.~•8!!D~~ ·· • '•, · . · - - ~ March 1979 , .. ,. \ ' -. '' \ ' ' . ' .

~ .. ' . .. ' ,, \... ''. .. . ~ .. , ..... . .

I •

' . \ , . .

. ' ' ' ,' \·:'\~::h:\< ... '

. ...

med1a lay. .. Over 800 million people can't

read or write, the United Nations estimates, and that number will keep rising as long as population does. Even more alarming are the U.N.'s findings that illiteracy among women, young people, and rural and disadvantaged groups is growing faster than the world illit­eracy rate as a whole, indicating that nations have been far from evenhanded in spreading education around.

Interdependent, United Nations Association,

January

* * *

Fine weather, better government and massive doses of foreign aid have pulled the still impoverished nation of Bangladesh a bit farther from famine's door, at least for a while.

The fiscal year that ended June 30 was the best for Bangladesh since it became independent seven years ago.

Journal of Commerce, Jan. 10

* * *

President Carter's budget reflects a decision to postpone reaching his goal of doubling official develop­ment assistance to foreign coun­tries between 1977 and 1982 -from $5.2 billion to $10 billion.

Officials of the Agency for Inter­national Development note that even if aid is increased signifi­cantly later, the delay means a loss of benefits to developing countries that will never be recouped . ...

As for direct bilateral aid pro­grams handled by the Agency for International Development, Carter is seeking a 14% increase over the appropriation for the current year -a figure that would just keep ahead of inflation, but which would not significantly increase aid.

Washington Star, Jan. 22

* * *

Development is proceeding slowly or not at all in most devel­oping countries. Where it is occur­ring, it is frequently unbalanced, bringing little benefit to the masses and thus having little impact on fertility. Fertility reduction without the stimulus of widely shared de­velopment benefits is usually a protracted process, resulting in stabilization of populations in many developing countries only after long delay and a very high levels.

Government programs are there­fore a key factor in accelerating progress.

Marshall Green and Robert A. Fearey,

New York Times, Jan. 10

* * *

The Carter Administration, in a major policy declaration, warned the international community that to solve the problems of the dollar and the international monetary system, all nations "must be pre­pared to give up some of the free­dom they have enjoyed to manage their domestic economies."

Washington Post, Jan. 13

* * *

The idea of the "New I nfluen­tials" has been used by Adminis­tration foreign-policy makers to describe Third World countries whose wealth, size, military and strategic importance give them a prominent role in regional politics and in international forums.

Some of the countries used to be called regional or middle powers. The term "New Influential" indi­cates that a country is of special interest to us and that it is influen­tial on international, not merely regional, issues.

The United States must, of course, take account of influential factors in its bilateral, regional and international policies. The "New Influential" concept goes further than this, however. It suggests an extremely close coor­dination on United States policies with key developing countries.

Henry Bienen, New York Times, Jan.15

* * *

The global crisis of confidence has produced an anomaly which contains a significant basis for hope if only we will take the initia­tive and seize it, as others have been urging us to do in interna­tional economic and political forums.

The anomaly is that investors are holding a global cash pool of at least $500 billion that they are apprehensive about committing, even though there is a deep need in the United States for new plant and equipment to create jobs and, among Third World countries, a demand for capital goods and technology to help them overcome poverty. There are, for example, $25 billion to $30 billion of feasible food, mining and energy projects in the Third World countries for which no financing is currently available.

Ronald E. Muller and Everett Ehrlich, Washington Post, Jan. 7

* * *

/ •8!.Ml!!! Contents March 1979 Vol. 2, No.2

Where population planning makes a dent James W. McCulla

Sahel development: a new maturity Edward R. Caplan .

Accent on •local'

2

6

John Metelsky 10

Learning by radio Susan Super 14

SeHiing the nomads AID's mission in Somalia 16

Agenda is available without cost to persons who request to be placed on the mailing list. Readers are invited to submit original manu­scripts (including speeches) and photographs on any aspect of in­ternational development. Such ma­terial .cannot be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self­addressed envelope of sufficient size and strength.

Contents of this publication may be reprinted or excerpted unless copy­righted or non-AID source is noted. Credit to Agenda is requested.

The opinions and conclusions ex­pressed in Agenda are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect official AID or U.S. policy.

