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    Shembe: a Zulu Church

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    One of the ceremonies Shembe initiated was a barefoot three-day pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain, Nhlangakazi. Shembe said the Word had led him to this low, flat-topped mountain, as it was the place God would communicate his instructions to his prophet, just as Moses had to climb Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. It might have been at Nhlangakazi (accounts vary) that Shembe was struck by lightning and while incapacitated, received divine visions that instructed him to go south.2019-08-0

    2010 CGIAR Financing Plan: TMT Recommendations to the ExCo 17

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    This is a draft paper of the TMT recommendations based on information provided by the Centers for the purpose of consultation with the Alliance and the donors. The draft was circulated to the Centers and received excellent comments. It will be discussed further at the dialogue of the Alliance and the donors on Nov 2, 2009 in Rome, and revised after the ExCo 17 meeting. This document was discussed at ExCo17

    Transition trauma

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    If you have been at the same university for a number of years you may find it hard to remember how it felt when you started teaching there. If you were lucky, after being told where the expenses forms are, how many library books you could sign out and the like, a colleague who had taught the courses you were going to teach in the coming year would take you aside, sit you down with the existing teaching materials, explain how the lectures that have been prepared before relate to the syllabus and how the coming year was likely to unfold. Unfortunately, this kind of easing-in process does not always occur. If there is a core of experienced staff who have taught across a variety of units in a programme and have the leisure and motivation to pass their knowledge onwards to new staff, continuity can be assured informally but this can go awry where a single member of staff is responsible for teaching a particular set of units for a number of years and then leaves or retires, or if a number of staff leave from a small team. The purpose of this piece is to outline (based in part on my own experience) some scenarios where as a result newly-arrived lecturers' experiences can be more difficult than they need to be, the student experience can be compromised by confusing inconsistencies in how they are taught, and a great deal of accumulated knowledge from lecturers who were long-serving in a department can fall between the cracks and be lost. Having identified some of these problem areas, I have some suggestions for how they can be addressed

    Enterprise Behavior and Privatization of the Large Enterprises in the Russian Federation

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    The Economic Transition and Integration (ETI) Project at IIASA has built on the institute's tradition of promoting collaborative research between East and West. The ETI Project's proven ability in dealing with issues pertaining to the transformation from central planning to market economics has been valuable for policy-makers and scientists alike. As a result, the government of the Russian Federation turned in 1992 to the ETI Project to organize a series of seminars and provide reports on topics of concern to the government. The Ford Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts have generously provided financial support for the seminar series. This report summarizes the contributions of participants at two related seminars held at the request of the Russian government at IIASA in the summer of 1993: Enterprise Behavior under Conditions of Economic Reform and Privatization of Large State Enterprises, both in the Russian Federation. Enterprise behavior, particularly of the large state enterprises that continue to dominate the Russian industrial and service sectors, is a crucial factor determining the success of economic reform. Somewhat surprisingly, the changing economic conditions have as yet to be accompanied by similarly sweeping alterations in firm behavior. The first of the two summer seminars focussed on why and how managerial attitudes and objectives, enterprise relationships, financial issues and taxation, foreign trade, and social welfare were significant in explaining present trends in enterprise behavior. Seminar participants searched out alternatives that would make these factors more conducive to promoting economic recovery and growth, and also compared the behavior of Russian enterprises with experiences in Poland and the Czech Republic. Privatization of large state enterprises is an integral part of the Russian economic transition. Vice Premier Anatoly Chubais opened the second workshop by reviewing the economic and political history of Russian privatization efforts, summarizing recent developments, and outlining future plans. Potential and actual privatization influence managers' and firms' behavior before and after the process is undertaken. Further discussions were devoted to the legal and institutional environment, the restructuring and privatization interface, and a review of privatization techniques and experiences from Central and Eastern Europe. Once again, the seminar revealed an intense willingness of experts from Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the West to share their valuable experiences in an effort to find approaches to more optimally encourage the successful transition to a market economy

    Russia's food economy in transition

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    Russia's food economy is undergoing a fundamental transition. Rapid changes and adjustments are still taking place in the market and pricing systems, in the subsidies to output and input markets and the credit market, and in the process of privatization and other structural reforms. These transformations have far-reaching effects on domestic supply and demand relationships. And, as part of the still greater economic changes taking place in the former planned economies of central and eastern Europe, these transformations may have extensive ramifications for international food markets. The authors describe agricultural policy before reform and then the state of reforms and agriculture today. They then turn to future food consumption and production trends. The authors conclude that Russian agriculture will remain in transition for a long time. Risky labor and food markets and the inaccessibility of financing are causing the expansion of small-scale farming and the home production of food. Managerial deficiencies and market imperfections are hindering a revitalization of large-scale farming. Certainly the potential for major production increases exists in Russia, as well as in some other countries of the former Soviet Union, especially Ukraine and Kazakhstan. One need not be overly optimistic to assume that efficiency will improve and this potential will be realized over the long term. During the period covered by the projections given here, however, institutional constraints, friction in finance, land, and labor markets, and limited infrastructure will probably prevent farmers and the food-processing sector from responding strongly to incentives and will continue to inhibit the efficiency and growth of the Russian food economy.Markets Economic policy. ,Prices Government policy Former Soviet republics. ,Agricultural policy Former Soviet republics. ,Former Soviet republics Economic policy. ,Food consumption. ,
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