Having realized that poverty can’t be eliminated through donations only, we need to develop a structure that provides equal opportunities for everybody and thus brighten their future at all stages of life. One such structure, developed by economists from the World Bank, Brazil and Argentina is Human Opportunity Index (HOI,) provides a method of classifying and rectifying the reasons that bring inequalities in opportunity, particularly for children. The study primarily focuses on children because:

“As a whole, societies with greater inequality of basic opportunities among children are more likely to show inequalities later in the life cycle, despite individuals who beat the odds through their effort, talent and luck.”

The same study also tries to measure inopportunity and makes this significant discovery:

“Between one fourth and one half of income inequality observed among Latin America and the Caribbean adults is due to personal circumstances endured during childhood that fell outside of their control or responsibility, such as race, gender, birthplace, parent’s educational level and their father’s occupation.”

The HOI help recognizing the circumstances over which the child has no control, like its location, race, availability of clean water and electricity and education of parents, but all these can affect the economic future of a child. It also offers statistical data as proof on many prevailing factors which can shape children’s access to opportunities and direct them to a more useful lifer on getting government support, community development programs and even microfinance. These tools are instrumental in providing access to potable water and electricity, perking up literacy rates, and enhancing parents’ incomes. All these go to create a helpful way of offering them a level playing field and open the doors of opportunity.

How do microfinance opportunities contribute to a child’s economic outlook?

Micro financing is a way of offering financial services including loans, saving plus insurance to poor entrepreneurs so that they can improve their small businesses. It has been realized by ACCION International that on availing these financial services poor entrepreneurs can improve their productivity and make more money and thus make savings that can be utilized for the overall benefit of the family thereby enabling them to pay for vaccinations, school fees, improve condition of home and offer clean water and healthy food for their families. ACCION points out that access to financial services to working poor benefit their children.

Here is real story of Juan Pirir, a farmer cum furniture maker from Guatemala. During his childhood Juan needed to work in the fields and thus couldn’t go to school and get educated. With the help of microfinance services, he is now the father of six children.

As per HOI, Guatemala is the lowest-ranking country in offering   opportunities for education of children. The study reveals that uneducated parents living in rural areas and working as agricultural laborers have many children, who have almost zero likelihood of doing well in later life.

Thankfully, Juan could seek loan from Génesis Empresarial, allowing him to replace his manual tools with electric ones. As a result, his production of furniture went up by three times and profit tripled. At present his workshop has all the tools and he employs three local boys from his neighborhood as part time helpers. Availability of fund through microfinance gave him an opportunity to improve his business, enabling him to have a new roof over his family house and send all his six children to school!

Dodgy Reports, Fossil Fuel Fluctuations and Bird Life: Why Wind Farms Still Have to Battle for their Right to Exist

Compared to most other renewable energy sources, wind power seems to attract its fair share of doubters and naysayers. There’s something about these huge pillars with their slowly revolving props that seems to split opinion. Whether it’s a question of their true energy producing efficiency or simply their aesthetic appeal, more than any other renewable energy wind has had to fight for its kudos in the green agenda.

With a recent report that stated people in the UK were more in favour of renewable technologies rather than against, it may be surprising that the debate about wind is still ongoing.

The Wind Farms that are ‘De-Rating’

Only recently a dubious report on the number of smaller wind farms ‘de-rating’ in order to get more government and EU subsidies was largely discounted by Ofgem who said there was little evidence to support the idea. The information was supplied by a public relations company, acting for a small turbine company called Vergnet, and was a report that largely targeted just one wind power company, EWT, saying they were pretending that over 100 of their farms were operating at a lower power level to get more public money.

As the Guardian reported this month, Ofgem have stated that companies have not been able to fix the system and they are paid on a production basis dependent on the Feed in Tariff. According to the newspaper report Ofgem added that “the main losers from the current subsidy system are makers of small turbines, such as Vergnet.”

With research like this making the headlines, it’s often difficult to discover the real truth when it comes to wind power. The BBC recently reported that investing in more renewables such as wind could help to offset the destabilising effect of fluctuating fossil fuel prices. The cost of oil has come plummeting down in recent months, a good thing for consumers, but not necessarily a great thing for the future of the world economy.

The report by Cambridge Econometrics suggest that we will be reaching a time when the supply of fossil fuels such as oil will begin to diminish and these will have to be replaced. If this comes from our gas supplies and their price increases by 30% then the impact on electricity prices could see an increase of 8%. If, however, we are more reliant on the power produced by wind farms, that price rise may only be as little as 4%.

