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A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization that is not part of a government and was not founded by states. NGOs are therefore typically independent of governments. Although the definition can technically include for-profit corporations, the term is generally restricted to social, cultural, legal, and environmental advocacy groups having goals that are primarily noncommercial. NGOs are usually non-profit organizations that gain at least a portion of their funding from private sources. An organization or organisation (read more about -ize vs -ise) is a formal group of people with one or more shared goals. ...
A corporation is a legal person that exists quite separately from the natural persons who work with and for it. ...
A special interest is a person or political organization established to influence governmental policy or legislators in a specific area of policy. ...
A non-profit organization (often called non-profit org or simply non-profit or not-for-profit) can be seen as an organization that doesnt have a goal to make a profit. ...
Because the label 'NGO' is considered too broad by some, as it might cover anything that is non-governmental, many NGOs now prefer the term private voluntary organization (PVO) or Private Development Organization (PDO). USAID defines private voluntary organizations as tax-exempt, non-profit organizations working in, or intending to become engaged in, international development activities. ...
A 1995 UN report on global governance estimated that there are nearly 29,000 international NGOs. National numbers are even higher: The United States has an estimated 2 million NGOs, most of them formed in the past 30 years. Russia has 65,000 NGOs. India has 2 million NGOs. Dozens are created daily. In Kenya alone, some 240 NGOs come into existence every year. Global governance refers to political interaction aimed at solving problems that affect more than one state or region when there is no power of enforcing compliance. ...
History
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the world's largest group of humanitarian NGOs. Though voluntary associations of citizens have existed throughout history, NGOs along the lines seen today, especially on the international level, have developed in the past two centuries. One of the first such organizations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, was founded in 1863. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent emblems, the symbols from which the Movement derives its name The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement consists of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation), and the 183 national...
Humanitarian aid is assistance given to people in distress by individuals, organisations, or governments to relieve suffering. ...
A voluntary association (also sometimes called just an association) is a group of individuals who voluntarily enter into an agreement to form a body (or organization) to accomplish a purpose. ...
For other senses of this word, see history (disambiguation). ...
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a committee of Swiss nationals and probably will be so as long as the ICRC exists. ...
1863 (MDCCCLXIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar). ...
The phrase 'non-governmental organization' came into use with the establishment of the United Nations in 1945 with provisions in Article 71 of Chapter 10 of the United Nations Charter [1] for a consultative role for organizations that neither are governments nor member states – see Consultative Status. The definition of 'international NGO' (INGO) is first given in resolution 288 (X) of ECOSOC on February 27, 1950: it is defined as 'any international organisation that is not founded by an international treaty'. The vital role of NGOs and other "major groups" in sustainable development was recognized in Chapter 27[2] of Agenda 21, leading to revised arrangements for consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.[3] United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...
Consultative Status is a phrase whose use can be traced to the founding of the United Nations and is used within the UN community to refer to Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic & Social Council. ...
Sustainable development is a process of developing (land, cities, business, communities, etc) that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs according to the Brundtland Report, a 1987 report from the United Nations. ...
Agenda 21 is a programme of the United Nations (UN) related to sustainable development. ...
Globalization during the 20th century gave rise to the importance of NGOs. Many problems could not be solved within a nation. International treaties and international organizations such as the World Trade Organization were perceived as being too centered on the interests of capitalist enterprises. In an attempt to counterbalance this trend, NGOs have developed to emphasize humanitarian issues, developmental aid and sustainable development. A prominent example of this is the World Social Forum which is a rival convention to the World Economic Forum held annually in January in Davos, Switzerland. The fifth World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January 2005 was attended by representatives from more than 1,000 NGOs. [4] Globalization (or globalisation) refers to the worldwide phenomenon of technological, economic, political and cultural exchanges, brought about by modern communication, transportation and legal infrastructure as well as the political choice to consciously open cross-border links in international trade and finance. ...
A treaty is a binding agreement under international law concluded by subjects of international law, namely states and international organizations. ...
WTO Logo The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international, multilateral organization, which sets the rules for the global trading system and resolves disputes between its member states, all of whom are signatories to its about 30 agreements. ...
Look up Trend in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Trend The word trend has a number of possible meanings: In statistics, a trend is a long-term movement in time series data after other components have been accounted for. ...
Humanitarianism is an informal ideology of practice, whereby people practice humane treatment and provide assistance to others. ...
