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Centre for Researches and Studies
← Protests in Kazerun Tied to Land Management Failures
Protests in Kazerun Tied to Land Management Failures
https://rasanah-iiis.org/english/?p=4961
به زبان فارسى
07:30 pm - 31 May 2018 ByDr. Banafsheh Keynoush
Located in the Western tip of Iran's Fars Province, Kazerun County has a distinct historic identity which was shaped in the pre-Islamic Sasanid period (224-651 AD). A national Iranian heritage emerged in the area and spread across modern day Iran under this empire. The Persians are the county's main ethnic group, but other minorities live across Fars Province and Kazerun, including the semi-nomadic Qashqais, Lurs, Kurds, Arabs, Turks, Georgians and Circassians. Kazerun sits 860 meters above sea level between the mighty Zagros mountains and the warm waters of the Gulf, and it has seemed indivisible until recent times. Its identity, rooted in a strong ethnic and cultural heritage, is a source of pride for the county's inhabitants whose prosperity has withered since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979. But government plans announced last year to divide the county into smaller administrative townships has led to mass political protests.
The authorities blame protests on economic grievances, but that is one part of the story. The real problem started when the Office of Country Divisions said it would divide the county's "Chenar Shahijan" and "Kuhmareh Nodan" districts. The residents of Kazerun, the largest city in the county, claimed the plan would dislocate the region's natural geography and administrative units, subdivided into valleys and six main districts and six major cities.[1] In April, Kazerun's historic bazaar staged a shut down, considered a grand-scale act of civic defiance. Kazerunis joined bazaar merchants to demand the resignation of public officials who tried to silence their complaints. Schools and offices planned to close to participate in the protests. Backed by some 1,500 local protestors, the bazaar led a petition sent to Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani to ask that he represents Kazerun's interests.[2]
This led to the mass protests that erupted in April this year, triggered when Kazerun's member of parliament (the Islamic Consultative Assembly – majles), Hosein Rezazadeh, confirmed rumors to establish a new county. Rezazadeh made the announcement via telegram, a popular application widely used in Iran until its recent ban, which quickly spread the message across the county. Since arriving in parliament, Rezazadeh had lobbied for a new county for which plans were drawn 25 years ago. This would mean diverting Kazerun's limited land resources. No previous authority had touched the plan, but Rezazadeh was keen to deliver a promise made to his electoral constituents to have a new county. The promise won him a seat in the majles, as well as the ear of the central government. Tehran conformed without adequately assessing the situation on the ground.[3] Despite the economic virtues of diverting state funds to a new and under developed county, it was unclear what other behind-the-scene interests may have driven Tehran to back Rezazadeh. Little is known about his prior political connections. But he was keen to blame the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Friday prayer designate for Kazerun, Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khorsand, for igniting the protests through a smear campaign.[4] Khorsand suggested that defense and security considerations had to be considered when fashioning new counties.[5]
Kazerun is the most recent example of a trend to divide Iran up into numerous small counties. Social media coverage of the protests alerted Tehran of the dangers of its miscalculated move. On May 25, a group gathered in Rezazadeh's birthplace "Ghaemiyeh," considered a part of "Chenar Shahijan" district, at the city's Friday prayers mausoleum, to demand Kazerun's division into a new county. When officials froze plans to divide Kazerun to quieten the protests, "Chenar Shahijan" and "Kuhmareh Nodan" residents who wanted a new county called for demonstrations. On May 27, protestors used iron and rocks to block the main town square in "Ghaemiyeh," and the roads in "Chenar Shahijan" which link the Fars Province to the provinces of Bushehr and Khuzestan. Bystanders said security forces opened new paths to let traffic through. More protests flared up again in "Kuhmareh Nodan."[6]
Although the protestors in Kazerun threatened to remove Rezazadeh from office, his draft plan was kept in place to silence protestors who wanted a new county. The plan proposed the name "Kuh Chenar" for the county, a mix of the two ancient names of the regional towns of "Kuhmareh Nodan," and "Chenar Shijan." The new county's jurisdiction extended to the vicinity of the historic town of "Bishapur," once the capital city of the Sasanid Empire, and the holy town of "Imamzadeh Seyyed Hosein."[7] This angered Kazerun, as the plan would first transform it into a city as a dependency of "Bishapur" which today houses some of Iran's most ancient ruins.[8] For centuries, "Bishapur" and its surrounding villages served as recreational centers for locals. Kazerunis have clung as fervently to their Islamic heritage and the Imamzadeh. Originally a Sunni dominated area before its forced conversion into Shiism under the Safavid Empire. Kazerun has long been recognized as a land that breeds Muslim theologians. The Prophet Mohammed's disciple Salman-e Farsi, revered by both Sunnis and Shias, is believed to be from Kazerun.[9]
Khorsand insists these towns, along with "Dasht Barm" and "Anarestan" will always remain part of Kazerun. But he is concerned that though "Bishapur" was to stay part of Kazerun, plans were underway to separate villages around the area from the county. The people in nearby "Chenar Shahijan" and "Pusan," two underdeveloped towns that serve as linking routes between the three provinces of Fars, Khuzestan and Kahgholiyeh and BoyerAhmad, reject the idea. They support Rezazadeh's bid to end what they call is Kazerun's long-standing misallocation of resources and the discrimination against their towns.[10]
Khorsand and Rezazadeh have advised the people to freeze protests and to seek legal channels to resolve their issues. Kazerunis have since questioned the logic since the revolution to carve up the region into smaller counties and townships is part of nation-wide plans to re-demarcate Iran's 31 provinces. From 1906 until 1950, Iran was divided into 15 provinces when its first modern pattern of urban administration evolved from the remnants of a largely feudal and multiethnic society. Fars had a unique position as one of the largest new provinces in Iran, blessed with rich land resources, spectacular historic gardens, a vibrant literary community, and a reputation as the bedrock of Iran. It was in this area that the ancient Persian Empire spread starting around 550 BCE.[11] So famous was the area that many ancient rulers called themselves the Kings of Fars, though they controlled a far larger territory.[12]
With this history, Kazerun thought it was invincible, and it prided itself for raising some of Iran's most famous poets and scientists. But the plan to create new provinces after the revolution affected Kazerun, triggered by population growth levels when the revolutionaries rebuked population control programs. They argued that Iran needed more people to build a powerful Islamic nation and challenge world imperialism. Despite expert warning to curb population growth, Iran's religious leaders encouraged families to procreate. The government promised to give free housing and other subsidies to large families, and encouraged community living in land confiscated from Iran's pre-revolutionary elites.
Delighted by some of these early promises, Kazerun was thrust into defending the revolution. According to Khorsand, it lost some 1,300 men during the revolution and the subsequent Iran-Iraq War from 1980-1988. In return, it was expected that the Jihad Construction Organization (jehad-e sazandeghi) set up to fight rural deprivation post revolution, to re-distribute wealth across Iran, and to build its infrastructure, would bring prosperity to Kazerun. Although the Organization was instrumental in generating services for rural areas and encouraging nation-wide literacy and health programs, little came to town or the county by way of sustainable government support. Despite generous financial resources, the Organizations work was experimental rather than scientific, and lacked understanding of the natural heritage of the area. The war reversed Iran's economic growth, and small counties were hit hard. These days in Kazerun, poverty is widespread, unemployment is high, and draught has harmed the region's agriculture.[13]
Tehran failed to address the issues that impoverished Kazerun, despite the county's relatively small population, recorded at 300,000 in a census gathered in 2006. Instead, it focused on building its support base by distributing wealth among an emerging revolutionary middle class.[14] This kept the area in perpetual economic stagnation. Dependent on agriculture, the county suffered further from insufficient water, and poor industrialization plans. Its problems were compounded by chronic mismanagement at the local and state levels, despite numerous post-revolutionary organizations and cooperatives to help bring sustainable development to the region. With the rise in the number of low-income families and rural-urban migration, Kazerun's road networks and infrastructure began deteriorating.
You do not need to look far to see how the county's fortunes have changed. Kazerun's single largest industrial factory which generated employment for 300 workers was shut down a decade ago, and it never reopened. Despite budget allocations to build a tunnel for the town, Kazerun hardly received a penny. Its roads are considered one of the most hazardous to drive on in Iran, and it has the highest rate of car accidents in Fars Province. But extra budget was assigned to fix the problem two years ago, no one could tell if and how it was spent to make the roads safer in Kazerun.[15] The last governor of Fars Province refused to help. He did not visit Kazerun in his 11-month tenure, and only went to see the town when he was no longer governor. Sadegh Abedin, the former governor, promised to turn Kazerun into a major administrative hub, but it never happened. Other locations like Jahroum and Fasa were favored over Kazerun. Khorsand questions if in such a time of need carving up Kazerun into pieces should be the central government's priority. He says it is not clear if the plans were made at the highest level of the state. He likes to blame Iran's Interior Ministry and the Governorship of Fars Province for disrupting the region with grandiose plans to re-demarcate it. Khorsand adds, "One has to ask, why do they want people to stand up to each other and clash?"[16]
He says the plan to divide Kazerun was illegal, and it did not acquire the legitimacy required to pull off such large-scale projects. The authorities did not consider local sensitivities involved, including the need to protect the region's natural heritage and ensure the indivisibility of its historic and religious sites. Their actions stirred unrest in towns across the county, in a small provincial area where popular discontent is quick to show since Iran's nation-wide anti-government protests last December.[17] Yet the Interior Ministry insists that dividing counties, townships and provinces is part of an expert plan drawn by the government to re-demarcate the entire country.[18] The government has done little to share and discuss these plans with local communities. This obvious disrespect has increased Kazerun's grievances. Although the authorities blame the region's economic problems for triggering protests, Khorsand says that the people are saddened as the plans to re-demarcate Iran are drawn at the highest decision-making levels, often involving security and defense organizations, without any input from the people whose lives the plans will affect.[19]
There is no doubt that interest groups can influence decisions on how land across Iran is divided. But when plans go wrong, state security is charged with quashing provincial protests. Since the revolution, Iran has witnessed a series of these protests. Each time, the crackdown is severe. In 1993, the central town of Qazvin and areas surrounding it were turned into a province. Protests flared up when neighboring Zanjan laid claims over Qazvin. Cars carrying Zanjan license plates were stopped by crowds in Qazvin, and billboards promoting Zanjan were pulled down. When an early draft bill to turn Qazvin into a province was initially turned down, protests also exploded. Tehran's Seyyed Al Shohada 10th Brigade was dispatched to the region to subdue the revolt, and several people were reportedly killed.[20]