According to co-author of the report, Sarah Billington: “For the wind scenario, you have higher upfront capital costs but fewer uncertain variable costs, leading to more price resilience.” The trouble is that the report was commissioned for RenewablesUK that has a vested interested in technologies such as wind farms.

Challenges to Wind Farm Projects

Wind farms don’t just come under attack, or indeed get support, from people with questionable statistics. There are plenty of pressure groups and individuals who object to the aesthetic appeal of the towers, whether they are a successful technology for producing electricity or not. The latest major stumbling block for energy companies in Scotland is the RSPB who have raised a legal challenge against the construction of 4 large scale wind farm projects.

The developments are intended for the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay and had originally received approval but with strict conditions in respect of protecting the environment, something that Friends of the Earth were happy with. But the RSPB has said the impact on wildlife in the area is far too great and could have consequences for preservation in the future.

The company planning to build the wind farms, Scottish Renewables, said they had taken every care to comply with the planning conditions and that the building of new, clean energy was part of protecting the environment and reversing the impact of climate change that was a direct threat to wildlife such as birds. The senior policy manager for the company added: “”This new delay will make it even harder for Scotland to catch up with the rest of UK and northern Europe, which already have a sizeable offshore wind industry and supply chain supporting thousands of jobs.”

Using the power of wind to drive our energy production has been one of our goals since the late 17^th Century and we were using it in our windmills to grind corn and wheat for thousands of years before that. Anyone who lives near the coast in the UK has become used to the wind turbines out on the horizon, powering thousands of homes and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. It seems strange that we have invested so much in the technology and yet are still, quite often, ill at ease with it.

And perhaps that has more to do with the way they crowd the skyline rather than their ability to provide us with an independent and valuable source of power. In truth, wind power is providing an increasingly significant part of the power that we need to live our daily lives and will continue to do so well into this century.

Perhaps it’s time we stopped making excuses for its failure and began embracing it as one of the true green technologies of the 21^st Century.

Read more at The Renewable Energy Hub.

Are you familiar with the name mahalo uke? if not, then you might want to make yourself familiar with it. There are many names of music, and from my experience I can say that the more you know about it, the more likely you are to find an instrument that you will really like. If you are bored with your electric guitar or piano, consider trying out something very original, something you have never tried before.

To be honest, I cannot imagine living in this day and age without knowing English. Everything I do in my everyday life has to do with my knowledge of the English language: my work, the games I play, all the social interactions, etc. I strongly believe that being able to speak and understand English is vital in today’s world and that no person should ignore the importance of being able to communicate in fluent English.

It is possible to learn English with the help of Skype English Classes. As a matter of fact, I really like it that it is indeed possible to learn English over the Internet as this way people don’t even have to leave their homes when they want to learn the language. Attending live Spoken English Classes can prove to be problematic to some people who don’t have an opportunity to travel to their teacher, but a quick and effective Skype English Class can easily remedy the problem and make everything a lot better and a lot more convenient.

I personally recommend Skype English classes as I see them as a great way to gain knowledge about this wonderful language. And even if you think that you are fluent in it and believe that you know it well, you might be surprised to discover that there are some things you might have missed out. I suggest that you make yourself familiar with the possibilities that await you when it comes to learning English and that you take action as fast as possible. No one should waste their time by not learning English. In this day and age, English is mandatory in business, social interactions as well as entertainment. There is absolutely no way a person would do well without knowing this wonderful language that is widely spoken in all parts of the world.

The Internet has changed the world we live in to the point that many business activities that were traditionally done in person are now able to be completed online. This type of convenience is being utilized by a wide variety of industries to lower costs and improve efficiency. If you have bought or sold a property, you will certainly be familiar with conveyancing solicitors. These are people who guide you through the process of the entire transaction. However, this process has changed dramatically over the past couple of years. Online conveyancing, otherwise known as e-conveyancing, is quickly gaining in popularity. Click here to find out why. Here are some of the advantages to using e-conveyancing.

1. Instant quotes

One of the common problems that people encounter when they begin looking for a conveyancer is the fact that it takes literally days to get a quote. This can cause the transfer process to become very bogged down. Fortunately, the days of waiting around endlessly for quotes are gone forever. Thanks to the modern technology of online conveyancing, a person is able to get conveyancing quotes immediately. This will allow a person to select his or her conveyancer in just a few days.

2. The process goes a lot faster

When you decide to use online conveyancing, one of the first things you will notice is how fast the entire process goes, especially when you compare it to the more traditional conveyancing methods. When you hire an actual conveyancer, it requires many sensitive documents being sent back and forth. Needless to say, having all of these documents traveling around can cause the process to grind to a halt. However, every document is filled out electronically by an online conveyancing solicitor. This makes the deed transfer time lightning fast compared to the traditional way of completing this transaction.