John J. Gilligan, Administrator James W. McCulla, Director

Office of Public Affairs

Press and Publications Division Office of Public Affairs Agency for International

Development Washington, DC 20523 (202) 632-8639

Edward R. Caplan, Division Chief and Acting Editor

2

WHERE POPUlATION PlANNING MAKES A DENT

lndonesias growth rate is 19%­and going down

Text and photos by James W McCulla

Wilalung, Java -It could have been an afternoon at Weight Watch­ers in Suburbia, U.S.A., except that a water buffalo was wallowing in the mud outside the hall, and Mrs. Sutarni was explaining how she _ac­quired an intrauterine device CIUD) to avoid having more children, then chose surgical sterilization.

A gray-haired woman physician­a government official- nodded with approval while the visiting American, for whom the meeting was held, successfully contained his initial dis-

James W. McCulla is director of AID's Office of Public Affairs.

comfort with the delicate subject matter.

For the other ·125 people at the midday meeting- most members of the village mothers' club- Mrs. Sutarni's information was "old news."

Her choice of contraception tech­niques was duly recorded in village records. So are those of her neigh­bors who practice birth control. In fact, family planning officials throughout Indonesia know precisely who is using the IUD, the pill, or condoms; who has taken shots, or who has been surgically sterilized.

As the meeting continued, the talk embraced such matters as reasons

3

4

Java Is the size of Louisiana.

-Louisiana has 3.8 million people.

Java 85 million.

for practicing birth control, bleeding caused by IUDs, mothers' club lot­teries, vasectomy and more.

The mild shock of such frank pub­lic discussion and recordkeeping disappeared quickly, leaving the vis­itor pondering the openness that can develop when a society goes all-out to cut the population growth rate.

Indonesia currently is being held ·up to the world as a shining example of rapid family planning success. Missions from other less-developed countries arrive with increasing fre­quency to learn how the government enlisted more than half the wives on the islands of Java and Bali- home of 90 million of the nation's 135 million people- into the family plan­ning program at some time in the last eight years.

Last year about 28% of the mar­ried women of childbearing age on the two isla11ds were using some form of contraception. This com­pared to 17% in India, 22% in the Philippines and 24% in Mexico in 1975. By 1982 planners expect half the women of the two islands to be practicing modern birth control.

The combined Java-Bali fertility rate- which states the average number of children a woman can be expected to bear- has dropped 15%. In Bali it is down 34% and in the national capital, Jakarta on Java, 24%.

Currently the annual population growth rate is 1.9%, which is down from more than 2.2% when the program began. In 1977 Mexico and the Dominican Republic had growth rates of 3.5%, the Philippines 2. 7%, India 2.1%, Malaysia 2.8%, Thailand 2.4%, Korea 1. 7% and the United States 0.6%.

Considering the level of economic development, Indonesia's 1.9% is impressive. Nevertheless it means that population will double in a gen­eration. Unless the rate declines substantially, new population could consume most of the economic gains.

The national goal is a 50% decline in fertility by the year 2000. Women then would average only one daugh­ter apiece, "replacing" themselves. That would stabilize population.

Writing in the Population Refer­ence Bureau's November 1977 Population Bulletin, Drs. Terence and Valerie Hull and Dr. Masri Sin­garibun, of the Population Institute of Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Java, had this comment about pro­gram results:

"These successes are all the more remarkable in light of factors tra­ditionally assumed to militate against acceptable family planning- a na­tional per capita income of just $180 a year, an overall infant mortality rate close to 150 per 1 ,000 live births, 50% literacy among adult women, and a wide diversity of ethnic groups, cultures, languages and religions."

A drive across Java, which is the size of Louisiana, makes 'clear the emphasis on population reduction. Louisiana has 3.8 million people, Java 85 million. You can drive sev­eral hours in Java and never lose sight of people. Every turn of the road reveals another home. Stop at an infrequent deserted spot to an­swer nature's call and there will be a dozen curious children on the scene in seconds.

The intense use of land testifies to population pressures. Not only is

·every square inch of flat surface consumed for farming, but even the sides of mountains, where Indone­sian farmers have constructed ter­races on slopes as steep as 50 degrees. Falling out of a farm field is literally an occupational hazard in Indonesia.