At the heart of these land division debates is how Iran's polling districts are divided. Districts often include several townships. Candidates running for political office base their election staff in towns where they are likely to receive the highest votes. In return, they offer more state resources to the towns once they are elected to office.[21] The problem does not end there. Frequently, state officials have a personal say in the matter of land division as well. For example, Abdulvahed Mousavi Lari, Iran's Interior Minister under the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami, was tasked to push a bill through parliament to turn his hometown of Lar into a new province. The plan involved separating Larestan County from Fars Province, and this led to a public uproar. Lari was already infamous as an avid lobbyist for county divisions. He had previously tried to turn Bojnurd County in Northeastern Iran into a province. His exertions led to a revolt in neighboring Sabzevar where protestors collected railway lines to attack public buildings. Several people were killed when security forces crushed the revolt.[22]
Bojnurd finally parted from the old Khorasan Province in Northeastern Iran. It is now the capital city of the new Northern Khorasan Province, one of three provinces split when the old Khorasan Province was carved up in 2004. Earlier plans aiming to divide Khorasan into five provinces failed because of popular revolts. The worst revolt came when people clashed in the towns of Neyshapur and Sabzevar. This forced authorities to divide the area into Northern and Southern Khorasan, and the center part into the Khorasan Razavi Province with Mashad as its capital city.[23] The region's problems persisted despite the carve-up, because subsequent governments took a position defending one local township against the other. When President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assumed office in 2005, he decided to support Shahrud's bid to turn it into the capital city of Semnan Province. This triggered protests across Semnan. Anxious to quieten people, the government drew up plans to divide up roads and administrative offices equally in various towns across Semnan, as well as the financial resources.[24]
Faced with these persistent problems at provincial levels, at some point the Islamic republic welcomed the idea of converting Iran into a federalized state system. This would allow most decisions to be made at local levels. The idea seemed popular enough for politicians to play with. During his run in the presidential elections in 2013, the former revolutionary guard commander Mohsen Rezai proposed dividing Iran into "economic" federal states to empower local communities to generate and sustain wealth. Since then, Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, the body responsible for strategizing about the country's future and settling inter-governmental disputes, has studied plans to divide the country into five states. The plan was first discussed under Khatami's presidency, when Lari announced that Iran could be divided into nine regions. But no government has dared yet to touch these plans for fear of igniting nation-wide protests.[25]
Contrary to the spirit of the revolution which aimed to empower local communities, urban and land management plans are imposed from above. Kazerun's fate was affected by top-down development plans to divide the Province of Fars, with limited citizenship involvement. Despite encouraging citizen participation in city-village councils in the late 1990s, Iran's Second Development Plan (1995-2000) proposed the adoption of a centralized "Comprehensive Plan for Country Divisions" by no later than 2008. The plan allowed the government to strategize on how to distribute wealth and trigger economic growth in Iran's new provinces and administrative counties, but it faced implementation complications. Although it was to be approved by Iran's reformist government led by President Mohammad Khatami, it was never finalized. The delay led parliament to question the then Interior Minister Abdullah Nuri. In his defense, Nuri claimed that Zahra Ahmadipur, then the General Director of Country Divisions, would take the plan to parliament for approval. She failed in receiving approval for the plan.[26]
By 2005, President Ahmadinejad, was able to win over lower-income voters who felt neglected by the previous government. But his populist policies, including cash handovers to the poor and provincial areas, bankrupted the state. Despite her failure, Ahmadipur returned to politics to lead Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization in President Hassan Rouhani's government in 2016-2017. The Rouhani government has invited comments on a new draft bill on county divisions. The draft includes definitions, but no specific ideas on how county division lines will be drawn. This gives members of parliament a relatively free hand to lobby the government about issues linked to the division. Often, these members look at their own interests first.[27] These days Kazerun's representative, Rezazadeh, spends most of his time in Tehran rather than in his own hometown. Hojatoleslam Khorsand complains that he has not even tried to take part in Kazerun's Friday prayers. Rezazadeh's apparent disconnect with his constituency led to rumors that secret plans to divide Kazerun were underway. This triggered the latest protests in April. Khorsand blames it on Rezazadeh's non-transparent behavior, and the Islamic Republic of Iran's Broadcasting (IRIB) agency's refusal to discuss the issue on national media.[28]
To quieten protests, Ali Akbari who represents the capital town of Shiraz in Fars Province, confirmed that the idea of dividing Kazerun is shelved. But contradictory reports pointed that a plan to divide Kazerun had been discussed in Tehran in early spring. Bahram Parasinejad, another parliamentary member from Shiraz blamed ongoing protests on poor economic conditions and said the people in Kazerun were using county division plans (known as entesal) as an excuse to protest.[29] Rouhani's government insists that plans to divide Kazerun were never finalized. The IRIB even showed a speech by Vice President Eshaq Jahanghiri, filmed a month earlier, rejecting plans to divide Kazerun were underway.[30] But that did not seem enough to quieten the crowds. So, Tehran called on Khorsand to restore the peace. Khorsand bluntly told the government that it had failed to communicate with the people clearly at the provincial level.[31]
By the time the government had asked Khorsand to help, the protests in Kazerun had gone on for weeks before flaring into large-scale demonstrations in mid-May. In the third day into the May protests, sporadic demonstrations continued. Social media showed security officers roaming town on motorbikes and cars. The protests picked up Wednesday night, May 16. They turned violent when protestors attacked and set ablaze a local police station, after being fired on, to release locals, they believed were being held there.[32] Protestors seemed emboldened by earlier clashes that had broken out over the division of Gerash in the Southern tip of Fars Province. By early Friday morning, reports surfaced that a bank was set on fire by protestors. After five days of protests starting at a gathering in Shohada Square in May, Kazerun remained under tight security control.[33]
According to Khorsand, high unemployment rates led crowds into the streets. Although the initial number of protestors was around 15,000, that number doubled. Throughout, Khorsand says not even a single government official from Fars Province or Tehran turned up to talk to the crowd. He believes the protests were by and large peaceful, even when some 30,000 gathered in Shohada Square last week, chanting against the governorship of Fars Province and IRIB for its failure to cover the demonstrations.[34] Social media reports suggest a heavy security crackdown has taken place. On May 19, the General Prosecutor of Fars Province Ali Al Ghasemi Mehr said in addition to two dead, 48 others were injured. At least a third person died after. Ali Zolghadri, the acting disciplinary force commander for Fars Province said the main leaders of the unrest were arrested. He added that 40 percent of those arrested had prior criminal records. The authorities insist they will not offer immunity to the people who set public buildings on fire or harmed human life.[35]
The Kazerun's protests seem to tie into the widespread tension across Iran since late last year when people called for overthrowing the Islamic republic. Emboldened by these events, the people of Kazerun have demanded that their Friday prayer leader should resign. They want the authorities from Fars Province and the Interior Ministry to come and resolve the dispute.[36] Meanwhile, the police and security forces are trying to keep the calm. But lacking a principled approach to the issue of land and resource division, Kazerun could face further protests.
President Rouhani has defended protests as an inalienable right, and he is less inclined to authorize the use of force against protestors. But that will not be enough to appease the people who fault his government for being non-transparent, and for marginalizing the poor. This puts the President Rouhani in a tight spot. His previous attempts at transparency by unveiling this year's budget stoked public anger last December. Some 20-30 percent of the budget was allocated to the promotion of revolutionary institutions, cutting back badly needed health, education and welfare programs. Rising living costs, and President Rouhani's inability to deliver promised reforms leave little to be desired in smaller towns like Kazerun. While government efforts are focused on keeping Tehran and other major cities in relative prosperity, smaller townships are ignored. During the protests, the people in Kazerun complained of "choking under pressure." They begged security forces to freeze the crackdown and to listen to the protestors' demands for change. These forces have learned not to turn people against them, as that could lead to a major showdown between pro-government groups and Iran's disenfranchised people. However almost a fifth of Iran's annual budget is earmarked for defense and security, cutting off the prospect of real reform for the foreseeable future.
"Why Do Popular Protests Lead to Violence?" BBC Farsi, May 19, 2018, http://www.bbc.com/persian/tv-and-radio-44187545?ocid=socialflow_twitter.
"What is the Kazerun Clash About?" BBC Farsi, May 17, 2018, http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-44155910.
"Unrest in Kazerun Continues," BBC Farsi, May 20, 2018, http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-44149116.
"MP Accuses Khamenei's Representative of Fueling Unrest," Radio Farda, May 21, 2018, https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-kazeroon-mp-accuses-prayer-leader-unrest/29239976.html.
"Details of Kazerun Events in Talks with City's Friday Prayer Leader/Everything Started with a Rumor," Fars News Agency, May 21, 2018.
"Supporters of Dividing Kazerun Block Roads," BBC Farsi, May 27, 2018, http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-44260874.
"Encyclopedia Iranica, Kazerun 11. History," http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kazerun-ii-history.
"What is the Kazerun Clash About?"; "Encyclopedia Iranica."
"Details of Kazerun Events in Talks with City's Friday Prayer Leader/Everything Started with a Rumor," op. cit.
Vahid Rashidvash, "Iranian People: Iranian Ethnic Groups," International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 3, No. 15 (August 2013): p. 218, http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_15_August_2013/24.pdf.
Firoozeh Kashani Sabet, Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946 (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999), p. 17, https://books.google.com/books?id=NxXoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=l.
Ibid; see also Ali Shakoori, The State and Rural Development in Post-Revolutionary Iran (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001), p. 94, https://books.google.com/books/about/State_and_Rural_Development_in_the_Post.html.
Saeed Laylaz, "Middle Class and State's Policy," in an interview with Matin Ghafarian, Mehrnameh, No. 29 (2013): p. 119.
"Kazerun Security Atmosphere 2 dead," BBC Farsi, May 19, 2018, http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-441829945?ocid=socialflow_twitter.
"Details of Kazerun Events in Talks with City's Friday Prayer Leader Everything Started with a Rumor," op. cit.
Ehsan Mehrabi, "Crisis of Country Divisions in Islamic Republic: From Qazvin to Kazerun," BBC Farsi, May 17, 2018.
"Unrest in Kazerun Continues." BBC Farsi, May 20, 2018, http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-44149116.
"Kazerun Security Atmosphere 2 dead." BBC Farsi, May 19, 2018, http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-441829945?ocid=socialflow_twitter.
"Details of Kazerun Events in Talks with City's Friday Prayer Leader," op. cit.
"Those Arrested in Kazerun Event had Criminal Histories/Protestors Carried Weapons," op. cit.
"Kazerun Protests, Several Dead, Tens Injured and Arrested," BBC Farsi, May 17, 2018, http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-44152284.
Dr. Banafsheh Keynoush
Non-resident fellow at Rasanah-IIIS
# KazerunAhmadinejadAli ZolghadriBishapurBojnurdFars ProvinceIRIBKhorasan Province in NortheasternKuh ChenarManagement FailuresprotestsQazvinShohada Squareunemployment


