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OIL IS THE DEVIL'S EXCREMENTThe Economics, Culture, and Politics of Oil in VenezuelaVenezuela: The Chávez Effect (Fall 2008Poverty Reduction in VenezuelaDr Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo Venezuelan, Founder of OPEC: saw it all coming. The infamous lines: "ten years from now, twenty years from now, you will see; oil will bring us ruin. Oil is the Devil's excrement ; 'The Devil's Excrement' - February 3, 2003The ultimate outcome seeing corruption, poverty, war, pollution and all this revolving around a grim speculation… Oil the Devil's excrement…the case all along was that we had never been in control of oil, it’s oil that’s been in control of us. A Spanish economist said of his homeland, "What makes her poor is her wealth"--a suitable lament for Venezuelans who have been waiting so long for their ship of money to come in.Money itself cannot obtain objectives. It must he used wisely with an eye to the future. A wave of money can destroy as well as create, and it often does. Will building the biggest and best‐looking schools create the best education?”“Because of the sharp rise in the price of oil, if Venezuela cut its production it would still be earning just as much money,” he said.“If we don't cut production we will have economic indigestion. We will have too much money that we will not be able to put to good use creating super high hyperinflation , corruption and the highest level of crime.” The problem was that oil prices were stable - and provided a relatively predictable income- until the OPEC oil embargo. After that, all hell broke loose. The goverment had periods of great influx of money, which they used to increment their goverment liabilities (and corruption as well), and when the oil prices went down, the system lack any sort of money to operate. Unlike the US, the Venezuelan goverment does not believe much in taxation but to use the oil industry as its personal cash cow. So people evade what little taxes there are to begin with. And the consequences can be seen down below.Financial collapse and hyperinflation make Venezuela an economic disaster zone.The crisis is no longer confined to one nation: refugees and migrants are streaming into neighbouring countries. Epidemics and violent crime are spilling over borders, endangering Colombia’s fragile peace process in frontier regions.As Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro looks to cement his hold on power, his country is sinking into a trough of misery.Hyperinflation has compounded the scarcity of food and medicines. Epidemics of preventable diseases and a child malnutrition crisis are increasingly deadly. Violent crime has spiked.An estimated four million Venezuelans have emigrated, with tens of thousands crossing the border with Colombia each month in search of a new home. Venezuela’s neighbours, once bystanders to its domestic tensions, face a catastrophe on their doorsteps.It’s the Oil, Stupid!!!“it’s the oil, stupid!” makes sense without being really true. Certainly, as the embodiment of immense wealth and energy, oil appears to be a force capable of defining the destiny of modern nations. Yet this appearance is deceptive. Oil conditions but does not determine the social life of these nations. To understand this, it is enough to observe that oil has radically different effects in different oil producing societies—for instance, the United States and Canada, on the one hand, and Nigeria and Venezuela, on the other. Given its exceptional power, it is necessary to remind ourselves of a true truism: oil does not do anything by itself, but as it is transformed and used by people under given cultural frameworks, specific historical situations and global economic contexts. For this reason, it would be truer to say, “It’s the society, stupid!”As an extraordinarily valuable commodity, it is hard for people to control it, particularly when it undergoes its most dramatic metamorphosis: when it becomes money.As money, oil tends to have similar effects in societies where it is in fact the main source of money. In effect, as the major source of foreign exchange of many oil exporting countries, oil money typically brings about an erosion of their industrial and agricultural production, leading to 70% expensive imports is the generalization of various forms of “corruption,” and the concentration of political power in their states.Venezuela's Inflation Rate: Causes and SolutionsVenezuelan has been suffering from high inflation rates for many years. The figure has been between 25 and 30 % per year. Inflation has continued to rage even though GDP growth has been negative in 2009 and 2010, and will likely be negative to neutral in 2011.The high inflation rate led the government to impose price controls. Controlled prices range from the price of foods to what a parking lot owner can charge per hour. In some cases, prices have been frozen for years, leading businesses into poor maintenance, causing the inability to hire more workers, and driving some to near or full bankrupcy.Price controls have also led to spot shortages. Fresh milk, for example, isn't easy to find - beacause its price is controlled. Long duration milk is found easily because its price isn't controlled. Powdered milk has been difficult to find this week. Sometimes the government tries to attack shortages by importing food. This means we have seen chicken shortages, but later we saw lots of chicken in the markets, some of it in poor condition. Hundreds of thousands of tons of food have been found rotting in import containers held by the state owned company PDVAL. This appears to be caused by a broken supply chain - they bought the food but didn't figure out how to set up the distribution system to get it to the markets. According to analysts, food inflation is largely due to the fact that supply does not meet demand, even though the financial system has dramatically increased loans to the agricultural sector.As long as the government is tossing around money to buy votes, or printing it to pay its bills, then there's going to be excess money floating around, and the price of just about anything they don't control by fiat is going to increase. Their response has been to increase their controls. They want to control housing rental prices. They of course control the salaries of government workers (who are now very underpaid and are starting to complain). Now there's even talk by the Chavez suppporters in the Assembly of controlling the salaries of workers in the private sector - they don't like to see private sector labor making more than government sector labor, so they're going to "equalize" everybody into poverty.The bottom line is inflation continues to rage, they think they can keep on printing their monopoly money forever, price controls are being extended, and the country continues to suffer from both inflation and recession. I know some of you like to gloss over reality, and seek comfort in all those nice statistics about how Venezuelans are such happy people under Chavez. But this is getting really ugly, and you don't do anybody any good pushing feel good propaganda when things are getting this bad. Please go tell somebody somewhere to talk some sense into the Chavistas, because nobody is going to win when the country collapses and people start to riot.The erosion of productive activities as a result of the massive inflow of energy money has been commonly called the “Dutch disease,” a syndrome baptized as such to refer to the negative effects of windfall profits coming from North Sea gas exploitation on manufacturing activities in the Netherlands. I have preferred to call it the “neocolonial disease” not only because these consequences are far more pervasive and pernicious in the narrowly diversified economies of postcolonial nations, but because they include the reproduction of relations of colonial dependence between these formally independent nations and metropolitan centers (as I argued in The Magical State: Nature, Money and Modernity in Venezuela, p. 7).Juan Pérez Alfonso, Venezuelan, Regarded as Founder of OPECJuan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo was a prominent Venezuelan politician who served two terms in office with the Centrist Betancourt