTC, CGT and CUT, and now the UTRACUN), plus the sectorial USO and FECODE are the main organizations.

There is an estimate, that only 20% of Colombian workers is represented in these national unions, or Central, also because private companies also have their own unions, but these workers would loose benefits if they were to merge into any of these three main Centrals, because not only these Centrals support labor rights, but also may support political candidates, specially leftist candidates, coming mainly from the PDA (Polo Democrático Alternativo, or Alternative
Democratic Pole), which is the merger of AD and PDI parties.

Taken from:http://flagspot.net/flags/co%7Dtrade.html

http://lmab.nu/poland/trade%20union.jpg

Over the last twenty years there has been a widespread decline in trade union membership throughout most of western Europe. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, unionisation in many eastern European states has collapsed at an even more dramatic rate. In Poland, for example, today's 14 % level of unionisation is in marked contrast to that of the Soviet-controlled era, when almost all workplaces were unionised. Most of those who remain trade union members in Poland work for former state-owned companies.

In only 8 out of the current 27 member states of the European Union (EU) are more than half of the employed population members of a trade union. In fact, the EU's four most populated states all have modest levels of unionisation, with Italy at 30%, the UK 29%, Germany 27% and France at only 9%.

As a consequence, three out of every four people employed in the EU are now not members of a trade union. Furthermore, in every EU country outside Scandinavia (except Belgium), trade union membership is either static or continues to decline. Even in the UK, where a clear formal procedure for trade union recognition was introduced through the 1999 Employment Relations Act, the unionisation of employees has remained stable.

FedEE estimates that, in the medium term, the average level of unionisation across the EU will fall even further - from 26.3% today to just under 20% by 2010.

Taken from: http://www.fedee.com/tradeunions.html

http://www.talkmorocco.net/ I personally liked this blog very much because i think is a great idea to create a space where people can speak freely, express their ideas without any barriers and say what they want without any fear. AWESOME!!!


http://ecoplaneta.mangasverdes.es/ I liked this blog because it talks about a very sensitive subject that affects all of the human society, and this blog shows exactly the problems that the world is having right now environmentally and how humans contribute to it!!!.

Positive Aspects of Corporate Culture

. It provides a sense of identity
. Guides behaviour in certain situations and provides control for a desirable behaviour
. Keeps all the employees pulling in the same direction
. It helps the company in defining it´s mission, vision and goals
. it bonds people together
. Serves as an incentive to keep going and make stronger efforts
. It allows the company to develop a competitive advantage
. High staff loyalty


Negative Aspects of Corporate Culture

. If the corporate culture is not flexible it can bring a great disadvantage in the adaptation to change, as the world around us changes quickly
. Employees might feel controlled and trapped
. A wrong decision made by a director affects greatly the whole company
. The corporation becomes a person and can be sued easily

English Anthropologist Edward B. Tylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in (1871)

Says that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society."

Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C. A. (1989). Multicultural education. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

"Most social scientists today view culture as consisting primarily of the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies. The essence of a culture is not its artifacts, tools, or other tangible cultural elements but how the members of the group interpret, use, and perceive them. It is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized societies; it is not material objects and other tangible aspects of human societies. People within a culture usually interpret the meaning of symbols, artifacts, and behaviors in the same or in similar ways."


Parson, T. (1949). Essays in Sociological Theory. Glencoe, IL.

"Culture...consists in those patterns relative to behavior and the products of human action which may be inherited, that is, passed on from generation to generation independently of the biological genes" (p. 8).


CULTURE FOR ME IS...WHAT allows to identify WHY values, beliefs, and behaviours of people change from one person to another and from one country to another. Culture also allows us to understand in a better way the actions of others...CULTURE TO ME IS THE MOST AMAZING THING!!!