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Q: Creating a JMS Correlation ID It is generally discouraged to use the message id returned from the JMS provider as the correlation id with which a message is published onto a queue.  How have people generated their correlation ids for a request/response architecture?

A: Clients can use a unique ID standard like UUID to generate a new ID.
Here is good tutorial for you.
You can return correlation id from JMS provider using following code.
message.setJMSCorrelationID(UUID.randomUUID().toString());
producer.send(message);
LOG.info("jms-client sent:" + message.getJMSCorrelationID());

Cheers.

A: Server-side correlation ID generation suffers from two problems though:

*

*One-way protocols (like JMS) have no direct means of returning the
correlation ID back to the client. Another channel could be used but
that complicates things.

*Unexpected issues can prevent the client from receiving the
generated    ID even though the request has been accepted and
processed on the    server. This is why client ID generation should
be considered.
Client generated correlation IDs
Clients can use a unique ID standard like UUID to generate a new ID
  message.setJMSCorrelationID(UUID.randomUUID().toString());

Ref: http://blogs.mulesoft.com/dev/anypoint-platform-dev/total-traceability/

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The Story Teller
by Mark Mordue | Oct 27, 2021
Mike Williams has kept returning to Addi Road. The Radio National journalist and podcaster first came here "to capture a specific moment in time," he says. "With the pandemic, things are changing so fast. I wanted to get an insight into the work that was going on...
Food of Love
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by Mark Mordue | Oct 9, 2021
Clint Bolton seems a little melancholic today, like someone who is leaving home very reluctantly. There are farewell speeches happening for him inside the hall that we have repurposed as our Addi Road Food Relief Hub. Clint has been coming here four mornings a week,...
Mostafa Azimitabar, Craig Foster and Rosanna Barbero are taking a break at Koshari Korner, right beside the Addi Road Food Relief Hub in Marrickville.Moz has spent years in PNG sweating like a dog in the humid heat, told he is not wanted here. Craig has captained...
If you have ever played that woodblock puzzle game Jenga, you will have some idea of how tight and delicate a fit it can be stacking a semi-trailer full to the brim with pallets. So much space and, right down the centimetre, just enough room to get it done well. The...

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Anime Movie Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu! Ora to Uchuu no Princess: Synopsis, opinions and characters
This week we introduce you the anime Movie Crayon Shin-chan, premiered in 2012 and it's from the rewarded Studio: Shin-Ei Animation.
Here you will find the opinions, the synopsis and a lot of interesting information about the anime. The anime Movie Crayon Shin-chan, also called: Eiga Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu! Ora to Uchuu no Princess, it will depend on where you are.
Now, this anime is finished and In the TOP of the century, it's low positioned. At the moment, our anime has average popularity among the anime lovers and the recommended age is around: G – All Ages. In fact, our anime would be inside the genres: Comedy, Seinen and it's having exactly 1 chapters. Like a curiosity, is based on a manga and it has an average length of 1 hr. 50 minper episode.
Anime Movie Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu! Ora to Uchuu no Princess: Synopsis
Argument of Movie Crayon Shin-chan:
An action comedy set in the solar system, about a row over Himawari, Shinnosuke's younger sister, between the Nohara family and aliens. Shinnosuke has a fight with Himawari, because she ate his crème caramel.
Suddenly, two mysterious men appear and Shinnosuke signs an agreement to leave her with them. They abduct the Nohara family to the Planet Himawari by UFO.
On the Planet Himawari, Sunday Goronesky the Great says Himawari needs to be the princess of the planet in order to save the Earth and the Planet Himawari from the fateful crisis.
It could not look like a big thing, but from SenseiAnime we ask you for an opportunity.
Movie Crayon Shin-chan: Trailers and Videos
Movie Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu! Ora to Uchuu no Princess: Characters, voice actors and more
You could start the marvellous adventures of your favourite characters (Shinnosuke Nohara, Hiroshi Nohara, Misae Nohara, Boo-chan, Tooru Kazama, Ginnosuke Nohara, Bunta Takakura, Nene Sakurada, Masumi Ageo, Masao Sato).
Anime Movie Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu! Ora to Uchuu no Princess: Critic
Max, who pretends to be like the main character, says
Hey otakus, I am very grateful for your great job. I am a big fan of this site.
Brutal! I didn't expect too much about this anime, but it overcame my believes.
Brenda, who is 22 years old, wrote us:
Genki desu ka otakus, thank you for the amazing work. I read your news every week.
Brutal! I did not see much about this anime, but it broke ground my believes.
Contact and tell us what you think in the comment below! If you wish you can share your impressions via email. So we are waiting for your thoughts.
Thanks to that we keep improving every day and to create new content like the article you just read.
Questions about Movie Crayon Shin-chan
Kevin, who only watches dubbed anime, says
Konnichiwa SA, thank you for your work. I read your news every second.
The anime seems good enough. Is the anime inspired in another anime?
Olivia, who loves the anime since last year, wrote us:
Good day Sensei anime's team thank you for showing us the way. Reading about you is the best part of the day.
Where does it come from? The anime could be popular enough.
Alisa, who can't stop thinking about the anime, asks:
Howdy Sensei anime's team rocket thank you for existing. I am your greatest fan.
Movie Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu! Ora to Uchuu no Princess could be good. Who are the dubbing actors?