Administration (1947-48 & 1959-64). As Minister for Energy he was drawn into conflict with the U.S. under Eisenhower who had negatively affected quotas on Venezuelan oil by favouring new trade agreements with Canada and Mexico. Alfonzo’s response was to form an alliance with oil producing Arab nations in an attempt to regulate the global oil market. His ideas came to fruition with the establishment of 'The Organisation of Oil Producing Countries' - OPEC.However, protection within the market and the promise of unfettered wealth arising from Venezuela’s immense oil reserves were undone by what economists came to term the 'natural resource curse'; the sudden influx of money would cause the national currency to dramatically appreciate, wages are driven up, prices inflate, manufacturing, imports and exports all slump. Though this was yet to occur for Venezuela during the early OPEC years, Alfonzo saw it all coming. In a prophetic 1975 speech he uttered the infamous lines: "ten years from now, twenty years from now, you will see; oil will bring us ruin. Oil is the Devil's excrement".The description of oil as Capitalism's infernal obscenity, ‘the Devil’s excrement’ also saw Alfonzo reaching back into the depths of time, invoking the Pre-Columbian peoples to whom the term was first attributed. These factors, pointing towards mythology and superstition, helped to shape the cycle of artwork produced. The narrative generated for the short animation focuses on the exiled Alfonzo in the Georgetown Washington Hospital. Ailing and delirious, he is visited at his deathbed by a diabolic sentient 'thing', accompanied by a Daemonic Chorus who capriciously commentate on the event for us. A series of condemnations and wind-ups ensue and it becomes evident that the triumphant visitor has called with one purpose in mind, to claim its quarry.In all we are presented with a hallucinatory parable, telling of an addiction to a noxious, omnipresent substance. The ultimate outcome seeing corruption, poverty, war, pollution and all this revolving around a grim speculation…the case all along was that we had never been in control of oil, it’s oil that’s been in control of us.Oil fortune has unfortunately helped make Venezuela a typical exemplar—or patient—of this “neocolonial disease. ” This fortune has also turned its state into an incarnation of charismatic powers that appear to be providential—a “magical state.”From the outset, Chávez was critical of PDVSA’s oil policy. Instead of maximizing production, he sought to increase prices and to strengthen OPEC. What’s your evaluation of this aspect of his energy policy? However, whilst in a very severe over supply situation, cutting back production to improve prices is the right practice, maximizing production should be the preferred policy of every oil producing country.This generates employment, increases demand for goods and services and has a multiplier effect on the Gross National Product requiring a high percentage ( 70%) of imports creating hyperinflation. Moreover, very high prices in recent years have not been a result of production cuts. Chávez has made a serious mistake in reducing investment in the oil industry, minimizing maintenance expenditures in a rapidly decaying infrastructure and allowing large production losses at a time when the market (especially the United States) could have absorbed a considerable increase in Venezuela’s production levels, without seriously affecting world oil prices.The so-called Bolivarian Revolution conveys the message that Venezuela dictates the level of worldwide oil prices. Venezuela has not the ability nor capability for disrupting the supply-demand equation at short notice and for a long time, nor has it the lower production costs and significant oil reserves of conventional crudes. Venezuela is a price-taker. Ricardo Hausmann: It is a fact that Venezuelan oil production is way below where it was supposed to be according to the strategic plans Chávez inherited.Today Venezuela should have been producing close to 6 million barrels a day, instead of the current 2.4 million. But under Chávez, the published strategic plans remained very similar. What has happened is a huge increase in the gap between plan and reality. In fact, PDVSA has been grossly overstating the actual level of production. So, it is hard to argue that the current oil production outcome is the result of deliberate policies rather than inability to achieve desired goals. With regards to the international price of oil, Venezuela’s oil output collapse has certainly been a small contributing factor, but commodity prices have been rising across the board, including mining and agriculture. Should Chávez be credited with those price increases as well? In any counterfactual scenario, oil prices would have been much higher now than in 1999.“Sowing the oil” has been the goal of the Venezuelan state since the 1940s. Oil has been treated as a source of foreign exchange to be invested in other areas of the economy. The energy sector itself has also been seen as a field of industrial diversification. Has Chávez managed to “sembrar el petróleo?Far from being a scientific approach to the optimal allocation of oil revenues, the long-time hidden debate on oil revenues flourished. It was first the issue of maximizing oil revenues either by increasing production (vs. decreasing prices) or by increasing prices (vs. decreasing production). A ridiculous trial and error exercise. However, the higher the oil revenues, the more the boasting about nationalism and anti-imperialism. Much ado about nothing. As in the past, but even worse than ever, the sowing of oil became a dictum with no real content….Worse than ever, Venezuela is witnessing hyperinflation, devaluation, production capacity eroded, unemployment, a two-tier exchange rate, poverty, dilapidation and corruption. The essence of the problem Venezuela has, and has had since the 40s, is the optimal allocation of oil revenues. The PDVSA meta-state is not the optimal model for allocating the oil rent nor is the PDVSA para-state. Far from being a scientific approach to the optimal allocation of oil revenues, the long-time hidden debate on oil revenues flourished.It was first the issue of maximizing oil revenues either by increasing production (vs. decreasing prices) or by increasing prices (vs. decreasing production). But it was as well the false debate on increasing the royalties and taxes. In 2001 the oil royalty was set up in 30% (16.6% since the 40s). Why not 31%? Why not 29%? A ridiculous trial and error exercise. However, the higher the oil revenues, the more the boasting about nationalism and anti-imperialism. Much ado about nothing. Ricardo Hausmann: Definitely not.While pre-Chávez policies lead to the creation of steel, aluminium and petrochemical industries, export concentration in oil is at a historic peak. Chávez has even made the export of products other than oil almost a crime. He used the fact that steel and cement companies exported part of their output to justify their recent nationalization. The exchange rate regime coupled with a highly protective trade policy is also antiother exports. There are no plans to create or promote other export industries. Non-oil production is geared to the domestic market and thus is completely dependent on oil as a source of foreign exchange. If the price of oil were to falter, Venezuela would have no alternative industries that could expand to take its role in generating foreign exchange as in 2014.Furthermore, PDVSA Agriculture will complement government activities to provide assistance to farmers and consequently food to the people. PDVSA Agriculture has already started sowing soy on land owned by the company and will soon start sowing sugar cane. This is done with the help of Argentine machinery. PDVSA’s new core business is the People of Venezuela and its new business model reflects this priority. With this new model, we have successfully challenged the existing paradigm of inefficient state owned companies, by demonstrating that while maintaining the status as one of the world’s largest integrated oil companies, PDVSA is also effectively contributing to the development of the Nation. When he became president, Chávez claimed that PDVSA had become “a state within the