The Dutch considered Java "over­populated" in 1890, and began a "transmigration" program, which continues to this day. Under it Javanese are encouraged to migrate to the less settled islands. For example, West Irian (the Indonesian portion of New Guinea) has six people per square mile compared to 1 ,500 on Java, one of the most densely populated agricultural areas on earth.

The national population was about 40 million in 1890. When the Indone­sians won independence from the Dutch in 1949, it was 77 million. It leaped to about 117 million by the eve of the family planning program in

1969. In 1977 an estimated 135 million people lived among the 13,500 islands that span an area wider than the United States.

In 1964 Newsweek magazine quoted this reaction of the charisma­tic former President Sukarno to fam­ily planning proposals: "My solution is exploit more land- because if you exploit all the land in Indonesia you can feed 250 million, and I have only 103 million ... In my country, the more (children) the better." Au­thorities feared that birth control .would give rise to religious conflict.

After some ineffectual starts after Sukarno's departure, the govern­ment decided in 1969 to go full speed on family planning. A warning from a team of international experts about an impending population ex­plosion gave impetus to the effort.

If the family planning program lives up to the most optimistic hopes, Indonesia would have a stable popu­lation of 229 million in 2100. Accord­ing to the least optimistic projection, in which the program would not maintain its current rate of expan­sion, population could rise to an incredible 634 million.

Numerous countries, the United Nation's World Health Organization · and the World Bank have supported or continue to back the Indonesia effort.

The greatest help and a substan­tial part of the inspiration has come from the United States through AID. To date the United States has pro­vided Indonesia with $44 million for family planning. All but $7.3 million has been on a grant basis. It also has supported planning, research, · evaluation, and personnel training, and provided 200,610,000 monthly cycles of pills.

Ambitious expansion plans call for spending $317 million through 1982 -$218.1 million financed by In­donesia, $64.4 million by the United States, and $34.5 million by other donors. Much of this would be to beef up the program in the less developed islands.

Thomas H. Reese Ill, a career AID officer who supervises U.S. in­volvement, along with his associates William H. Johnson and Michael Q.

Philley- a former Peace Corps volunteer in Borneo- have worked closely with their Indonesian col­leagues.

Why does family planning appar­ently work on such a massive scale in Java and Bali? The question in­variably evokes a description of the total program from officials who are unwilling to emphasize any single factor or two. Major elements of the program include: • A deliberate decision by the na­tional governments to make a total commitment, followed by involve­ment of all departments-educa­tion, health, social welfare, agricul­ture, religion, and so on. • Adequate outside financial and technical support. • Extraordinarily detailed organiza­tion, including an outreach service able to send women into even the remotest villages to make door-to­door calls to explain the program and enlist new "acceptors." • Support from the major religions -Moslem, Protestant, Catholic, and Hindu. Many of the women hired to make the initial contacts had to be recognized as deeply religious Mos­lems. About 87% of the population is nominally Moslem, 7% Christian and 2% Hindu. • Enthusiastic local involvement, in­cluding formation of mothers' clubs, establishment of village pill and con­dom distribution centers, transporta­tion to clinics for IUD insertion, and detailed record keeping. Statistics go up the bureaucratic chain to Jakarta, where experts examine them for trends. One examination disclosed little success among the large Chinese population, but field investigations showed that many Chinese were practicing birth control on their own. • Young administrators who are well educated and enthusiastic, consider themselves professionals in the field -as opposed to identifying with traditional government departments -and are willing to consider any and all ideas.

The future anticipates innovation. The mothers' clubs already have broadened discussion to include cooking, sewing and other wifely

interests. Some have organized credit unions and started literacy training classes.

The next big step will be to inter­grate child health and nutrition services.

The need for emphasis on child health is considerable. Of every 1,000 babies born, 120 to 140 die, many of dehydration brought on by diarrhea caused by polluted water and germs in food. Because of in­adequate variety in diet, these babies suffer protein deficiency and cannot fight off disease.

Part of the reason for linking family planning and child health is to give the population effort new impetus.