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The former Ohio State quarterback was invited to try out with the Bengals this weekend at their rookie camp, getting another chance to extend his career in the NFL. This chance came in part because of his connection with offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, who was his head coach in Oakland in 2011.
No promises. No commitments. Just a chance to show how much he's grown.
"That's a different quarterback," Jackson said after a Friday afternoon practice. "So this guy's improved. He's a very talented young man. But again, we'll see where we are. Today is just one day."
The Bengals have a blurry situation at backup quarterback. Andy Dalton is the fifth-year starter and has been very durable, missing only half of one game because of injury during his career.
AJ McCarron missed all of his rookie season with a sore passing shoulder. The Bengals also have Josh Johnson, known for his ability to run. Pryor is hoping to get a toehold in the competition by making an impression this weekend.
Pryor was Al Davis' last draft pick in Oakland, taken in the third round of the supplemental draft in 2011. He played three seasons in Oakland and started 16 games.
After the 2013 season, he was traded to Seattle for a seventh-round pick. The Seahawks released him before the start of the 2014 season. The Bengals brought him in for a tryout last November but didn't sign him.
Browns: Johnny Manziel's climb back might be steeper than he realized.
The Browns aren't making any promises to Manziel, who recently spent 10 weeks in rehab following a miserable rookie season. Coach Mike Pettine said Friday that the team is taking things slowly with Manziel and that veteran Josh McCown will enter training camp as the presumptive starter this season.
The Browns want Manziel to focus on getting himself well, and they don't want to put any other pressure on him. Manziel was discharged from rehab on April 11.
"I just think we're too close to him getting out," Pettine said after the Browns held their first practice with rookies and undrafted free agents. "I just think it's too early to start expanding what we're asking him to do and what we're wanting him to get involved in. It's baby steps here at this point.
"It's a new system, he's getting used to a new quarterback coach, a new coordinator and there's plenty on his plate and there's plenty of football between now and the start of the season for us to make an evaluation."
The team has been pleased with Manziel's progress since getting help for an undisclosed condition. Manziel spent 73 days at Caron, a facility in Pennsylvania that specializes in substance abuse. Manziel, who hasn't spoken to the media since his rehab stint, has been trying to win back his teammates' trust.
Pettine's message to Manziel: keep it up and don't worry about anything else.
"We want him essentially with horse blinders on," Pettine said. "Focus on his job, getting up every day, perfecting his craft, whatever it is, homework that the quarterbacks have or come out and working on his footwork, his releases, that he's much more concerned about himself than really anything else."
Buccaneers: Jameis Winston stayed up late the previous night, studying the playbook and preparing for his first real day on the job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The No. 1 overall draft pick arrived early Friday for the start of rookie minicamp. He stood outside One Buccaneer Place to greet a bus carrying other first-year players vying for an opportunity to help the young quarterback transform a last-place team into playoff contenders.
"I was excited. I wanted to get everyone else involved and excited," the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner said following a two-hour practice, his first since being selected in the NFL draft and signing a four-year, $23.35 million contract.
Winston's new teammates appreciated the gesture.
"Jameis is Jameis," said Donovan Smith, one of two offensive lineman the Bucs drafted in the second round. "He makes light of every situation and makes you feel comfortable. As a quarterback, that's his job."
Like the rest of the rookies, Winston wore a helmet with his name taped on the front, as well as the back – not that it was difficult to keep track of the 6-foot-4, 230 pound Winston on the field.
The top draft pick joined Northern Colorado's Seth Lobato, the other QB participating in the weekend minicamp, in wearing orange practice jerseys instead of white donned by other offensive players, or red worn by the defense.
They alternated taking snaps for passing drills during the portion of practice open to the media.
Predictably, Winston looked sharp on some throws, and not so good on others, while working with a group of young receivers also hoping to make a good first impression.
Jaguars: Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler Jr., the third overall pick in the NFL draft, is likely out for the season after tearing a knee ligament during his first practice.
Fowler tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during rookie minicamp Friday. ESPN first reported the extent of the injury.
The injury looked serious live and appeared even worse in video replays. Tests revealed the extent of the injury.
The former Florida star's Fowler's knee buckled during an 11-on-11 drill as he engaged right tackle Watts Dantzler. Fowler dropped to the ground, grabbed his leg as he rolled from side to side and eventually got helped off the field. He was carted to the locker room.
Fowler was the first non-quarterback selected last week, taken by the Jaguars after quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota.
Steelers: Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver Sammie Coates is ready to get to work.
The third-round pick joined other first-year players at the team's rooking minicamp Friday. Coates says he knows he has plenty to work on if he wants to get playing time with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger this fall.
Coates impressed the Steelers with his speed and big-play ability but also struggled with drops. Coates says wants to become a better all-around receiver and knows he'll have to wait his turn in a group that includes All-Pro Antonio Brown.
The camp ends Sunday. Pittsburgh rookie defensive end L.T. Walton, one of the team's two sixth-round picks, became the first draft pick to sign with the Steelers. Walton agreed to a four-year deal Friday.
Panthers: The Carolina Panthers' top two draft picks were unable to finish rookie minicamp practices because of minor injuries.
Linebacker Shaq Thompson, the 25th overall pick, left halfway through Friday afternoon's practice because of a strained hamstring after slipping on the grass field. A short while later, second-round pick Devin Funchess was carted off early to get an IV for leg cramps.
Rivera says he's a "little concerned" about Thompson's hamstring injury, but says the rookie will be reevaluated Saturday. Rivera is hoping Thompson can practice because he will miss installation time at OTAs while finishing up his college classes at Washington.
Funchess says he's fine and plans to practice Saturday.
Carolina practiced twice Friday with the temperature in the afternoon session reaching 84 degrees.
Packers: The Green Bay Packers opened their rookie mini-camp Friday, with top pick Damarious Randall limited by a minor ankle injury.
Coach Mike McCarthy says the injury won't keep the defensive back from Arizona State out for very long.
Many eyes were on quarterback Brett Hundley, a three-year starter at UCLA who tumbled all the way to the fifth round of the draft. The only other quarterback taking part in Friday's workouts was Alabama's Blake Sims.
McCarthy said the 6-foot-3, 226-pound Hundley "threw the ball well," especially considering he was working from under center for much of practice.
Lions: The Detroit Lions have begun rookie minicamp, and coach Jim Caldwell is hopeful his team can improve its running game.
Two players the Lions added to help with that effort were on hand Friday. In the draft last week, Detroit picked offensive lineman Laken Tomlinson in the first round and running back Ameer Abdullah in the second.
The Lions went 11-6 last season, but they averaged 88.9 yards rushing, ranking 28th in the NFL. Reggie Bush had only 76 carries, and Joique Bell averaged just 3.9 yards per attempt.
Detroit cut Bush this offseason, meaning there was room for another back to complement Bell. Abdullah was the choice, taken with the 54th pick in the draft after a stellar career at Nebraska.
Jets: The New York Jets have released tight end Chris Pantale and linebacker Chris Young, and signed eight undrafted free agents.
The team also announced Friday that offensive lineman Corey Hilliard, signed as a free agent in March, has retired.
The undrafted players who are participating in rookie minicamp are: defensive ends Deion Barnes and Jordan Williams, safeties Durell Eskridge and Demarkus Perkins, linebackers Julian Howsare and Taiwan Jones, tight end Wes Saxton and defensive lineman Davon Walls.
Pantale was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2013 and spent most of the last two seasons on the practice squad. Young was signed to the practice squad last October.
Among players receiving tryouts is tight end Mike Flacco, brother of Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.
Falcons: New Falcons coach Dan Quinn isn't surprised how Vic Beasley stands out among the team's rookie class.
After watching his first rookie minicamp with Atlanta, Quinn was impressed with Beasley's quick first step against the run and the pass.
Beasley, a former Clemson standout and the eighth overall pick of the NFL draft, will play defensive end and outside linebacker in Quinn's 4-3 scheme.
Quinn spent the last two years as Seattle's defensive coordinator, helping the Seahawks win a Super Bowl and two NFC championships.
Cornerback Jalen Collins, Atlanta's second-round pick, was held out of Friday's workout as a precaution. The former LSU standout had right foot surgery March 19 to repair a fracture, but Quinn doesn't expect him to be sidelined very long.
Dolphins: Offensive lineman Arthur Ray Jr. is among 26 players invited to try out at the Miami Dolphins' three-day rookie minicamp. Six draft picks and 22 undrafted free agents recently signed by the Dolphins are also participating.
But Ray stands out because of what he has overcome. He was diagnosed with bone cancer eight years ago, only weeks after he accepted a scholarship to play at Michigan State. He underwent nine operations and was on crutches for more than two years.
Ray regained his health, transferred to Fort Lewis College in Colorado and caught the attention of NFL scouts. After last's week's draft the Dolphins invited him for a tryout. Ray says he has as good a chance as anyone to make the roster.
Cowboys: Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Josh Brent is retiring for the second time since the drunken-driving crash that killed teammate Jerry Brown and derailed his career.
The Cowboys placed Brent on the reserve/retired list Friday, a few days after he met with coach Jason Garrett and owner and general manager Jerry Jones to discuss his future. He had been participating in the club's offseason program.
The 27-year-old Brent returned to football briefly last year after serving a 10-game suspension. He played in one game in his first action in almost exactly two years.
Brent retired before training camp in 2013 while awaiting trial in his intoxication manslaughter case. He was convicted early last year, and a 10-year prison term was suspended. Brent, who had a previous drunken-driving conviction in Illinois, spent about six months in jail.
"I have made the decision that football isn't as much of a priority in my life as other things at this time," Brent said in a statement released by his agent. "I will endeavor my best to make the Dallas Cowboys and their fans proud as I embark on this new journey in life."