state”—an enterprise disconnected from the nation pursuing its own interests. Now critics claim that PDVSA has become a“meta-state”: a powerful instrument of the state unaccountable to society. The claim that PDVSA was a “state within the state” preceded the current regime. Chávez, however, placed the state within PDVSA, transforming the company into a “cash cow” to finance government plans not included in the annual national budget, such as 70% of import and distribution of foods, manufacture of consumer goods and government “misiones” (social plans). PDVSA also provides cash for acquiring private companies (Electricidad de Caracas, etc). The few audits of these new activities, more in the nature of a conglomerate than of a company, show inefficiency, mismanagement and financial malpractice.Currently, 18 countries are working with the Venezuelan Petroleum and Energy Ministry and PDVSA to develop the Orinoco Belt. It is well known that Venezuela has 130 billion barrels of proven reserves in this region and, after finishing the certification process trough the Orinoco Magna Reserve Project, our country will have the largest reserves worldwide.The destruction of the managerial capacity of the oil industry and the renegotiation of the contracts with foreign companies (with the departure of those that did not agree with the changes) has diminished the capacity of PDVSA to achieve any desired goal. Contrast this outcome with Petrobras, a company that is now expanding its production internationally, and deploying its proprietary technology abroad. In the meantime, Venezuelan experts are in exile, working for other countries and companies. You would need a very peculiar definition of nationalism to count this as an example of it.Some critics argue that the project of orimulsion was the perfect opportunity for Chávez to use Venezuela’s resources to promote an ecological and socially responsible energy plan—one favoring electricity for people rather than gas for cars.The Orimulsion projects were part of a technological quest to make the best use of the extra heavy crudes. Associating the price of these products with that of carbon resulted in enormous losses for Venezuela. Mixing lighter crudes to obtain, for example, Merey 16—as ExxonMobil did—allowed for great competitive advantages compared to mixing heavy crudes with water. The introduction of new technologies to improve and transform the extra heavy crudes resulted in a commercial breakthrough that has made these products quite competitive. In conclusion, Orimulsion has turned out to be no more than a good technology to transport heavy crudes as was originally conceived.Since recovering from the oil industry sabotage of 2002–2003, PDVSA has played an extremely important role in helping fund necessary social programs in Venezuela. In 2007, the company invested over $13 billion into such programs, which have helped lower poverty and address longstanding social needs. From 2003 to 2007, the poverty rate in Venezuela decreased from 55.1 percent to 27.5 percent, according to the National Institute of Statistics. Furthermore, these programs also helped nearly a million children from the poorest villages obtain free access to education. Secondary education has been made available to 250,000 children whose economic situation previously excluded them from enjoying this right. Adult literacy programs have taught 1.2 million adults how to read and write. These are just a few examples of the many successes we have experienced in Venezuela.On the other hand, Venezuela is a country with almost 100 years of oil production experience; paradoxically, we do not have a national industrial park to provide the goods and services demanded by the current production levels and even less for Venezuela’s oil and gas business plan, “Sowing the oil.”Dismantling the PVDSA irreplaceable machinery of a professional body of more than 10,000 geologists, petrophysicists, production and refinery engineers, researchers and planners. If assessed in the context of a zero-sum game, the loss for Venezuela is a gain for the world, quite a remarkable achievement. The lack of accountability regarding oil activities. Chávez disregarded the technical knowledge and professional expertise required to efficiently run an oil company. His belief that PDVSA is an inexhaustible cash cow. Collaboration between producer and consumer countries is a key part of the solution, framed by changing the developing model of the so called industrialized countries. It challenges the paradigm of what “development” means for developing countries, offering an alternative way to generate social value.Venezuela’s oil policy was dominated by strong actors that led to the internationalization of the oil policy. They were leading the country towards a fully privatized oil industry that would have been controlled solely by these dominant actors. President Chávez managed to break PDVSA dominance, but he nearly lost his life in the 2002 coup attempt. country towards a fully privatized oil industry that would have been controlled solely by these dominant actors.Likewise, Venezuela maintains a tense relationship with its neighbor Colombia, which is closely allied with the United States. Colombia is the second major trading partner for Venezuela, and Venezuela is dependent on imported food from Colombia, especially as food shortages have arisen in Venezuela in 2008. Venezuela’s attempt to control soaring inflation through food price controls and foreign exchange controls, combined with soaring world food demand, led to serious shortages of milk, 5 6 R eVista • fall 2008 eggs, meat and rice. Venezuela also became involved, with the permission of the Colombian government, in negotiating a humanitarian hostage exchange with the FARC guerrillas. After securing the release of two hostages, Venezuela’s negotiating role was cut off by the Colombian government because of perceived intervention in Colombian domestic affairs. Future perspectives At the end of 2007—a year in which Chávez’s anti-US and anti-“capitalist” radicalism reached its zenith—the tide suddenly began to turn against him.Rising inflation, crime and corruption, scarcity of consumers’ goods, growing divisions within the chavista ranks, and the general inefficiency of the administration had begun to erode the prestige of El Lider.On December 2, 2007, he suffered his first electoral defeat, in a referendum on a series of radical constitutional reforms including the possibility of life-long presidential reelection. Later on, new restrictions on democratic rights within Venezuela, as well as the Colombian assertions of Venezuela’s support of the guerrillas, cost Chávez the sympathy of substantial sectors of an international democratic left that had until then granted him grudging support. The time has come for evaluations of the historical role of chavismo and for tentative drafts of what a democratic post Chávez Venezuela might look like. The forces opposing Chávez in Venezuela are united in the desire to restore democratic freedoms, but their differing political philosophies range all the way from conservatism to democratic socialism…..now comes Maduro !After Chávez, a Venezuelan right-wing government would probably cleanse the country’s foreign policy of “third-worldish” elements and go back to a modest diplomacy tending to repair and deepen the nation’s inter-dependence with its traditional foreign friends. Under such a government, Venezuela would concentrate on being a reliable provider and would totally cease to be a gadfly. On the other hand, a slightly more left-leaning democratic administration— supported not only by the present opposition but also by a portion of honest former chavistas— might try to combine the return to traditional friendships with the retention and improvement of some of Chávez’s more constructive impulses, such as: a wide scope of Venezuelan diplomatic presence, a drive to foster the unity of Latin America and a bi-regional dialogue within the Americas, an effort toward more North-South equity and more South-South cooperation, and an active wish to see a wider and better balanced distribution of power among the main regions of the world.Dr Pérez Alfonzo, leader of OPEC who died, aged 75, on 3 September 1979, was one of Venezuela’s greatest political thinkers of the 20th century. He was an eminent lawyer and professor of civil law at the Central University of Venezuela. “He wanted not only to increase the government’s share of the rents, but also to effect a transfer to the government, and away from the oil companies, of power and authority over production and marketing.