Success combined with even the most optimistic projections will not, however, prove a panacea for the island nation. Some 87 million people have per capita incomes under $200 a year. The wages of the unskilled are the lowest in Asia. A landless farm hand may be paid as little as 25 cents a day. Forty percent of the people cannot read or write. The underemployment rate averaged 14.4% in 1978, with seasonal rises to 40% . The daily calorie intake ranges from 1, 760 to 2,1 00, against a need for 2,260. The country can­not feed itself and must spend pre­cious resources for food in the world market.

All of which means that even if population growth is held to a minimum, Indonesia has a difficult

· struggle on its hands to accommo­date the population increase.

The Drs. Hull and Dr. Singarimbun put it this way in their study:

"Perhaps we have become inured to figures and there is little shock in stating that at the turn of the century, even if fertility declines rapidly, there will be '215 million Indonesians' with '17 million in the capital, Jakarta,' and there will be '54 million school­goers,' '96 million labor force partici­pants,' and '58 million women aged 15-49,' representing at least a dou­bling of many of these population segments."

It will be difficult. But perhaps it will not become a nightmare if the family planning program continues to expand.

5

6

SAHEL DEVELOPMENT: a new maturity,_. _

This multi-nation effort has a good shot at doing everything right

By Edward R. Caplan What is going on in West Africa's

Sahel region- what has been going on there and in international councils for two years- may very well indi­cate that international development assistance has reached a new maturity.

This is not to say that the im­mense problems of the sub-Sahara region will be solved tomorrow. It will take a long time and a lot of money and work to help the area's 30 million people move themselves into the 20th century. Indeed, they probably won't make it until well into the 21st century.

But the effort is off to a good start. It's a sensible effort whose keystone is detailed cooperation be­tween the eight beneficiary countries and the dozens of donor nations and organizations.

The recipient countries have or­ganized into CILSS, an acronym of the French words for "Permanent Inter-State Committee on Drought Control in the Sahel." The CILSS­Ciub forum gives members a chance to discuss mutual concerns frankly and critically, leading to a better understranding of the complex prob­lems of giving and getting aid.

The Club recently held its third annual meeting in Amsterdam. Al­though certain issues still stir con­troversy and there is some dis­agreement, the delegates displayed a remarkable degree of cooperation and common purpose.

The organizations resulted from the 1968-73 drought that swept across'Chad, Niger, Mali, Upper Volta, Mauritania, Senegal, the

Edward R. Caplan is chief of the Press and Publications Division in AID's Office of Public Affairs.

Gambia and Cape Verde-the eight countries of the Sahel, among the world's poorest countries. The word Sahel is Arabic for "shore," in this ·case referring to the shore of the Sahara Desert. The northern part of the region is truly desert, with virtu­ally no rain. Though rainfall increases the farther south you go, current farm production is still not enough to feed the population in normal years. When drought hits, thousands of people- and their farm animals­starve.

Although drought had not been serious for a couple of decades before 1968, some experts believe that cyclical drought is the normal condition for the Sahel and that the drought-free decades were unusual. Some rain fell for a couple of years after the international community massed to help the Sahel countries, but drought conditions recurred in 1975.

That convinced almost everyone: A lack of rain is a fairly permanent condition of the Sahel, and interna­tional development agencies and the Sahel countries themselves should plan accordingly.

They have done just that. Among all the objectives of the billion­dollar-a-year development effort, one stands out- to improve agriculture so people of the Sahel have enough to eat even through unusually dry periods.

Many other development objec­tives have been set, some separate from the food self-sufficiency target, others corollary to it. The objectives range from preserving forests to building roads and schools, from im­proving diets to tackling population problems.

That's what makes the Sahel effort so important to the donors as well

Water resource development is one of the major issues that need immediate attention in the Sahel. Irrigation, using water from one of the region's big rivers, is vital in this drought-prone area.

7

Seedlings by the thousands are grown in this Upper Volta nursery. Reforesta­tion efforts seek to stem the disap­pearance of the Sahel's forests, which could have catastrophic consequences on the region's energy, environment and climate.

8

as the recipients: It's a chance to apply a full range of development techniques to a broad range of de­velopment goals on a regional and national basis in a group of very poor countries that share, among other things, climatic conditions that work against development.

Perhaps the most significant of these development techniques is the cooperation that emerged after the great drought. Not only is the amount of cooperation among the Sahel countries something new in the development field, but the amount of cooperation between donors and recipients is truly un­usual.