Swindon -v- Morecombe Matchday Thread.
Thetownend.com > Forum > Swindon Town FC > Match Day Action/Reaction > Topic: Swindon -v- Morecombe Matchday Thread.
Re: Swindon -v- Morecombe Matchday Thread.
My gut feeling is that I want him to stay.
Me too, I feel we could do worse..
Are talking PB or LV or both?
I was referring specifically to PB but yes, I would extend that to LV as well.


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Renaissance wins the first integrated waveguide assembly order. The high power assembly consists of an absorptive and reactive low pass filter, ferrite circulators, load, and coupler which will be challenging to design and manufacture. The integrated assembly will eliminate many interfaces between components which will reduce size and weight for this critical avionics package. Another advantage will allow the design to provide a broadband match to the transmitter by conjugate matching techniques between components.
A Renaissance Electronics transmitter combiner has been recently approved for use in a new effort by a major cellular provider in order to create concentric cells in their urban cell sites. This approval coincided with major order of these combiners.
This unit can combine four inputs carrying sixteen signals into one signal at a power level that will provide a second cell underneath the normal cell. Renaissance can offer this unit in many different configurations handling any modulation scheme or power level.
This approval shows Renaissance's continuous effort in order to provide cellular providers with new and revolutionary units in order to help solve all of their capacity and/or coverage problems.
REC receives an order from a US defense contractor to supply Isolator for a major weapons program. REC has had a teaming relationship with the prime contractor and continues to supply quality products, with on-time delivery, for the defense industry.
REC was awarded a follow on order for a RF Head-End Switch Matrix used in Wireless Mesh networking test environment in support of 802.11 radio deployments.
This Matrix has been enhanced to cover up to the 6 GHz range, therefore greatly increasing the customers capabilities of testing.
Renaissance Electronics was awarded a follow-on production order for a surface mount Isolator that is being used by an international customer building self locating beacons for downed pilots. This same customer also uses our SLE Series Isolator for animal/mammal tracking in the wild.
Renaissance Electronics ferrite products are used on a variety of applications including Defense, Industrial, Telecommunications and Space applications.


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Quick Answer: Who Is The Queen Of Colours?
Is London blue or red?
What are the colors for royalty?
What are the Royal Colours of England?
What is the most royal color?
Who is the most educated royal?
What is the least appetizing color?
What color represents a queen?
What is a color of love?
What color represents anxiety?
What color isn't real?
What are Britain's colors?
What color makes hungry?
What is the Queen of England's favorite color?
What color is the most expensive?
What colors does the Queen wear most?
What does the Colour purple mean sexually?
Does the Queen have a passport?
And Blue and White.
The major football clubs in London are not particularly fond of each other.
Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham and Tottenham are the Premier league clubs to all call London home, and the hatred that these clubs' supporters have for one another is real..
White for Purity, Gold for Wealth; Purple, Violet, and Blue for Royalty and Piety. This gallery shows pictures from the 16th-19th centuries of high ranking or royal people featured in these colors.
The Army was well represented, being given 14 colours, which included 3 crimsons, a scarlet, a red, 3 greens, a blue, 2 buffs, a yellow, a saffron and a maroon. There are five colours used in heraldry and two metals. Metals when not shown in gold or silver are represented by yellow and white respectively.
purpleWhy is purple considered the color of royalty? – HISTORY.
But the queen with the broadest education and deepest intellect was probably the brilliant Queen Elizabeth 1, who was learning Latin at age 5. Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, who is marrying Prince William on Friday, could become queen of England if William is crowned king. Middleton attended exclusive private schools.
blueWhat is the least appetizing color? While blue is one of the most popular colors it is one of the least appetizing. Blue food is rare in nature. Food researchers say that when humans searched for food, they learned to avoid toxic or spoiled objects, which were often blue, black, or purple.
color purpleThe color purple has been associated with royalty, power and wealth for centuries. In fact, Queen Elizabeth I forbad anyone except close members of the royal family to wear it.
Throughout history, red has been the color of passion, romance, and sexual energy. Red lips and blushed cheeks stimulate arousal. A red dress attracts attention and captures the imagination.
The colors we use to describe emotions may be more useful than you think, according to new research. The study found that people with or anxiety were more likely to associate their mood with the color gray, while preferred yellow.
The short answer is that magenta doesn't actually exist. (Well, none of the colors actually exist, but we'll get to that in a little bit. Magenta doesn't exist in an additional way. Now that's real commitment to not existing.)
The national colours of the United Kingdom are usually identified as the combination of red, white and blue in that order.
YellowYellow and orange are colors that make people feel hungry. The color red is associated with emotion and passion. So when one sees red combined with yellow and orange, they become passionately hungry.
blueHer favorite color The study showed that Queen Elizabeth favored blue over any other color. She wore it 29% of the time as most of her coats, dresses, suits, and hats were some shade of blue.
The brightest or darkest colours were more expensive to produce and therefore limited to higher status clothing. The color and its brightness helped determine the dye's value. The lower classes wore colors of yellow, russet (a reddish brown color), orange, green, pale blue and pink.
Queen's favourite colour to wear is blue reveals expert Ms Mollard revealed the colour that the monarch loves to wear the most.
Purple. Purple combines the stability of blue and passion of red. It is also believed to be sexually deprived color or the color of sexual frustration. This could be attributed to its historical significance as a color of royalty, wisdom, dignity and also mystery and magic.
When travelling overseas, The Queen does not require a British passport. As a British passport is issued in the name of Her Majesty, it is unnecessary for The Queen to possess one. … All other members of the Royal Family, including The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales, have passports.
Quick Answer: How Do You Promote Equality And Diversity In Health And Social Care?
Why is it important to support equality and diversity
Question: Should I Get Induced At 40 Weeks Or Wait?
Why do doctors push induction? Labor induction is a
Is Being Clumsy A Disorder?
Is clumsiness a symptom of depression? Behavioral Changes
Question: What Is Trichinella In Pork?
What is the most unhealthy meat to eat? In general
Does Warm Water Help Shin Splints?
What exercise is good for shin splints? Stretching