“For the producing countries, oil was a national heritage, the benefits of which belonged to future generations, as well as to the present. Neither the resource, nor the wealth that flows from it, should be wasted. Instead the earnings should be used to develop the country more widely.Sovereign governments, rather than foreign corporations, should make the basic decisions about the production and the disposition of their petroleum. Human nature should not be allowed to squander the potential of this precious resource.”He was both a visionary and an achiever — a rare combination. The best proof of this can be found here and now, in the shape of OPEC! OPEC was his vision. But he played a big part in bringing this vision to reality.The Petroleum Pentagon, his book is now drawn.The first pillar is reasonable economic participation for the nation, as the owner of the natural resource. The second pillar is the creation of a government body to control the conservation of, and trade in, hydrocarbons. The third pillar is the creation of a state-owned company to handle oil activity directly, both upstream and downstream, as well as internally and externally, and which could simultaneously deal with existing private companies. The fourth pillar is a “moratorium on new concessions” to individuals and a complete review of the prevailing concessionary system which did not favour the host country. And the final pillar is OPEC, the Organization that establishes international cooperation as being indispensable for the effective implementation of the strategy.Today he seems a prophet. When it hit the jackpot in 1973 , Venezuela had a functioning democracy and the highest per-capita income on the continent. Now in 2018` it has a state of near-civil war and a per-capita income lower than its 1960 level. But the Midas myth dies hard.How could that be? For the same reason so many entertainers go bankrupt. Showered with sudden windfalls, governments start spending like rock stars, creating programs that are hard to undo when oil prices fall. And because nobody wants to pay taxes to a government that's swimming in petrodollars--"In Venezuela only the stupid pay taxes," a former President once said--the state finds itself living beyond its means….Hyperinflation: A cycle begins. The economy can't absorb the sudden influx of money, causing wages and prices to inflate and the nation's currency to appreciate (by an average of 50%, according to a World Bank economist's study). That makes it harder for local manufacturers to compete. Incentives, meanwhile, become wildly distorted. When free money is flowing out of the ground, people who might otherwise start a business or do something innovative instead busy themselves angling for a share of the spoils buying 70% imported products. Why slog it out in a low-margin industry when steering some oil business toward a contact could make you a millionaire?Venezuela’s economy will continue to be tied to the country’s great mineral wealth, fundamentally made up of its enormous oil resources. Among the mono-producing countries dependent on foreign trade, the case of Venezuela is typical of how dangerous this situation is for the normal life of a nation, a position that lacks the possibility of control of the events that can greatly affect its whole economy.“In addition to other unfavourable circumstances that mono-production implies, the fact that the predominant product, petroleum, is depletable is a serious aggravating factor.Thus a doubly deadly dynamic: a ballooning public sector, a withering private one "This is a country that can never, ever sustain itself on oil," Terry Lynn Karl, author of The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States, says of Venezuela. "But everyone from the President to the poor believes it can." And therein lies the trap. President Hugo Chavez rode popular rage into office by focusing on corruption. But what neither he nor anyone else will face up to is this: Oil is not an economy. Creative economic activities have spillover effects that become self-sustaining. Oil spills only into a barrel--and from there usually into the hands of a favored few. That's the real reason Venezuela's productivity growth has been roughly half 52% of the Latin American average.http://cepr.net/images/videos/BB...Venezuela crisis: Hyperinflation, mass migration, food shortage, increasing number of crimes: murders, kidnapping and grinding poverty has spiralled Venezuela with a total corruption into a deep turmoil.$ 1,583 Million USD for free housing ; Pdvsa reporta la inversión para el desarrollo socialVenezuela, once a rich oil reserve country, is now battering an unprecedented economic crisis. Many in Venezuela blame President Nicolas Maduro for the country’s current condition. Here is a look at the crisis unfolding in Venezuela and how it is now affecting its people…..Dr Juan Pérez Alfonso, Venezuelan, Regarded as Founder of OPEC“I may sadly be the father of OPEC, but now sometimes I feel like renouncing my off spring,” he said wistfully in an interview in 1976.Dr Juan Perez expressed great concern that the flood of money entering Venezuela after oil prices quadrupled in 1974 had undermined the population's commitment to hard work into a group contemplating laziness and made the nation dependent on 70%+ of foreign imports.However, protection within the market and the promise of unfettered wealth arising from Venezuela’s immense oil reserves were undone by what economists came to term the 'natural resource curse'; the sudden influx of money would cause the national currency to dramatically appreciate, wages are driven up, prices inflate, manufacturing significantly slowed ,reduced, requiring up to 70% imports and exports all slump reaction creating hyperinflation.Hyperinflation in VenezuelaThe plummeting oil prices since 2014 is one of the main reasons why Venezuela’s currency has weakened sharply. The country, which has rich oil reserves largely depended on it for its revenue. But when the oil price dropped drastically in 2014, Venezuela which received 96 per cent of its revenue from the oil exports, suffered a shortage of foreign currency. This made 70% of the import of basic essentials like food and medicines difficult.Food and medicine shortage in VenezuelaVenezuela’s cannot produce the majority, now any of the goods and must import over 75% of required goods confirming that imports are down 50% from a year ago, according to Ecoanalitica, a national research firm, CNN reported. Venezuela’s minimum wage is now about the equivalent of $1 a month, making basics unaffordable for many. With a shortage of the import goods, the black market has got a free hand in the country. Prices have been doubling every 26 days on average, according to a report in BBC. According to an Al Jazeera report, many Venezuelans sift through the rubbish and bins in search for food.A survey from February this year found that almost 90% of Venezuelans live in poverty and more than 60% surveyed said that they had woken up hungry because they did not have enough money to buy food, reported Reuters. Apart from food, the country is also facing medicine shortage. The economic crisis has also hit the public health system, making medicine and equipment inaccessible to its peoples.New currency of VenezuelaAmid the growing crisis, the government issued new currency — with new clour notes and denomination — to keep up with the projected inflation. While earlier, Maduro had decided to remove three zeros from the bolivar currency, he later dropped off five zeros. The new currency will be released next month and overhaul would tie the bolivar to the recently launched state-backed cryptocurrency called the petro, Maduro said in a televised broadcast. The new “Bolivar Soberano” currency is worth 100,000 “old” Bolivares.Cryptocurrency experts have said the petro suffers from a lack of credibility because of a lack of confidence in Maduro’s government and the mismanagement of the country’s existing national currency.