OECD Statistics on Public Foreign Aid by country Development aid (also development assistance, international aid, overseas aid or foreign aid) is aid given by developed countries to support economic development in developing countries. ...
Sustainable development is a process of developing (land, cities, business, communities, etc) that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs according to the Brundtland Report, a 1987 report from the United Nations. ...
Noam Chomsky at World Social Forum 2003. ...
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Geneva-based foundation whose annual meeting of top business leaders, national political leaders (presidents, prime ministers and others), and selected intellectuals and journalists is usually held in Davos, Switzerland. ...
Public library of Porto Alegre Igreja das Dores Sunset over Porto Alegre Porto Alegre, one of the largest cities in southern Brazil, is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul State. ...
Evolutionary stages of development NGOs Three stages or generations of NGO evolution have been identified by Korten’s (1990) Three Generations of Voluntary Development Action. First, the typical development NGO focuses on relief and welfare, and delivers relief services directly to beneficiaries. Examples are the distribution of food, shelter or health services. The NGO notices immediate needs and responds to them. NGOs in the second generation are oriented towards small-scale, self-reliant local development. At this evolutionary stage, NGOs build the capacities of local communities to meet their needs through 'self reliant local action'. Korten calls the third generation 'sustainable systems development'. At this stage, NGOs try to advance changes in policies and institutions at a local, national and international level; they move away from their operational service providing role towards a catalytic role. The NGO is starting to develop from a relief NGO to a development NGO. 1 ...
In chemistry and biology, catalysis (in Greek meaning to annul) is the acceleration of the rate of a chemical reaction by means of a substance, called a catalyst, that is itself unchanged chemically by the overall reaction. ...
Types of NGOs Nongovernmental organizations are an heterogenous group. A long list of acronyms has developed around the term 'NGO'. These include: - INGO stands for international NGO, such as CARE and Mercy Corps;
- BINGO is short for business-oriented international NGO;
- RINGO is an abbreviation of religious international NGO such as Catholic Relief Services;
- ENGO, short for environmental NGO, such as Global 2000;
- GONGOs are government-operated NGOs, which may have been set up by governments to look like NGOs in order to qualify for outside aid;
- QUANGOs are quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations, such as the W3C and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which is actually not purely an NGO, since its membership is by nation, and each nation is represented by what the ISO Council determines to be the 'most broadly representative' standardization body of a nation. Now, such a body might in fact be a nongovernmental organization--for example, the United States is represented in ISO by the American National Standards Institute, which is independent of the federal government. However, other countries can be represented by national governmental agencies--this is the trend in Europe.
There are also numerous classifications of NGOs. The typology the World Bank uses divides them into Operational and Advocacy 2: This article is about fictional characters from the video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. ...
Look up care in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Mercy Corps is a not-for-profit organization engaged in humanitarian aid and development activities. ...
Bingo Bingo is a game of chance where randomly-selected numbers are drawn and players match those numbers to those appearing on 5x5 matrices which are printed or electronically represented and are known as cards. ...
Ringo is a part of several names and surnames: Website Ringo. ...
Catholic Relief Services is a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which attempts to assist the poor and disadvantaged ([1]). It is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, while operating numerours field offices on 5 continentsince 1943, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has held the privilege of serving poor and disadvantaged people overseas. ...
ENGO, short for environmental NGO, such as Global 2000. ...
Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...
The term Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation (or QUANGO), attributed to Sir Douglas Hague, was originally invented as a joke, but fell into common usage in the United Kingdom to describe the agencies produced by the growing trend of government devolving power to appointed, or self-appointed bodies. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a consortium that produces standards—recommendations, as they call them—for the World Wide Web. ...
Logo of the International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization, also known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from national standards bodies. ...
The American National Standards Institute or ANSI (pronounced an-see) is a nonprofit organization that oversees the development of standards for products, services, processes and systems in the United States. ...
Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means...
The primary purpose of an operational NGO is the design and implementation of development-related projects. One categorization that is frequently used is the division into 'relief-oriented' or 'development-oriented' organizations; they can also be classified according to whether they stress service delivery or participation; or whether they are religious and secular; and whether they are more public or private-oriented. Operational NGOs can be community-based, national or international. A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. ...
In economics and marketing, a service is the non-material equivalent of a good. ...
This article needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ...