3. You have the ability to monitor the transfer

One of the reasons that more people are using online conveyancing solicitors every day is the fact that they now have the ability to monitor the entire deed transfer process from start to finish. This means you will not have to constantly wonder what the progress of your deed transfer is while the process is going on. If you do the transaction in the traditional way, the only way you can find out the progress of your transfer is make a phone call, during which you will probably wait on hold endlessly. You can use an online tracking facility, eliminating the need to track down your conveyancing solicitor to find out what stage your transfer is in. This is truly revolutionary technology. As far as online conveyancing solicitors are concerned, there are many to choose from, so find the right one for you.

You may not know it, but your life insurance policy will be more than enough to cover funeral expenses. Everyday, Americans are purchasing life insurance policies to cover the costs that accrue when they pass away. Life insurance policies can cover a multitude of expenditures, including funerals, cremations, bills and any additional expenses related to the passing of a loved one.

The Average Cost of a Funeral

According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the average cost for a funeral in the United States is $6,600. An additional $3,000 is often needed for the grave site itself and any vault or liner that will be used in the process.

While it may sound harsh, funeral directors often try to tack on extras and promote their services in a subtle, yet sales oriented way. Use the following tips to help you save money on a loved one’s funeral:

• Shop around – Approach multiple funeral homes to get the best price available for the best quality of service. Choosing the closest funeral to your home may potentially cost you thousands of more dollars if you do not compare them with one across town.
• The total cost – When comparing multiple funeral homes, get a clear picture of every cost involved. From transportation to embalming charges, everything has a cost. Getting a breakdown upfront of all charges can save you money when shopping around.
• Basic service fees – Everyone who hires a funeral home to bury a loved one must pay these fees. They commonly range from $1,000 to $2,000, but can be as high as $5,000. They cover death certificates, staff members, planning, permits and more. If you see something within these costs that doesn’t make sense to you, ask the funeral director to explain it thoroughly.

The Average Life Insurance Payout

The average life insurance payout is around $200,000. If life insurance is collected due to the death of an individual, the insurance is not taxable. In can take three months or more to collect the payout from your life insurance company.

Term life insurance is purchased for a particular period. If you buy this type of life insurance and pass away during the pre-determined period in the life insurance contract, your family will receive a payout to cover any related expenses.

The following types of expenses are covered by life insurance:

• Debts – Whether you have a car payment, mortgage or credit cards, your life insurance covers these debts when you pass away.
• Funeral Expenses – One of the biggest expenses that occurs when a family member passes away is for the funeral and related services. Life insurance will cover any funeral costs, including burial or cremation and more.
• Dependents and Loved Ones – If your passing has caused any financial stress for any of your dependents, life insurance will cover those costs as well. From college tuition, to nursing home care and other medical expenses, the life insurance policy will alleviate any unwanted stress from expenses.

Life Insurance Policies Will Cover Funeral Expenses

Because the average cost of a funeral is less than $10,000, your life insurance policy will more than cover related expenses. Check your policy to see how much of your policy is dedicated towards the funeral itself.

Most life insurance policies include burial insurance. Normally written as part of the policy, an average burial insurance clause covers roughly $15,000 of the total costs of the services.

Planning for the funeral of a loved one can be stressful for everyone. To make the process easier for you and your family, ensure that the right life insurance policy is in effect and that all necessary steps have been taken to protect all dependents financially.

About the author:

The writer, Brennen Kliffmueller, is a financial advisor who strives to press the importance of things like insurance on families so they don’t get caught off guard. For shopping around for an insurance plan, he highly recommends Insurance Land for life or any other kind of insurance you might need. You can learn more about him on Google+.

Creating a Google-friendly site is necessary for any business. After all, it’s imperative that your business is a success. Whether you work from home or not, you need to ensure that your company is in a good state of play. But as any stay at home entrepreneur will attest, your businesses website is vital. It can attract more customers. But, it can also ensure that Google is ranking you higher, above your competitors.

So, how can you ensure that you have a website that is Google-friendly?

Let’s find out.

This is the Site That Your Visitors Are Looking For

Content is essential to your website. But, you also need to ensure that you have a fully optimised website that meets the needs of your clients. Your site should be responsive. It should be easy to use. It should have clear navigation. If you want to ensure that your visitors are returning time and time again, and you want to keep Google happy, you need to place content on your site. This ensures that traffic is increased. Stick to your main topic. Hone your niche. Get people hooked on your information rich site. After all, it’s about having a brand and website that people get information from. You don’t have to have pages and pages of products for sale.