[PDVSA.USA], said on Wednesday that the United States had revoked the visa of its President chief executive Mr Asdrubal Chavez, cousin of Venezuela’s late president Hugo Chavez,Mass MigrationAngered by the economic crisis in the country, many Venezuelans have started leaving the country. Of the 4.3 million Venezuelans living abroad, more than 1.6 million have fled the country since the crisis began in 2015, according to the UN. The pace of departures has accelerated in recent days, sparking a warning from the UN. The majority have crossed into neighbouring Colombia and then to Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Others have gone south to Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina.The mass influx of people from Venezuela has triggered a strong response from Ecuador and Peru, Panama. According to news agency AFP, Colombia had criticised its two southern neighbours for implementing travel restrictions, warning it wouldn’t stop migration. Ecuador — where close to half a million people have fled this year alone — then lifted its week-long requirement for Venezuelans to produce a passport, all the while helping those migrants reach Peru. Peru’s citizens largely supported the move, though, worried about the impact that the 400,000 Venezuelans already in the country would have. In Brazil, rioters burning camps ans shelter this month drove over one thousand two hundreds back over the border, to Venezuela; reported Reuters.A man gets off the bridge as people queue to try to cross the Venezuela-Colombia border through Simon Bolivar international bridge in San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela (Reuters)Colombia says it has already given temporary residence to 870,000 Venezuelans but it can barely cope. In Peru, record 5,100 people entered the country in a single day earlier this month. Colombia has pleaded with its southern neighbours to agree to a combined migration strategy, while Ecuador has called a meeting of 13 Latin American countries next month to discuss the crisis. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will set up a special UN team to ensure a coordinated regional response.Increasing crime rate in VenezuelaAs the country slips into poverty, many are turning towards crime to make money. There were almost 27,000 violent deaths in the country last year, with Venezuela having the second highest murder rate in the world after El Salvador, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a local crime monitoring group. Many Caracas residents refuse to go out at night due to security fears, and wealthier Venezuelans often travel in bullet-proof cars with bodyguards. A recent Gallup study placed Venezuela at the bottom of its 2018 Law and Order index, with 42 per cent of surveyed Venezuelans reporting they had been robbed the previous year and one-quarter saying they had been assaulted,Wilson Ramos: Inside KidnappedKIDNAPPING SCENEGetting Kidnapped (And Shot At) In Caracas, VenezuelaThe kidnapping in Venezuela started when I walked off the plane, this wasn’t the Venezuela I remembered. The second I walked through customs there were several individuals that walked up to me to exchange money. Of course I said! Who wouldn’t like to exchange money with a non official random person in a back alley of the airport in the most dangerous city in South America?Oil, & PDVSA State oil Company: Petro Caribbe stocks drainedVenezuela cancelled Oil delivery to 11 International customers in June 2018 incapable to pump 1,5 million barrels per day.Legal actions against PDVSA by U.S. producer ConocoPhillips aimed to satisfy a $2 billion arbitration award also have recently worsened the bottleneck as the Venezuelan firm is no longer fully using its Caribbean terminals to store and export.But an increase in production of diluted crude oil, or DCO, formulated by PDVSA by blending naphtha and extra heavy oils while its crude upgraders are out of service, and shipments from Aruba and Curacao ahead of seizure attempts by Conoco helped PDVSA and its joint ventures deliver more barrels to the United States in June.PDVSA exports have declined in recent months due to a stubborn tanker backlog around Venezuela’s main ports and its fast-declining crude output, which has stopped the firm from complying with supply contracts to almost all of its customers.A U.S. district court judge in Houston last week ruled Conoco can depose Citgo as preparation for a court case against PDVSA and others over alleged asset transfers in the Caribbean that Conoco claims were designed to frustrate its efforts to obtain payment under the arbitration award.Venezuela has begun testing sea-borne oil transfers to ease a severe backlog of crude deliveries from its main terminals, according to sources and data, as chronic delays and production declines could temporarily halt state-run PDVSA’s supply contracts if they are not cleared soon.Venezuela suspends oil delivery to Antigua and Barbuda and othersJune 12, 2018 OBSERVER media Antigua and Barbuda is among countries to be affected as Venezuela’s PDVSA says it is suspending petroleum deliveries to about half of the Caribbean countries in its Petrocaribe agreement.The move comes due to falling crude production and low refinery utilisation, according to a Venezuelan Oil Ministry report quoted on the online news agency Platts.PDVSA, according to the Platts report, is indefinitely suspending a combined 38,000 b/d of refined products deliveries to eight of the 17 countries that make up Petrocaribe: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and St. Kitts & Nevis.However, the report added that PDVSA will continue to supply 45,600 b/d of refined products in June to Cuba’s Cubametales, including 95 octane gasoline, aviation fuel, diesel, LPG, and residual fuel. Cuba has been one of the countries that has most benefited from the PetroCaribe agreement, receiving average deliveries from PDVSA of 95,000 b/d of crude and refined products.Under the Petro Caribe agreement, Venezuela sells petroleum to Central American and Caribbean nations on favorable terms….They pay 50 or 60% and the balance is financed up to 25 years .Venezuela inaugurated the plan in 2005 with Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas , Belize, Cuba Cienfuegos Refinery, Dominica, Granada, Guyana – which subsequently pulled out, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica Petrojam refinery, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic Refinery , St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Suriname.The original agreement contemplated a supply of up to 185,000 b/d of crude oil and products under preferential conditions…50% / 60 days up to 25years financing. In 2017, Venezuelan shipments of petroleum via Petrocaribe dropped by 40%, or 54,400 b/d, from 136,000 b/d exported in 2015. The Oil Ministry report also said even though PDVSA does not have Mesa 30 crude available in June to supply Cuba, it is evaluating the possibility of buying light crude from third parties. In February, March, and April, PDVSA bought 4.2 million barrels at world wide price of Urals crude for Cuba.PDVSA has been operating its refineries below capacity because of a shortage of crude feedstock and various unscheduled shutdowns. PDVSA this month plans to process 499,000 b/d through its refining system, or 31 percent of its 1.6 million b/d capacity.Russian oil bought by PDVSA for Cuba discharges in the Caribbean -data June 25, 2018, 02:09:00 PM EDT By ReutersPDVSA has been unable to fully use its refining and storage facilities in the region, diverting cargoes that have contributed to export delays.Aframax tanker Advante Atom originally was to discharge Russian Urals crude in mid-May at PDVSA's Bullenbay terminal in Curacao, where it would be re-exported to Cuba, one of several such cargoes since January.PDVSA exported 765,000 barrels per day of crude and refined products to customers in the first two weeks of June, a 32 percent decline compared with May, excluding shipments by two of the company's joint ventures, which export separately.Manuel Quevedo, Venezuela's oil minister and the state-run firm's president, last week said the country expects to recover a portion of its