The primary purpose of an Advocacy NGO is to defend or promote a specific cause. As opposed to operational project management, these organizations typically try to raise awareness, acceptance and knowledge by lobbying, press work and activist events.
Purposes NGOs exist for a variety of purposes, usually to further the political or social goals of their members. Examples include improving the state of the natural environment, encouraging the observance of human rights, improving the welfare of the disadvantaged, or representing a corporate agenda. However, there are a huge number of such organizations and their goals cover a broad range of political and philosophical positions. This can also easily be applied to private schools and athletic organizations. Devils Punchbowl Waterfall, New Zealand. ...
Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ...
Methods NGOs vary in their methods. Some act primarily as lobbyists, while others conduct programs and activities primarily. For instance, such an NGO as Oxfam, concerned with poverty alleviation, might provide needy people with the equipment and skills they need to find food and clean drinking water. Oxfam International, founded in 1995, is a confederation of 12 independent, not-for-profit, secular, community-based aid and development organisations who work with local partners in over 100 countries worldwide to reduce poverty, suffering, and injustice. ...
Drinking water Drinking water is water that is intended to be drunk by humans. ...
Another example of a NGO is Amnesty International. They are the largest Human rights organization in the world. It forms a global community of human rights defenders with more than 1.5 million members, supporters and subscribers in over 150 countries and territories.
Networking The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX), founded in 1992, is a global network of more than 60 non-governmental organizations that promote and defend the right to freedom of expression The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX), founded in 1992, is a global network of 72 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression. ...
1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...
Freedom of speech is the right to freely say what one pleases, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. ...
Public Relations The most important department of the non-governmental organizations is the human resources. All organizations around the globe must perform a healthful relation with the society in order to activate the people’s requests. Public relations obtain foundations to get encouraged. Altruistic charities use sophisticated public relations campaigns to raise funds and standard lobbying techniques when government taxation policy affects their income. Equally, all interest groups and lobbies are of political importance, precisely because their pressure influences social and political outcomes. They do not necessarily operate in a secretive manner in the corridors of power and they do at times seek to mobilize public support. When they engage in political debate, company representatives often argue for general abstract values that go beyond their specific concrete interests. Companies can only challenge the public interest – or more precisely public opinion – at the risk of damaging their public reputation, their brand values and their income. Many companies more positively promote what is often seen as the public interest. They may donate profits to charitable activities, identify directly with environmental values to benefit from green consumerism or even reduce consumption of energy and raw materials to reduce costs. Trade unions usually go much further than companies in making explicit their endorsement of a wide range of political values. They also allocate money, personnel and other resources to campaigning, both independently and in coalition with other pressure groups.
Consulting Many international NGOs have a consultative status with United Nations agencies relevant to their area of work. As an example, the Third World Network has a consultative status with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). While in 1946, only 41 NGOs had consultative status with the ECOSOC, by 2003 this number had risen to 2,350. An image of Third World Resurgence, the flagship magazine of Third World Network The Third World Network is an international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to environment, development and the Third World and North-South issues. ...
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body, UNCTAD is the principal organ of the United Nations General Assembly dealing with trade, investment and development issues. ...
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development. ...
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development. ...
Project management There is an increasing awareness that management techniques are crucial to project success in non-governmental organizations. 3 Generally, the roles of Non-Government Organisations, which are private, have a community or environmental focus. They address varieties of issues such as religion, emergency aid, and humanitarian affairs. They mobilise public support and voluntary contributions for aid; they often have strong links with community groups in developing countries and they often work in areas where government-to-government aid is not possible. NGO’s are accepted as a part of the international relations, and while they influence national and multilateral policy-making, they are becoming more and more involved. by mat goodacre
Management of non-governmental organizations Two management trends are particularly relevant to NGOs: diversity management and participatory management. Diversity management deals with different cultures in an organization. Intercultural problems are prevalent in Northern NGOs that are engaged in developmental activities in the South. Personnel coming from a rich country are faced with a completely different approach of doing things in the target country. A participatory management style is said to be typical of NGOs. It is intricately tied to the concept of a learning organization: all people within the organization are perceived as sources for knowledge and skills. To develop the organization, individuals have to be able to contribute in the decision making process and they need to learn. Participatory management is the practice of empowering employees to participate in organizational decision making. ...
Peter Senge defined a learning organization as human beings cooperating in dynamical systems (as defined in systemics) that are in a state of continuous adaptation and improvement. ...
Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
Staffing Not all people working for non-governmental organizations are volunteers. Paid staff members typically receive lower pay than in the commercial private sector[citation needed]. Employees are highly committed to the aims and principles of the organization. The reasons why people volunteer are not necessarily purely altruistic, and can provide immediate benefits for themselves as well as those they serve, including skills, experience and contacts. This group of political volunteers is working to promote voter turn-out. ...
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ...
Commerce is the trading of something of value between two entities. ...
The private sector of a nations economy consists of those entities which are not controlled by the state - i. ...
AIM is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below: AOL Instant Messenger A I M Management Group Inc. ...
A principle(not principal) is something, usually a rule or norm, that is part of the basis for something else. ...
An organization or organisation (read more about -ize vs -ise) is a formal group of people with one or more shared goals. ...
Altruism is the practice of placing others before oneself. ...
There is some dispute as to whether expatriates should be sent to developing countries. Frequently this type of personnel is employed to satisfy a donor, who wants to see the supported project managed by someone from an industrialized country. However, the expertise these employees or volunteers may have can be counterbalanced by a number of factors: the cost of foreigners is typically higher, they have no grassroot connections in the country they are sent to and local expertise is often undervalued.2 An expatriate (in abbreviated form expat) is someone temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of their upbringing and/or legal residence. ...
A donor in general is a person that donates something. ...
A developed country is a nation that enjoys a relatively high standard of living through a strong high-technology diversified economy. ...
A foreigner, or an alien, is a natural person who is not a citizen of the State in question. ...
Grassroots democracy is the political processes which are driven by groups of ordinary citizens, as opposed to larger organisations or wealthy individuals with concentrated vested interests in particular policies. ...
The NGO-sector is an important employer in terms of numbers. For example, by the end of 1995, CONCERN worldwide, an international Northern NGO working against poverty, employed 174 expatriates and just over 5,000 national staff working in ten developing countries in Africa and Asia, and in Haiti. It is contradictory to the nature of NGOs to expect a member from the executive of a country to be its manager, director, etc. A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ...
Asia is the largest and most populous region or continent depending on the definition. ...
Funding Large NGOs may have annual budgets in the millions of dollars. For instance, the budget of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was over $540 million dollars in 1999.[5] Human Rights Watch spent and received US$21,7 million in 2003. Funding such large budgets demands significant fundraising efforts on the part of most NGOs. Major sources of NGO funding include membership dues, the sale of goods and services, grants from international institutions or national governments, and private donations. Several EU-grants provide funds accessible to NGOs. AARP (formerly, but no longer, known as the American Association of Retired Persons) is a United States-based non-government organization dedicated to the interests of persons aged 50 and over. ...
1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...
Human Rights Watch is a U.S.-based international human rights non-governmental organization located in New York City, USA, that conducts advocacy and research on human rights issues. ...
2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need. ...
A donation is a gift to a fund or cause, typically for charitable reasons. ...
Even though the term 'non-governmental organization' implies independence of governments, some NGOs depend heavily on governments for their funding. A quarter of the US$162 million income in 1998 of the famine-relief organization Oxfam was donated by the British government and the EU. The Christian relief and development organization World Vision US collected US$55 million worth of goods in 1998 from the American government. Nobel Prize winner Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (known in English as 'Doctors Without Borders') gets 46 percent of its income from government sources.5 A famine is a phenomenon in which a large percentage of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common. ...
In the art of sculpture, a relief is an artwork where a modelled form projects out of a flat background. ...
Oxfam International, founded in 1995, is a confederation of 12 independent, not-for-profit, secular, community-based aid and development organisations who work with local partners in over 100 countries worldwide to reduce poverty, suffering, and injustice. ...
World Vision, founded in the United States in 1950, is an international Christian relief and development organization whose goal is working for the well being of all people, especially children. ...
Sir Edward Appletons medal Photographs of Nobel Prize Medals. ...
Médecins Sans Frontières ( (help· info)) is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organisation best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic disease. ...