Links, Links, Links

Links to your website are important. Google loves links. This gives your website greater visibility. So, look at ways in which your website can be optimised to Google’s high standard. Google uses search terms that are complex and sophisticated. It may be things like location or the services that you provide. So, make sure that you have a site is full of links and referrals.

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Easily Accessible Information

Your website needs to be readily available to its visitors. If you are unsure how to do this, web design in Bucks County can be a valuable asset. Make sure that you have static text links so that your web visitors can access your site with ease.  Remember, your site needs to have a clear and logical layout. Having clearly defined sections are critical. Include sections detailing blogs, about us, contact and directories. This is to ensure that your site is fully optimised for Google’s complex search terms. This will ensure that you rank high in search engine results. But, it also creates a fantastic and logical accessible website for your clientele. By doing this, you will ensure that your site is indexed in the right way thus making it have masses of appeal at Google HQ.

Descriptive Titles

What is the title of your web page? How can you make your content stand out? You need to ensure that you are using descriptive titles within any of your websites landing pages. This ensures that you are catching the attention of Google algorithms. Your titles have to be vivid and eye-catching. So, include things like your businesses services and common sense description points.

Keyword Rich URLs

Keywords are an important part of being Google-friendly. You need to ensure that you are using URLs that contain a wide range of keywords. So, think about your business and its niche. How will you incorporate URLS that are deemed keyword worthy and relevant?  Think about key industry terms and things that your customers will search for.

Winter. It’s cold. And wet. And dark. It leads to the January blues and that mythical thing called ‘Blue Monday’ (The Guardian, 19 January 2015).

Yet this is the time of year when team building can be seen at its best. People are having to cover for staff taking Christmas breaks. Others are dealing with the effects of a cold, flu or even a stomach bug. Colleagues have to help out by taking on extra work when absence is caused by a worker or their family members being ill. Some people may be worrying about how to pay off the Christmas overspending. Others are doing their grumpy best to stick to new years’ resolutions involving no sweet things or alcohol. Yes, Dry January (Alcohol Concern) is officially A Thing now, as if January wasn’t already miserable enough. The days are cold, wet and darkly long. You go to work in the dark and you return in the dark. Daylight is that fleeting thing you only see at weekends. Tempers are short and nights are long. No more Bank Holidays until Easter, which is all the way away in April. December may have been the end of the financial year for some firms, and chances are, if that’s your firm, your poor accountant worked all the way through Christmas to ensure the figures were submitted before New Year.

Time for a change. A chance to shake up the winter sluggishness. The perfect time for a shouting, muddy, outdoor team building game? Or for curling up with a mug of hot chocolate and a quiz show with colleagues, if tastes run to something needing less muscle power and more brain power.

So why not reward your staff for their hard work over the winter? Arrange to book them on a suitably wacky team building game for that inevitable slump which hits all offices by the end of February. Give them something to look forward to. A bracing round of golf or a muddy zipline challenge; an orienteering day or simply a walk in the park where everyone is required to find out at least one new fact about someone they work with and two about someone they don’t.

Or perhaps a quiz show based on one of the timeless formats from Bruce Forsyth’s heyday in the 70s. A gameshow clone where experts oversee your staff trying their hands at throwing pots or answering observation-based questions after watching TV show clips or listening to music samples.

A team building events and games organiser will be able to suggest a suitably raucous game for the outdoors events as well as a suitably cerebral challenge for those who prefer to stay inside in the warm. They are used to fielding all kinds of requests from all kinds of firms and like nothing more than putting together a unique day to relax stressed out workers.

The thing is that team building events and games can range from a short conference energiser or meeting focusser lasting a few minutes (choose five items to take with you to a desert island, for instance) to a day long experience of white water rafting or a track day. Events are designed to be fun and light hearted while teaching team skills subliminally – your raft isn’t going to get down the flume without all of you steering it, nor is your team of drivers going to win purely by being the fastest around the track; no good barging everyone else out the way and being black flagged for dangerous driving, is there?

As a manager you could even decide to liven up regular potentially repetitive quarterly or monthly meetings by including a short team building game. I’ve certainly been in the kind of long meetings where even the chance to break for a drink would have been appreciated, never mind actually seeing how the clients would have reacted if we had asked them to let their hair down a bit. It’s amazing how a bit of fun can break down barriers between businesses and lead to a better understanding of people’s requirements.