lost crude output this year. But there are no early signs of a reversal in the declining trend. The number of active rigs fell to 28 in May versus 54 in the same month of 2017.Secondary sources quoted in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' monthly report estimated Venezuela's oil production fell to 1.392 million bpd last month, the lowest since the 1950s.The lack of Venezuelan crude supply has forced the 335,000-bpd Isla refinery, owned by the Curacao government, to seek a temporary operator to replace PDVSA, which has not sent oil to the facility since late April.June’s expected throughput is down 144,000 b/d from the same month in 2017. PDVSA’s system is comprised of five refineries: Amuay, Cardon, El Palito, Puerto La Cruz, and Isla Curacao, which it operated in an agreement with the Curacao government.With the new tankers, Venezuela's fleet stands at 81 ships, up from 12 oil tankers in 2002.Next month PDVSA expects the Boyacá tanker to arrive, followed by the Carabobo tanker and the Junín tanker in April 2014, the release said.PDVSA on Friday, was operating Isla Curacao at just 29,000 b/d, or 8.7% of its capacity, as it was unable to obtain crude supply out of storage, according to a refinery official who spoke with Platts on the condition of anonymity.The alleged suspension in some Petrocaribe shipments is the major second blow to Venezuela’s hobbled oil industry in the past week.A PDVSA official told Platts last week the company notified 11 international customers that it will not be able to meet its full crude supply commitments in June. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said PDVSA is contractually obligated to supply 1.495 million b/d to those customers in June, but only has 694,000 b/d available for export. PDVSA cannot supply 800,000 barels per day sold and paid for by international long time customers.Venezuela’s oil production has continued to shrink, plunging for the 10th straight month to 1.36 million b/d in May, according to a Platts survey. That is down 580,000 b/d from May 2017 and 910,000 b/d from May 2016.The drop in PDVSA deliveries may present an opportunity for US Gulf Coast refiners, who are increasingly exporting refined products throughout Latin America and the Unknown Host refined products exports to PetroCaribe nations, including Venezuela, averaged 398,000 b/d in March, up from 256,000 b/d in March 2017, data from the US Energy Information Administration showed. The bulk of that increase has been going to Venezuela.Venezuela must import and depends on semi refined light oil for mixing heavy crude from the USA.[ CONCLUSIONS The conventional wisdom about leaders like Chávez is that their electoral successes depend on class voting, particularly the support of poor voters disenchanted with the old political establishment, corruption within traditional parties, and the neoliberal policies of the Washington Consensus. There are, however, intuitive reasons to doubt this interpretation, including Chávez’s conflicts with organized labor, potential middle class benefi ts from some of his economic policies and redistributive programs, and the scholarly contention that Latin American populist leaders generally rely on multiclass bases of support. My results show that this intuitive skepticism is indeed warranted; Chávez’s electoral base is not, in fact, disproportionately poor. That is, I find no evidence of a monotonic class vote outside the election of 1998.]This oligarchy, made up of Chavez's political heirs, is the third major component of the real power in Venezuela. Of course, Maduro; his wife, Cilia Flores; and many of his relatives and associates are part of that oligarchy. In this elite there are different “families,” “cartels,” and groups that compete for influence on government decisions, for political appointments, and for the control of illicit markets—ranging from human trafficking to money laundering. The smuggling and selling of food, medicines, and all kinds of products are just a few of the many other corrupt activities that enrich the Maduro oligarchy as well as the Cubans, the military, and their civilian accomplices.Getting rid of Maduro is necessary. But it's not enough as long as three criminal cartels—who are intermingled in business, corruption, and the exercise of power—continue to control Venezuela confirming .Oil is the Devil's excrement".U.S. Drug Smuggling Trial of Venezuelan Leader Nicolás Maduro'sDrug Trafficking Within the Venezuelan Regime: The 'Cartel of the Suns'Venezuela's National Guard Commander Gen. Nestor Reverol (pictured in Caracas) is named in an indictment in federal court in New York City that accuses him of tipping off cocaine traffickers of incoming raidsNestor Reverol, the former head of Venezuela’s anti-narcotics agency and a long-time ally of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, is named in a sealed indictment pending in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, according to the people.He would be one of the highest-ranking Venezuelan officials - and the only one currently in office - to face U.S. drug charges.Reverol, who leads the branch of Venezuela’s armed forces that controls the country’s borders, could not be reached for comment by Reuters.INTERNATIONAL COCAINE CORRIDOR VENEZUELA“The National Guard has been key to opening up the doors into Venezuela for Colombian drug trafficking organizations and subversive groups,” he said. “They have transformed Venezuela into a massive pipeline for cocaine into the United States and Europe.”US government sanctions on Venezuela vice president for drug charges Nicolas Maduro Doesn't Really Control VenezuelaMaduro doesn’t really matter. He is simply a useful idiot, the puppet of those who really control Venezuela: the Cubans, the drug traffickers, and Hugo Chavez’s political heirs. Those three groups effectively function as criminal cartels, and have co-opted the armed forces into their service; this is how it is possible that every day we see men in uniform willing to massacre their own people in order to keep Venezuela’s criminal oligarchy in power.Another important player in today’s Venezuela is the drug traffickers, whose power is also a constraint on Maduro.Venezuela is one of the main drug routes to the U.S. and Europe. This status is worth billions of dollars, and the country is home to a vast network of people and organizations that control the illicit trade and the enormous amount of money it generates.According to U.S. officials, one such person is Vice President Tareck El Aissami, and so are a large number of military officers and other relatives and members of the ruling oligarchy.Reuters (With inputs from agencies)Venezuela: The Chávez Effect (Fall 2008)( 96p history data )Venezuela’s economy collapses: All your questions answeredVenezuela's Inflation Rate: Causes and Solutionshttps://antiguaobserver.com/vene...Russian oil bought by PDVSA for Cuba discharges in the Caribbean -dataThe launch of the book "The Petroleum Pentagon"Poverty Reduction in VenezuelaThe Economics, Culture, and Politics of Oil in VenezuelaJuan Pérez Alfonso, Venezuelan, Regarded as Founder of OPEBiografía Juan Pablo Perez AlfonsoChina-made oil tankers arrive in Venezuela -BNamericasOil is the devil's excrementVenezuela's first lady says her nephews were kidnapped by U.S.https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop...Nicolas Maduro Doesn't Really Control Venezuela[1] Tugwell, Franklin (1975) The Politics of Oil in Venezuela.www.americaeconomia.com[16] PDVSA ranks #24 in terms of return on assets, #49 in terms of return on sales, and #50 in terms of return on fixed assets.www.cepr.net/what_happened_to_profits.htm (their figures are based on SEC filings).www.analitica.com/bitbiblioteca/tulio_monsalve/computadoras_pdvsa.aspPeter Behringer upvoted this