Monitoring and Controlling NGOs In March 2000 report on United Nations Reform priorities, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote in favor of international humanitarian intervention, arguing that the international community has a 'right to protect' citizens of the world against ethnic cleansing, genocide and crimes against humanity. On the heals of the report, the Canadian government launched the Responsibility to Protect R2P project, outlining the issue of humanitarian intervention. While the R2P doctrine has wide applications, among the more controversial has been the Canadian government's use of R2P to justify its intervention and support of the coup in Haiti. Years after R2P, The World Federalist Movement, an organization that supports "the creation of democratic global structures accountable to the citizens of the world and call for the division of international authority among separate agencies" has launched Responsibility to Protect - Engaging Civil Society R2PCS. The project, which is a collaboration of the WFM and Canadian government, aims to bring NGOs into lockstep with the principles outlined under the original R2P project. NGO Monitor is a conservative pro-Israel site that aims to promote "critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab-Israeli conflict." The organization has successfully conducted campaigns against Oxfam and the Ford Foundation - leading to formal apologies and changes in practice - on the grounds that these organizations are too anti-Israeli. NGOWatch is a project of the American Enterprise Institute that monitors NGOs. The site is an indispensable source for news on NGOs and highlights an interesting convergence of interests for the political left and right. Indian NGOs is a portal of over 20,000 covered in this portal which works with the corporate sector in India. Much like the research above on The 21st Century NGO, this portal offers insights into how the corporate sector is using NGOs to benefit their program. In recent years, many large corporations have beefed up their Corporate Social Responsibility departments in an attempt to preempt NGO campaigns against certain corporate practices. As the logic goes, by working with NGOs, NGOs will not work against corporations.
Legal status NGOs are not legal entities under international law, like states are. An exception is the International Committee of the Red Cross which is considered a legal entity under international law, because it is based on the Geneva Convention. A legal entity is a legal construct through which the law allows a group of natural persons to act as if it were an individual for certain purposes. ...
International law, is the body of law that regulates the activities of entities possessing international personality. Traditionally, that meant the conduct and relationships of states. ...
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a committee of Swiss nationals and probably will be so as long as the ICRC exists. ...
The Geneva Conventions consist of treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland that set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns. ...
It has been argued by various critics that NGOs are subversive in outcomes but well intentioned. They criticize that imperialism and NGOs share a fine line. One of the first modern NGOs, for example, was the American Colonization Society. Another famous example includes various Christian missionaries throughout the Americas, Asia, and Africa during colonial times. It has been argued that such NGOs have been well intentioned but ended in imperial outcomes. The American Colonization Society (in full, The Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America) founded Liberia, a colony on the coast of West Africa in 1820 and transported free black Americans there, in an effort to remove them from the United States. ...
Academic Literature on NGOs There is a host of literature that objectively looks at the role and workings of transnational civil society. In particular: - Hall, Rodney Bruce and Biersteker, Thomas. The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance (Cambridge Studies in International Relations, 2003)
- Hilhorst, Dorthea. The Real World of NGOs: Discourses, Diversity and Development, Zed Books, 2003
- Roelofs, Joan. Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003).
- Smillie, Ian, & Minear, Larry, editors. The Charity of Nations: Humanitarian Action in a Calculating World, Kumarian Press, 2004
- Tarrow, Sydney. The New Transnational Activism, New York :Cambridge University Press, 2005
- Ward, Thomas, editor. Development, Social Justice, and Civil Society: An Introduction to the Political Economy of NGOs, Paragon House, 2005
More useful are regional histories and analyses of the experience of NGOs. Specific works (although this is by no means an exhaustive list) include: - Meyer, Carrie. The Economics and Politics of NGOs in Latin America, Praeger Publishers, July 30, 1999
- Abdelrahman, Maha. Civil Society Exposed: The Politics of NGOs in Egypt, The American University in Cairo Press, 2004. Al-Ahram Weekly has done a review of the book.
- Kamat, Sangeeta. Development hegemony: NGOs and The State in India, Delhi, New York; Oxford University Press, 2002
Notes Note 1: Korten, D. Getting to the 21st century: voluntary action and the global agenda. West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press, 1990, p. 118. Note 2: World Bank Criteria defining NGO Note 3: Mukasa, Sarah. Are expatriate staff necessary in international development NGOs? A case study of an international NGO in Uganda. Publication of the Centre for Civil Society at London School of Economics. 2002, p. 11-13. Note 4: Campbell, P. Management Development and Development Management for Voluntary Organisations, Occasional Paper No. 3, International Council of Voluntary Agencies, Geneva, 1987. Note 5: Intractable Conflict Knowledge Base Project of the Conflict Research Consortium at the University of Colorado Note 6: 'Sins of the secular missionaries,' The Economist, January 29, 2000.
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