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International Journal of Mental Health Systems
The Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Program (mhLAP): a pioneering response to the neglect of mental health in Anglophone West Africa
Jibril Abdulmalik1,
Woye Fadahunsi1,
Lola Kola2,
Emeka Nwefoh3,
Harry Minas4,
Julian Eaton5 &
Oye Gureje6
International Journal of Mental Health Systems volume 8, Article number: 5 (2014) Cite this article
Developing countries in Africa and other regions share a similar profile of insufficient human resources for mental health, poor funding, a high unmet need for services and a low official prioritisation of mental health. This situation is worsened by misconceptions about the causes of mental disorders, stigma and discrimination that frequently result in harmful practices against persons with mental illness. Previous explorations of the required response to these challenges have identified the need for strong leadership and consistent advocacy as potential drivers of the desired change. The Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Program (mhLAP) is a project that aims to provide and enhance the acquisition of skills in mental health leadership, service development, advocacy and policy planning and to build partnerships for action. Launched in 2010 to serve the Anglophone countries of The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, this paper describes the components of the program, the experience gained since its initiation, and the achievements made during the three years of its implementation. These achievements include: 1) the annual training in mental health leadership and advocacy which has graduated 96 participants from 9 different African countries and 2) the establishment of a broad coalition of service user groups, non-governmental organizations, media practitioners and mental health professionals in each participating country to implement concerted mental health advocacy efforts that are focused on country-specific priorities
The five Anglophone West African countries of The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone share similar mental health profiles with each other and with many other low- and middle-income countries, with low policy priority for mental health, poor funding, inadequate human resources for mental health, widespread misconception about mental health issues, stigmatization and human rights abuses [1–5]. Even though evidence exists for a high burden of mental disorders in the countries [6–8] most of those affected receive no treatment. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health Survey revealed that only one in five of those with common but serious mental disorders in Nigeria had received any treatment in the preceding 12 months [9]. Similar treatment gaps have been reported in other countries in the region [10]. This gap exists despite considerable evidence that, even within the constraints of low level of resources common to countries in the region, cost-effective interventions are available for most mental, neurological and substance use disorders [6, 11]. Thus, even if some of the unmet need for services reflects the scarcity of human and material resources, a fundamental problem underlying the gap is the low priority accorded mental health issues by governments in the region, as well as low levels of knowledge about how to use available resources more efficiently [12, 13]. An indication of this low priority is that none of the five countries is implementing a government program on mental health service that is guided by a clear policy.
It is now commonly recognized that effective advocacy has to be a central component of efforts directed at generating political will [14] for increased attention to mental health service improvement and scale-up as well as reducing the level of public stigmatization of the mentally ill [15–19]. Such advocacy presents access to mental health services as a fundamental human right [20, 21] and derives its strength from harnessing the commitment and energy of key stakeholders, including mental health professionals, policy makers, service users and families. However, such advocacy requires specific and appropriate skills in order for it to marshal and present arguments that are convincing and actionable. The lack of such skills and the lack of a broad public health perspective among leaders in the mental health community have been identified as the major obstacles to mental health service development in low- and middle-income countries [1, 22].
Several important contributions to mental health policy and services development have either been recently implemented or are currently ongoing in sub-Saharan Africa. An example is the Mental Health and Poverty Project (MHaPP), which involved the countries of Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and South Africa [23]. Ghana was the only West African country involved in that project and has made significant progress in the areas of mental health policy and legislation [24]. Sierra Leone and Liberia have also witnessed efforts to develop mental health capacity in the aftermath of civil wars, with varying degrees of success, often provided for short periods of time by international mental health organizations [25].
However, a concerted effort to develop and harness indigenous capacity for sustained advocacy to improve mental health services in this region has been lacking. Furthermore, service user groups and non-governmental organizations advocating for mental health services are few, and the efforts of those that do exist are hampered by insufficient opportunities for capacity building [26]. While the existing mental health policies in the participating countries recommend the integration of mental health care services into primary health care, this has been poorly implemented across the region [27, 28]. Mental health is also not captured in the existing health management information systems in these countries.
It is therefore important that opportunities for empowering stakeholders to promote and sustain mental health advocacy campaigns in sub-Saharan Africa, including West Africa, are made available. Such opportunities will align with activities directed at mental health system strengthening, including its integration into general healthcare programs in developing countries [29, 30].
The Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Program (mhLAP)
The Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Program (mhLAP) was developed by the Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in partnership with CBM International, and the Centre for International Health of the University of Melbourne, Australia. Funded by the Australian Aid Agency and CBM, it has two main overlapping goals: 1) capacity building for mental health leadership and advocacy; and 2) development of stakeholder groups with the ability to identify and pursue country-specific mental health service development needs and targets. The aim therefore, is to provide both a top-down, and bottom-up approach to advocacy in countries, which is based on experience of the need for consistent messages from different actors in order to present strong and effectively communicated arguments for change. The program is implemented in the five Anglophone West African countries of The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
Program implementation and structure
The mhLAP was launched in 2010, under the overall leadership of the University of Ibadan. The plan was to set up an office in each of the five participating countries, each headed by a Country Facilitator employed full time and working under the day-to-day supervision of a local partner, but ultimately reporting to the Coordinating Office in Ibadan. However, in order to reduce problems that might be associated with multi-country project implementation, the offices were established in a stepwise manner, with the Nigeria office established in the first year, and then joined by Ghana in the second and the other three countries in the third year. This phased commencement of the program had the advantage of ensuring that activities started early in the countries with the largest population and most challenging terrain, while allowing for lessons learned from the initial process to be incorporated into subsequent countries' activities. It also ensured that the work was incremental and therefore not overwhelming for effective co-ordination and monitoring.
The planning of the programme implementation involved several engagement activities. These activities were led by the Project Director (OG) who visited each of the participating countries to solicit and develop specific partnerships to facilitate the take-off and subsequent implementation of the project. These activities included meetings with the officials of the Mental Health Society of Ghana (MEHSOG), the Executive Director of Basic Needs (Ghana), officials of City of Rest and of Enabling Access (another CBM-led project) in Sierra Leone, the Gambian Federation of the Disabled, the WHO Country Representative in the Gambia, and senior officials of the Ministries of Health of both Liberia and the Gambia (including the Minister of Health of the latter). These engagement activities led to the development of partnerships with individuals and organizations for the specific purpose of providing country-level supervision and oversight for the Country Facilitators and provision of office spaces.
The mhLAP activities are organized and implemented at regional and country levels. See Figure 1 for the organizational structure.
Organizational structure of MHLAP. *This includes Ministry of Health officials, and senior Hospital Administrators.
Training component
The training component of the program is implemented through a two-week annual workshop. Prior to implementation, a curriculum development exercise was organized with the participation of experts in the fields of global mental health, health promotion, communication arts, mental health service evaluation and policy development. An important source of information in the curriculum development was the curriculum of the International Mental Health Leadership Program [31] of the Centre for International Mental Health of the University of Melbourne, with experience of other leadership courses also taken into consideration. The curriculum was informed by current best evidence in the field of public health and health system development. While a major influence in the development of the curriculum was to meet the needs of students from Anglophone West African countries, many of the realities in these countries are very similar to those of much of sub-Saharan Africa, and the content has also taken account of the wider situation in many low- and middle-income countries. Topics covered include: burden of mental, neurological and substance use disorders; organization of mental health services; evaluation of services; mental health financing; mental health policy and legislation; social determinants of mental health; principles and practice of health promotion; the art of communication; stigma of mental illness; and mental health system reform and strengthening. The course also aims to inform the trainees about the strong reciprocal links that exist, at both personal and national levels, between poverty, social determinants and mental health. The expectation is that, at the end of the training, participants will be able to serve as advocates for an approach to responding to the burden of mental disorders within an integrated and evidence-based service for chronic health conditions.
The training course is targeted at mental health leaders, senior and mid-level government officials, policy makers, leaders of civil society, and user and caregiver organizations. The objective is to create a critical mass of informed and empowered opinion leaders who can generate action for positive change in their communities. The structure is interactive, with didactic lectures followed by group discussions and presentations. On the last day of the two-week course, participants are encouraged to prepare and deliver presentations on their proposed plan of action for mental health service development and advocacy upon their return to their respective countries. This provides an avenue for constructive feedback and contributions from other trainees and the faculty to help fine-tune these proposals.
As well as local experts, the faculty for the training has included international experts in global mental health with practical experience of working in low- and middle-income countries. Thus, a multi-disciplinary team of experts from areas such as mental health, public health, language and communication arts, health economics and health promotion has been involved in the training. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been active in the area of mental health in West Africa, such as CBM (Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo) and Basic Needs (Ghana) have also been involved in the training workshops (as well as in program consultative meetings) to share experiences and strengthen collaborative networks.
The training course started in 2010 and has taken place annually since then. The profile of participants from several African countries till date is presented in Table 1.
Table 1 Number of participants at the Leadership and Advocacy Course from various African countries from 2010 – 2013
Stakeholders councils and country-specific activities
Country offices were established in Nigeria and Ghana, in 2010 and 2011 respectively, while those in Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia were established in 2012. Each office is headed by a full-time Country Facilitator and is housed in a space provided by a country partner. Partners include a mental health user organization, a faith-based non-governmental organization providing care for persons with severe mental disorder, and a WHO country office. The duties of the Country Facilitator include strengthening of links between people involved in mental health in the country, and the implementation of the program of activities guided by these stakeholders. Depending on the local networks of stakeholders, the Facilitators either worked to strengthen existing groups (for example in Ghana), or constituted a National Stakeholders Council (NSC) where no group existed with a broad membership (the Council's name varies in each country). The aim was to build on local strengths rather than to replicate or create parallel or competing institutions. The reality was that in most countries, while some interest groups existed (professional, traditional, or service user/carer), there was rarely a group aiming to bring all of these diverse interests together.
One of the first activities for the Facilitator in each country was the collection of data to inform a comprehensive situation analysis of the status of mental health services at the onset of the programs. This has been published separately and, as well as guiding decisions about advocacy priorities, will be important as a baseline for subsequent program evaluation.
In each of the participating countries, the NSC is composed of mental health professionals, representatives of user or caregiver organizations, officials of relevant government departments, leaders of non-governmental organizations with interest in mental health or human rights issues, and media practitioners. The NSC in each country serves as an active lobby group to develop and conduct mental health advocacy activities.
The NSC meets at least two times per year to draw up program of activities reflecting identified needs. For example, the NSC may decide that advocacy for a mental health policy would be its main area of action or that it would seek to organize workshops for journalists to discourage them from using derogatory terms when reporting on persons with mental illness. Once high priority activities are decided as the focus of the Council's attention, the Country Facilitator is given the responsibility of coordinating the activities and reporting back to the Council on the progress of implementation. In carrying out these functions, the Country Facilitator reports to the Project Office in Ibadan from where regular supervisory visits to the country offices are carried out.