Read this:Get startedWilfred NyangeFollow, Jul 23 ·Addressing Providers’ Bias: BB Tanzania Lessons LearnedQuora required Attribution: Addressing Providers’ Bias: BB Tanzania Lessons Learned .“””” Beyond Bias is a multidisciplinary project which is lead by Pathfinder International in collaboration with YLabs, Camber Collective and BERI with the support of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.The project is being implemented in Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Pakistan. In Tanzania and Burkina Faso, Pathfinder is working with the respective Ministries of Health while in Pakistan we are implementing with Greenstar Social Marketing.Beyond Bias; as an operational research project, was initiated in 2017 with the objective to learn, design and test innovative and scalable solutions to the existence of Health Provider’s bias towards adolescents and youth seeking contraceptive services.The program seeks to achieve impact across three areas:Clients receive the method of their choice, regardless of age, marital status, or parity.Clients are treated in a non-judgmental, non-biased manner, regardless of age, marital status, and parity.Clients are counseled on a full-range of modern methods, regardless of age, marital status, and parity.The operational research study initiative was driven by the literature reviews on the barriers faced by adolescents concerning access to sexual reproductive health information and services in public and private health facilities. The efforts is backed up by the published document in 2016 by Guttmacher stating that; 28 million sexually active adolescents in developing regions do not want a child within two years. 60% of these adolescents have an unmet need for contraception. (Guttmacher 2016)Project designMajor Gap IdentifiedThe design research discovered several gaps that hinders adolescents and youth seeking sexual reproductive health services in the public health facilities in Dar es Salaam. The gaps are driven by age, parity, marital status of the adolescent clients and have been divided in three major factors; Biographic, Situational and Societal drivers carrying in eleven drivers of the bias.BEYOND BIAS INNOVATION PILLARSActivates, Apply and Achieve is the secret behind the Beyond Bias Innovative Solution pillars. Each component unfolds in the execution of each pillar in this case Summit, Connect and Reward. As separate as they look, the three components just like the pillars cannot stand alone and bring the expected results. They are dependent and complimentary to each other. This can be seen from the execution plan whereby one cannot overtake the other, one has to set the ground to anotherACTIVATESProviders get exposed to bias, effects of bias, its existence and they are guided into self-reflection which leads to realization, and thereafter find the common path to greatness in service provision away from bias. This ACTIVATES Providers zeal to do better after learning the lesson of their behavior through real case studies. Bringing someone to self-realization ACTIVATES the urge to do better with awareness of what is bad, its implications and what is required of the person and the results of the required states. The activates component is only realized in SUMMIT stage.Summit is a one-day event that ACTIVATES providers’ ability to recognize their own biases. Summit is the foundation of the Beyond Bias program. Providers are introduced to the program and the Six Principles framework through a series of facilitated, small-group discussion and reflection activities. Summit has three main objectives- Improve providers’ emotional connectivity with youth- Address provider fears of community backlash- Support providers to recognize and own their biasesImplementation ExperienceIn making sure the providers make connection and own the program, Health Care Providers who are national champions in AYSRH and Trainers were trained on the project package and facilitation/moderation and to take a lead in facilitating the sessions. They took time and share to all participants their journey and struggles they had and their achievements as well.Summit impactSummit resulted to a very high impact to health care providers. Provider were able to reflect and accept their biases. Sharing the real stories from the young clients helped providers to have empathy and connect emotionally with youth. Providers came to realization of the impacts of their behavior towards youth through the impactful stories and came up with strategies to address the behavior and eager to keep learning of the best ways possible to give the quality services to youth.Providers’ Summit Experiences“Until this day and the chance to watch this video, I have never been this Provider who is touched by any youth’s needs, I usually felt like they are rushing things. I am touched today with the experiences shared and the video I promise to gradually change and listen to them and provide FP services to young clients’ RCH In Charge- Summit 2APPLYActivation component matures in Applying the lessons, putting the zeal to change into action in the second pillar of TUNDA Initiative known as CONNECT pillar. Providers do apply their lessons, work in getting away from bias and realize unbiased care contraceptive services to adolescence and youth clients. In the APPLY stage, Health Providers go through a continuous learning phase thus building a strong doing better foundation in applying the best lessons in real time.Connect is a second pillar of the project. It is a learning forum that helps providers apply their lessons, motivation and improve their interaction, treatment of youth clients in their daily work. It is a learning continuation of what providers had learned in summits. Providers problem-solve together to put the Six Principles into practice. Connect has four main objectives;- Dispel misinformation that providers have about what methods are appropriate and safe for youth- Reinforce unbiased counseling practices for youth- Support providers to continuously identify practical actions they can take to improve their service delivery to youth, given the realities and constraints of their workplace- Shift professional norms towards serving youthBoth digital and In-person connect forum uses real case studies of youth clients that drive discussion with Peers, use of technical experts in the selected topic and share practical tips that dispel misinformationConnect implementationDigital Connect is implemented through WhatsApp groups that comprises health providers from different facilities, Facilitators (Experienced Health Providers) and Pathfinder staffs as co- moderators of the sessions. Digital connect was launched in November 2019 and the first quarter ended in Feb 2020. Comprised of eight topics; one each week.The sessions were led by the appointed Facilitators who are in service Health Providers in collaboration with the Pathfinder staff. Simplified and creatively designed case studies, quizzes, talks, videos, audio scripts, infographics were used.Through these groups, providers get enough time to engage with Tunda facilitators, learn and reflect in humanizing biases. The Selection of these facilitators, was done by considering the following: -- They are National Trainers in adolescents and youth sexual reproduction health and FP related issues.- They are still in services thus aware of Providers’ constrains and public health facilities challenges- They are known as youth champions and role models to providers.The forum acts as a platform to address barriers to action, provides safe space to share struggles and successes with peers.In-Person ConnectThis is a continuous learning, Peer interaction and adaptation of solutions as per the respective facility’s needs were accelerated by the In Person Connect. It is done in facility level, conducted by the RCH in-charge together will all RHC members. The model was adopted to give a room for providers who have no access to WhatsApp and internet to participate and learn similarly to those in in digital connectImpact“I was a biased Provider”, giving services to others but not providing FP service to youth. I remember an experience with a young girl, she was a student at the time, came to the clinic and she told me that she wanted FP service. I asked her if she was still in school and she said yes. I denied her service because she was still young and a student, then she left. Couple of days later I attended training on how to provide a friendly service to youth prepared by Pathfinder. I learnt many things in that training. I started to reflect and regret the day I denied that young girl a service. From that day I changed, I started loving youth and serving them well. Again, I had an opportunity to