Notes from 12/4/2008

-Buzkashi-a traditional Central Asian team sport played on horseback. The steppes' people were skilled riders who could grab a goat or calf from the ground while riding a horse at full gallop. The goal of a player is to grab the carcass of a headless goat or calf and then get it clear of the other players and pitch it across a goal line or into a target circle or vat.
-National Toy Hall of Fame has inducted, amongst others, the cardboard box (2005) and the stick (2008).
-Opportunity NYC-cash incentive program designed to get kids to pass
"The World Bank considers that "Conditional cash transfers provide money directly to poor families via a “social contract” with the beneficiaries – for example, sending children to school regularly or bringing them to health centers. For extremely poor families, cash provides emergency assistance, while the conditionalities promote longer-term investments in human capital."
-Oportunidades is a government social assistance program in Mexico founded in 2002, based on a previous program called Progresa, created in 1997. It is designed to target poverty by providing cash payments to families in exchange for regular school attendance, health clinic visits, and nutritional support. Oportunidades is credited with decreasing poverty and improving health and educational attainment in regions in which it has been deployed. As of 2006, around one-quarter of Mexico's population participates in Oportunidades.
-Key features of Oportunidades include:
--Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) - To encourage co-responsibility, receipt of aid is dependent on family compliance with program requirements, such as ensuring children attend school and family members receive preventative health care.
--"Rights holders" - Program recipients are mothers, the caregiver directly responsible for children and family health decisions.
--Cash payments are made from the government directly to families to decrease overhead and corruption.
--A system of evaluation and statistical controls to ensure effectiveness.
--Rigorous selection of recipients based on geographical and socioeconomic factors
--Program requirements target measures considered most likely to lift families out of poverty, focusing on health, nutrition and children's education.
-Miguel Caballero bulletproof clothing