The NSC includes graduates of the leadership and advocacy training course in Ibadan, Nigeria. The Country Facilitators, as well as these graduates, are guided by priorities set by a wide coalition of stakeholders in the country, creating a unified message, with the legitimacy that comes from such a broad-based constituency. Indeed, the expectation from the leadership course participants is that they become informed advocates for mental health service development in their respective countries. Thus, at every meeting of the NSC, further in-house capacity building is promoted by having one or two members who have attended the Ibadan training speak on selected topics as a way of informing others. In this way, members of the NSC are provided with the knowledge to enable them to inform the national agenda with respect to mental health, in a systematic and evidence-based manner.
An annual three-day workshop is also organized in Ibadan for selected representative of each country NSC. The workshop provides participants with a forum to discuss and share experience, learn from others, and receive feedback on planned country activities. The workshop also serves as an opportunity for the Project Coordinating Office in Ibadan to receive annual country reports of activities that highlight achievements, challenges and limitations in each of the participating countries.
A summary of the country-specific activities conducted as at the end of 2012 is presented in Table 2.
Table 2 Summary of selected country-specific mhLAP activities in Anglophone West African Countries till date
Salient achievements
The mhLAP demonstrates a pragmatic and context-specific model for developing capacity for mental health leadership and advocacy across several countries. It is efficient and cost-effective, as it uses the expertise and resources of a centre of excellence in West Africa and global mental health experts while building on the capacities and local knowledge of people with a commitment to promoting change in their own contexts. The emphasis of the program on the importance of capacity building for key stakeholders and policy makers has paid dividends as all the country offices and their activities in the five member countries enjoy official government recognition and cooperation to varying degrees. Furthermore, the partnership with the WHO in some of the participating countries has also ensured that the country offices are able to benefit from the technical assistance and credibility of the WHO. The principle of using a situation analysis to understand local resources and systems before working to strengthen them avoids the risk of doing harm by creating conflict, or wasting resources by creating parallel structures.
The implementation of the mhLAP activities in a step-wise manner in the five participating countries has also been helpful, as it allowed efforts and available expertise to be concentrated initially on only one country in the first year. The lessons and experiences gained were essential in facilitating subsequent efforts to establish the activities in the other member countries. This approach has led to the smooth launching of country offices, each of which has successfully completed a mental health situational analysis. This analysis has helped to focus attention on identifying the salient and specific challenges to be tackled in each country as well as country-specific opportunities for change and development.
In each country, the NSC is evolving into a strong, coherent and authoritative lobby group for mental health policy and service development. The successes of some, for example in Ghana and Sierra Leone, have been documented elsewhere [10, 32]. Many of the Councils have been able to effectively co-ordinate with other non-governmental organizations, faith-based and service-user organizations in order to amplify the magnitude of their impact. Reciprocally, selected members of other collaborating groups in the member countries have also been nominated for participation in the leadership training course in Ibadan, further enlarging the group of informed leaders and advocates.
The mhLAP model is sustainable over time, because a growing number of the participants of the leadership and advocacy training course pay to attend the training and many others are sponsored by other institutions, programs or projects for the training. Table 1 shows that an increasing number of participants come from outside the West Africa sub-region, suggesting the relevance of the program beyond West Africa. Furthermore, the commitment and enthusiasm of the NSC members is such that NSC activities are self-funded. In at least one of the participating countries, the Council has transformed itself into a registered non-governmental organization, thus making it possible for it to seek funding and other support for its activities. In Sierra Leone, program funds supported a conference in the first year, but it was such a success that the country's NSC has been able to independently organize a conference on three further occasions that has grown every year.
In addition to the number and diversity of members who have received training from the participating countries, the impact of the mhLAP activities has also contributed directly to the official recognition of the burden of mental health conditions in the participating countries. In Ghana, Liberia, the Gambia and Sierra Leone, the Stakeholders Councils are focused on supporting the governments to implement existing mental health policy (and legislation in Ghana) or review obsolete mental health legislation. The emphasis of mhLAP on policy and legislation development is strategic and aims to provide a positive framework for achieving the desired changes in mental health services, improve psychosocial rehabilitation and reduce widespread discrimination and stigma. In some countries, for example Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone, the importance of the Councils as an important voice has led to their being invited for consultation on reviews of policy and legislation as well as in planning for service development.
Challenges and limitations
The West African region is large and diverse. Nigeria alone has an estimated 250 plus distinct ethnic groups, across an extensive terrain that is challenging to cover adequately. Such communication and logistical challenges are multiplied across several countries. It has therefore been difficult to co-ordinate activities across the different countries, but the effective use of the internet (for example sharing resources via email, and holding Skype meetings) has helped in overcoming these problems.
Policy makers and government officials have been slow to respond to calls for reform and change, but this is always a challenging factor in implementing interventions relying on Government processes to bring about change. Even though a revised mental health policy has finally been adopted in Nigeria in 2013 after a long bureaucratic delay, political action on a draft mental health bill is still being awaited. Despite this, the overall response has been positive, albeit at a slower pace than would have been desired. Despite the difficulties in measuring change and attribution to advocacy, the overall picture in the five member countries is still one of positive but slow change.
The mhLAP is designed to empower patients, caregivers, mental health professionals and policy makers to identify and implement a mental health advocacy agenda that reflects their experience and the specific context of their country. In almost all of the countries involved, this was the first time that such stakeholders have had an opportunity to inform the national agenda with respect to mental health in a systematic and evidence-based manner. The program design and implementation and strategy are derived largely from the cumulative experience of working to improve mental health systems in low and middle income countries of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibadan, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Neurosciences and Substance Abuse, complemented by the extensive community experience of CBM in several African countries and that of the Centre for International Mental Health of the University of Melbourne. The most important measure of success though, will be the capacity of the program to translate such principles into practical change in countries through increased motivation, imagination, and strengthened knowledge and skills, of those who have participated in the program. The achievements to date attest to the potential for such a program as a strategy for bringing about change in low- and middle-income countries where policy neglect and lack of resource allocation are a major obstacle to mental health system reform and service scale-up. Those achievements also suggest that practical action can be taken to motivate low- and middle-income countries to channel their efforts into the development of innovative mental health programs that seek to provide evidence-based services, even within the constraints of limited resources. These achievements attest to the power of partnerships. The specific partnerships developed with country-level players such as Basic Needs in Ghana, City of Rest in Sierra Leone as well as with other influential leaders and individuals in the participating countries have been crucial in making the program a regional vehicle for mental health development that is still very much in motion.
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Oshodi YO, Abdulmalik J, Ola B, James BO, Bonetto C, Cristofalo D, Van Bortel T, Sartorius N, Thornicroft G: Pattern of experienced and anticipated discrimination among people with depression in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2013, Epub ahead of print. doi:10.1007/s00127-013-0737-4.
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Patel V, Minas H, Cohen A, Prince M: Global mental health: principles and practice. 2013, New York: Oxford University Press
Gureje O, Lasebikan VO, Ephraim-Oluwanuga O, Olley BO, Kola L: Community study of knowledge of and attitude to mental illness in Nigeria. Br J Psychiatry. 2005, 186: 436-441. 10.1192/bjp.186.5.436.
Gureje O, Chisholm D, Kola L, Lasebikan V, Saxena S: Cost-effectiveness of an essential mental health intervention package in Nigeria. World Psychiatry. 2007, 6 (1): 42-48.
mhLAP Gambia Country Report.http://www.mhlap.org/country-of-activities/gambia,
Sipsma H, Ofori-Atta A, Canavan M, Osei-Akoto I, Udry C, Bradley EH: Poor mental health in Ghana: who is at risk?. BMC Public Health. 2013, 13: 288-10.1186/1471-2458-13-288.
Wang PS, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alonso J, Angermeyer MC, Borges G, Bromet EJ, Bruffaerts R, de Girolamo G, de Graaf R, Gureje O, etal: Use of mental health services for anxiety, mood, and substance disorders in 17 countries in the WHO world mental health surveys. Lancet. 2007, 370 (9590): 841-850. 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61414-7.
WHO-AIMS Country Report, Ghana.http://www.who.int/mental_health/who_aims_country_reports/ghana_who_aims_report.pdf,
Patel V, Araya R, Chatterjee S, Chisholm D, Cohen A, De Silva M, Hosman C, McGuire H, Rojas G, van Ommeren M: Treatment and prevention of mental disorders in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet. 2007, 370 (9591): 991-1005. 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61240-9.
Saxena S, Thornicroft G, Knapp M, Whiteford H: Resources for mental health: scarcity, inequity, and inefficiency. Lancet. 2007, 370 (9590): 878-889. 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61239-2.
Bird P, Omar M, Doku V, Lund C, Nsereko JR, Mwanza J: Increasing the priority of mental health in Africa: findings from qualitative research in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. Health Policy Plan. 2011, 26 (5): 357-365. 10.1093/heapol/czq078.
de Almeida JM C, Minas H, Cayetano C: Generating political commitment for mental health. Global mental health: principles and practice. Edited by: Patel V, Minas H, Cohen A, Prince M. 2013, New York: Oxford University Press, 450-468.
Sartorius N, Talbott JA: International mental health advocacy organizations: an interview with Norman Sartorius by John A Talbott. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2011, 199 (8): 557-561. 10.1097/NMD.0b013e318225f147.
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Nahon D, Pugachova I, Yoffe R, Levav I: The impact of human rights advocacy, mental health legislation and psychiatric reform on the epidemiology of involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations. Med Law. 2006, 25 (2): 283-295.
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Doku VC, Wusu-Takyi A, Awakame J: Implementing the mental health Act in Ghana: any challenges ahead?. Ghana Med J. 2012, 46 (4): 241-250.
Shackman J, Price BK: Mental health capacity building in northern Sierra Leone: lessons learned and issues raised. Intervention. 2013, 11 (3): 261-275. 10.1097/WTF.0000000000000010.
Kleintjes S, Lund C, Swartz L: Organising for self-advocacy in mental health: Experiences from seven African countries. Afr J Psychiatry (Johannesbg). 2013, 16 (3): 187-195.
Bhana A, Petersen I, Baillie K, Flisher A, Consortium: TMRP: Implementing the World Health Report 2001 recommendations for integrating mental health into primary health care: a situation analysis of three African countries: Ghana, South Africa and Uganda. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2010, 22 (6): 599-610. 10.3109/09540261.2010.536152.
Odejide AO, Morakinyo JJ, Oshiname FO, Omigbodun O, Ajuwon AJ, Kola L: Integrating mental health into primary health care in Nigeria: management of depression in a local government (district) area as a paradigm. Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi. 2002, 104 (10): 802-809.
Ngo VK, Rubinstein A, Ganju V, Kanellis P, Loza N, Rabadan-Diehl C, Daar AS: Grand challenges: integrating mental health care into the Non-communicable disease agenda. PLoS Med. 2013, 10 (5): e1001443-10.1371/journal.pmed.1001443. doi:1001410.1001371/journal.pmed.1001443
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International Mental Health Leadership Program.http://cimh.unimelb.edu.au/learning_and_teaching/short_courses/imhlp2,
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The Australian Aid Agency (AusAid) and CBM International provided financial support to the mhLAP project. We acknowledge the commitment and enthusiasm of the members of the Stakeholders Councils in the 5 participating countries and the leadership of the Country Facilitators: Samuel Oyewusi, Humphrey Kofie, Joshua Duncan, Sametta Thomas and Dawda Samba.
We thank Dr Benjamin Harris (Liberia), Basic Needs and MEHSOG (Ghana), Enabling Access and City of Rest (Sierra Leone) and the WHO Representative in The Gambia for providing office space and oversight facilities for the mhLAP country offices. We are also grateful to the policy makers and mental health leaders in the participating countries for their assistance and support to the mhLAP project.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Jibril Abdulmalik
& Woye Fadahunsi
National Mental Health Consultant, World Health Organization, Nigeria Country Office, Osogbo, Nigeria
Lola Kola
Nigeria Co-ordination Office, CBM International, Abuja, Nigeria
Emeka Nwefoh
Centre for International Mental Health Melbourne, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Harry Minas
CBM Regional Office, Togo, Africa
Julian Eaton
WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Neurosciences and Substance Abuse, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Oye Gureje
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Correspondence to Oye Gureje.
OG conceived the idea and all the authors subsequently contributed to the development, drafting and revision of the article. The first draft was prepared by JA and OG. All the authors approved of the final version.
Abdulmalik, J., Fadahunsi, W., Kola, L. et al. The Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Program (mhLAP): a pioneering response to the neglect of mental health in Anglophone West Africa. Int J Ment Health Syst 8, 5 (2014) doi:10.1186/1752-4458-8-5
Service users
LAMIC