participate in Tunda, I gained knowledge and skills on how to provide friendly service through Six principles. Provider Tunda 2Connecting Health care Providers from 36 different facilities to WhatsApp group, shared experience, and knowledge towards AYSRH and Family planning related issues increases provider’s awareness bias towards youth seek for FP service. “One day I faced a challenge while on duty, a client came for FP service but she asked if she is medically eligible for the method she wants, she had that problem for a long time, and I had no idea on how to provide such service, and I took that concern to Tunda WhatsApp forum and I got the response in time and it helped me to provide the quality service to the client.” — Provider.ACHIEVEBeing achieved at the end, it’s a celebratory point of the initiative. Providers’ achievements in a given timeframe are measured and celebrated under the ACHIEVE umbrella known as Reward Pillar of the project. ACHIEVE components highly depends on the APPLY component whereby both of them are kickstarted by the ACTIVATES component. Providers are measured on how they APPLY their ACTIVATED zeal to change, shared with their ACHIEVEMENTS and the cycle starts again in the same logicReward, this is a third pillar. Is a performance feedback system that celebrates providers when they achieve improvements in service to youth. It is the recognition or acknowledgment of the best performing and improving Health facilities and individual Providers in applying the six principle.Contrary to other rewards; this embraces non-financial rewards thus our currency is recognition and celebration. The reward is expected to increase providers’ motivation to improve services and maintain high-quality unbiased services for youth, reinforce professional norms of high-quality care for youth and support actionable growth by giving feedback on areas for improvement. We also reward facilities that are “growing” and improving in serving well youth not just “a good” facility.Reward is executed in quarterly basis of the project timeline. The process involves the Regional Health Management Team, Council Health Management Team, Heads of Facilities and FP Providers from the intervention supported facilities. A growth — Oriented performance system based on client’s feedback after receiving Family planning service.Facilities receive the scorecards with performance and recommendations for improvements during the ceremony session accompanied by the guided reflection and goals review and reset for the next quarter. Providers are assessed by the six principles of unbiased care.The Key components of reward pillar that influence behavior change are: -- Standardized rubric to work towards six principles of Unbiased Care- Client feedback captured directly after counseling- Institutional recognition for improvement and maintenance of qualityReward implementionFrom Nov 2019, through Feb 29, 2020 a total of 16,244 clients exit interviews have been completed. Among the completed surveys, 15, 724 are clients who came for family planning services/counseling and 5,836 are targeted youth clients (15–24 years) who came for or received family planning counseling/services.The winning facility was selected based on the total performance of all six principles obtained from the client’s exit surveys conducted at the facility grounds. The facility with high marks is the overall winner. Apart from the overall reward winning facility award, we introduced different recognition categories such as was done in the following categories: -Top-performing facilities, three in each district.In-Person connect facilitator recognition. One facilitator per facility.Digital connect participation recognition: 6 providers were selected, 3 from each cohort.Those who won and recognized, shared with the majority success behind their performance and how they value and prioritize clients as well as timely and effectively conducting and participate in the connect and how the sessions help them in their daily operations.The Scorecards were the most favorite part for the providers. They had enough time to understand their scorecards so that later they would be able to interpret to their team in facilities. Providers communicated that all sessions helped them, now they have a place to keep learning and a chance to ask questions each time they are in need. We spent time explaining to RCH in-charges how to interpret scorecards and how to prepare a small reward session in their facilities once they go back.ImpactFacilities that performed well, shared the best experience with other providers aiming at passing knowledge to others. They want the best for each other and declared that all are winners. A winning facility had a privilege to cut and share a cake with their R/CHMT, Tunda Facilitators, and remaining Providers.They as well shared with the low scored facility as the symbol of passing over the winning spirit to the facility. “We are giving you the cake because we want you to be the 95% performer in the coming quarter and we promise to be 98% so we will still be leading, welcome to the winning club” RCH in Charge, Dar es Salaam. This was the cheerful moment and loved by all of the participants including the R/CHMT.Bringing together all providers, giving them certificates and see who scored better made all Providers having an urge for high performance and improvement for the next Quarter. “This is a great initiative, awarding and recognizing providers will increase the quality of service and providers will work hard to improve their performance and facility at large.” — DRCHco-TemekeLessons LearnedFor providers to be able to reflect on their biases, participate fully in different sessions and topics, it is good to use known Facilitators who are fellow Providers to facilitate the sessions. This makes the same feels safe, Providers feeling that the Facilitator speaks their language and understand all it takes to work in a public health facility. Providers do make realistic commitments, challenge each other as well as bringing the sense of ownership of the program by involving them through each stage of the intervention.The use of visuals/cartoon carrying Tunda Message spikes the engagement as they carry some sort of informal modality of delivering the intended message to Providers. Short and precise messages got the high attention of Providers. These are such as: audios, short messages of not more that 2–3 minutes accelerate to good engagement Keeping the sessions funny helped providers to be free to speak their minds. Mentioning Providers by their names to contribute in sessions made them feel appreciated.Considering the fact these providers had very tight schedule, we introduced two ways; 1. Calling individually one hour before the session; 2. Texting everyone individually reminding them to get ready for session 30 minutes before time.Engage with facility heads and RCH leads early in the process, informing them of the upcoming Summits before rolling outEmcee should be well prepared to manage the event successfully in the sense that She tried much to adhere to sessions sequence, engaged participants with music and fun energizers to prepare them for the next sessions. It will make the event well organized, fun and memorable.For provider feel that they are touched with the situation, the reflection video should be realist reflecting the context, good and emotional appealing.The guest speaker should be a credible person someone who is valued by providers should understand the context in which FP services are provided and providers challenges in those contexts. She should not clam rather understand the challenges encountered in provision of services to youth and emphasize with providers.Training two in-personal facilitators and building capacity to other providers to allow in personal meeting to be carried out in the absence of the RCH in-charge.Adding more categories and recognizing providers/facilities in Reward ceremony motivates providers and keeps their morale high””””, Addressing Providers’ Bias: BB Tanzania Lessons Learned .Attribution: Addressing Providers’ Bias: BB Tanzania Lessons Learned .WRITTEN BYWilfred Nyange - Digital Skills/ICDL Africa accredited trainer, Digital Marketing Strategist, Photographer & Content creator.