If you work at a large firm, make a suggestion that a team building activities organiser is invited onto the team overseeing your induction days. Your new employees will see that it’s not all work and no play at their new firm, and those needing to attend annual training will begin to wonder what you have planned for them this time. Of course, you’ll always find one or two staff who find playing games in meetings beneath them, but generally a bit of fun never hurt anyone.

Today is bright and sunny as I look out of the window, and I’m quite relaxed and even slightly pleased to see the bright daylight. Though I can imagine how much more glum I would feel if I looked up from my typing and saw grey, leaden skies and curtains of rain. Give your employees a chance to have a bright sunny day in their wet, cold and endless winter days by booking them on a team building day today. They deserve a reward for all their hard work, after all.

Just because you have poor credit or no credit, it does not mean that you are out of options. It does cause you to have a harder time securing a personal loan yet you can do so with some work on your end. Today, this article is geared towards those who have been denied for a personal loan because of their credit rating or were quoted high interest rates.

Home Equity Line of Credit

Many homeowners owe more for their homes than they are worth. However, if you have equity in your property, you may qualify for a line of credit that you can use as you please. However, before taking this route make sure that you actually need the money. You would be putting your home at risk if you cannot repay. If you have a steady cash flow and you are someone who is good at managing money this is an alternative option to consider. Your credit score will not play a factor either.

Go to Credit Unions

Members own credit unions so it is easier to get a loan through them than a bank. They are considered a nonprofit, they work by passing earnings to their members at lower rates, and their customer service is better than banks. All you have to do is go to your local credit union and discuss obtaining a personal loan through them. We suggest comparing interest rates to ensure that you receive the best deal.

Lenders that Specialize in Bad Credit

There are some lenders out there that specialize in helping people with bad credit.  Often times the loan amounts may be smaller but they can usually help people get a personal loan if you have poor credit.  Just be prepared to show you have a way to pay back the loan and that will go a long way in helping with the approval process.

Go to Your Peers

Peer to Peer lending (P2P) has been around for a decade now and it is becoming a popular option for those who need personal loans but do not have the best credit. With this option, you will be borrowing from other individuals while getting a low interest rate.

You will have to post a loan listing and investors have to choose to back your listing. This could take some time to happen because you have to wait for an investor to show empathy for you. However, it is a cheaper option than a bank and the chances of having your loan funded with your credit rating are higher.

Check out sites such as Lending Club and Prosper to get started.

Ask Friends or Family to Co-sign

Many people do not like asking their family and friends for a loan directly. An alternative for this is to ask them to co-sign for you to get a loan. As a co-signer, they will need to have good credit and an established financial history. However, they can help you get a lower interest rate and approved for a personal loan that you would have not been able to obtain otherwise. When taking this route just keep in mind that you will want to pay back the money or you are putting your loved ones finances at risk.

Closing Thoughts

While it may be difficult to obtain a loan with poor credit, it is 100% possible. Try the options that we have listed above to increase your chances of being approved for a personal loan despite your credit.

When revenue starts to drop, it can take some time to figure out the reason why customers are going elsewhere. In some cases, declining revenue can be directly related to image. If this is the case, it may be time to consider rebranding your image. To be fair, a comprehensive rebrand should be a last resort when sales start to slip. When it’s decided that rebranding is the way to go, however, a good place to start is with updated retail signage.

Reintroducing Your Brand

The key to successful reintroduction of your brand when it comes to the signs you display is quality and attention to detail. Whether you need some help fine-tuning your design or you have a basic concept already in mind, durable construction is essential when placing new signage. Speaking of placement, it’s just as important to determine where your signs will be placed other than obvious spots like outside of your store or in the window. Keep in mind that physical signs can be easily replicated in digital form for use in online marketing efforts.

Finding the Right Blend of Old and New

Rebranding doesn’t have to mean abandoning your company’s identity. In fact, when it comes to your new signage, there’s nothing wrong with incorporating elements of your original sign design with updated features such as a new color scheme or a different font. While it sometimes makes sense to start from scratch, sign design is usually about finding a happy medium between old and new that’s likely to appeal to your target customers.

Reaching Out to Different Demographics

Signs can be more “chatty” than you may realize. For instance, an outdated sign can give the impression that your retail business isn’t in touch with today’s consumer. Outdated signage can also be a deterrent when it comes to attracting new customers, especially if you’re trying to attract different demographics like younger consumers or urban consumers. If, for example, your brand is strongly associated with women, a gender-neutral design could help extend your brand’s appeal to men.

Successful rebranding is the product of meticulous planning. This is certainly important when it comes to the signage used for your business. Updated signs are meant to reflect the expectations of your current customer base while sending a message that you’re ready to welcome new customers to your business.