I must open this article with a confession: for a long time the HTML5 responsive images w descriptor and sizes attribute left me deeply confused. The art-directed uses of the <picture> element were obvious, and image-resolution switching with srcset and the x descriptor had clear benefits, but when it came to the complex, comma-seperated syntax of sizes and w, I was flummoxed. Articles and specifications only deepened the mystery: what on earth were these things for, and why would I want to use them?
After thinking through the issues for some time, and attending a few conference sessions, I started to comprehend why w and sizes were so important, and how they might be used… an understanding I hope to share in this and following articles.
Let's start with an assumption: you want to deliver the best, highest resolution, optimised bitmap image appropriate for the screen that your site is being viewed on.
The image is twice as wide as its container - 1500px vs 750px - but scaled to fit inside it, meaning that the image's extra pixel density will make it appear crisp and sharp on Retina / HiDPI screens.
There's just one problem: huge.jpg is served to absolutely everyone. Those without the benefit of Retina screens receive the same image, and effectively throw away 75% of the pixel information, since their screens can't gain any benefit from the extra pixels. All of this extra data adds to the file size and load time of the image, slowing down the page: a sacrifice that may be worthwhile for hi-end Retina users, but punishes everyone else.
Now browsers displaying your site on standard-resolution screens will receive the 750px wide version of the image (med.jpg), while browsers on HiDPI screens will display the large version. That's much better… but if you're doing responsive design, as you should be, there's an added complication.
At a certain point, huge.jpg becomes overkill, even on Retina screens: at the low end, we're pushing a 1500px wide image onto the 360 pixel wide screen of a mobile phone. At that viewport size, using the med.jpg image would make more sense: it has plenty of pixels to provide the smaller HiDPI screen with all the detail it needs, while avoiding the bandwith-hogging file size of huge.jpg.
Unfortunately, there is no subtlety to the "2x" designator: the browser on a Retina device is duty-bound to use a 2x image if it's available, no matter how counter-productive doing so may be.
You can't use w and x descriptors together: you must choose one or the other.
Despite the apparent redundancy, the default image must be included in the srcset attribute with a w descriptor if it is to be used effectively.
w and x cannot be used in src: they are only applicable in the context of srcset.
The sizes attribute must be used with the w descriptor (it was not originally required, but has since snuck into the spec).
The w descriptor provides the actual width of the image in pixels, allowing the browser to determine which image is appropriate to use in which context. If you open this page in Chrome on a Retina screen at a narrow size, for example, you'll find that the image at the top of the page flicks to the 2x version as you make the browser larger (standard resolution screens will only ever see the 1x version).
Right / CMD-click in the panel and choose Empty Cache.
Switch to the tab holding your page and refresh it, without resizing the browser window.
Firefox will not load the 2x version of an image dynamically if the browser window starts small and is then made larger. Like Chrome, it will stick with using the 2x version if the browser window starts large and gets small. However, it will load the appropriate version of the image at every size on refresh.
Safari 8 (mobile and desktop) do not support the w syntax, but Safari 9 does, as does Android 40.
Sadly, neither IE nor Edge yet support the w descriptor. For them, and older browser versions, you can use the pictureFill polyfill.
How Can I Tell Which Image Version Is Being Used?
Unless you're prepared to use watermarks like the example at the top of the page, it can be difficult to tell if srcset and w are working correctly: after all, the syntax describes the exact same image, just at different resolutions (if you wanted to switch between images that were different in other ways, that's the role of the <picture> element). So, aside from trying to spot image quality differences, how can you tell if it's working?
The first and simplest option is simply to right / CMD-click on the image and choose Save As: the filename in the prompt will correspond to the loaded image version.
Refresh the page. You should see that the 1x version of the image load in the Network panel.
Slowly drag the browser window wider. At a certain point, you'll see that the 2x version of the image load in the Network Panel, and automatically substituted for the 1x version in the browser window. Neat, right?
for header / hero images: use w combined with sizes.
for everything else (smaller illustrations, diagrams etc) deliver a standard-resolution image; try to use SVG if possible.
Another way to consider the difference between x and w is that the x descriptor enhances image quality without regard to quality of service, while w tries to balance the optimal image quality with performance.


A soggy crust, sodden filling, and lackluster pears often afflict this French classic. Made right, it's the perfect marriage of flavors and textures.
Flavorful salads feature spring's tender young vegetables.
Cheese-flavored pasty puffs (gougères) are a classic French appetizer. With just a few ingredients, they should be easy enough to make, right? Think again.


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