The Amsterdam meeting showed how far this cooperation has pro­gressed.

This was, after all, only several years after the Club du Sahel was fully formed, and several Western delegates expected a bit of conten­tion over one of the basic issues: The Sahel countries would like to see faster financing of the projects they have put together as their "first generation" priorities. They're anx­ious to get on with development, hoping to skip some of the planning, feasibility studies and other pre­liminaries, which seem unessential to them. The donors, on the other hand, don't want to rush headlong into projects and programs without being fairly sure they're going to work. Here, they think, is one of the world's best shots at doing every­thing right.

One of the major issues confront­ing the delegates was the urgency of meeting needs. The so-called "first generation" projects- the ones proposed immediately after the drought hit a decade ago- now are being developed into viable projects. While some recipients are pushing for fast answers, most others recog­nize the need for refinement. They are asking not only why projects have not been approved, but how to improve them so they can get funding.

CILSS Chairman Adrien Senghor of Senegal maintained at the Amsterdam meeting that members must continue to work toward a mutual understanding of their prob-

lems and should develop a network that quickly identifies problems and recommends solutions. That calls for continued aid to CILSS, he said, and increased coordination and integra­tion of projects.

He also said each Sahel nation should develop and maintain the ability to track the progress of proj­ects. Such monitoring organizations, he asserted, would help make better use of assistance and help coordi­nate regional and national efforts.

Delegates also agreed that while the ~conomic interests of the Sahel were important, all efforts should aim at satisfying basic human needs.

Among the most urgent needs cited by the Sahel countries are speeding up the development of river basins and underground water sources, introducing energy conser­vation, developing alternate energy sources, and narrowing the techno­logical gap by making more appro­priate technology available.

Many experts view the energy problem as critical. The Sahel meets 90% of its energy needs with wood, and consumption of wood is ex­pected to double every 10 years. Not only is wood an inefficient en­ergy source, but the more trees are cut down, the more the soil erodes. For this reason and others, Senghor said, the lack of a comprehensive energy policy is limiting the Sahel's economic growth.

Improving cereal production and marketing was another topic at the Amsterdam meeting. Although they differed on how to achieve these goals, the delegates agreed that better and more strategically located storage facilities are necessary if the Sahel countries are to become self­sufficient and if they are to meet emergency needs.

The agreements reached at the meeting brought a feeling to the plenary sessions that the Sahel de­velopment programs was going at a pace somewhere between the best expectations and the best hopes.

What surfaced at the plenary ses­sions, of course, reflected hours of behind-the-scenes discussions.

"That is one of the big advantages of meetings such as this one," said Goler T Butcher, AID's assistant

administrator for Africa, who headed the U.S. delegation. "We had break­fast, lunch and dinner meetings with other delegations every day we were in Amsterdam. That gave us a chance to talk over problems and outlooks informally and quietly This kind of conversation can often lead to understanding more easily than the formal discussion in a plenary session."

Other delegations were doing the same. The result was not only un­derstanding, but also a feeling that tough as the Sahel's problems are, they can be solved.

The problems are as tough as any in the development field. Though the Sahel is not overpopulated in the same way as, say, Bangladesh, many experts believe that much of the deteriorating situation was influenced by some degree of overpopulation. More people led to more liv~stock, which led to overgrazing and over­cutting of forests, which led to soil erosion, which led to decreased food production. Some believe that this process expands the desert and in fact brings on the disaster conditions during drought. They believe that if development can stem- or even reverse- the process, the effects of drought will be lessened signifi­cantly.

Whatever the cause of the area's continuing problems, the develop­ment of a very undeveloped area like the Sahel has to start with the basic building blocks. There's no sense putting a tractor on a farm where no one can maintain or repair it and where there's no gasoline, no road to bring it and no money to buy it.

Thus, when the Club du Sahel held its first meeting in Dakar in 1976, it recognized the need- from the very beginning- for proper planning, research and evaluation. It also recognized that a ''quick fix" was impossible, that Sahel develop­ment required a long-term coopera­tive commitment. AID's most recent annual report to Congress on the Sahel program sums it up:

"What makes the Club du Sahel Development Program unique is the recognition by all participants that achieving significant development in the Sahel is a long-term process

requiring the coordinated efforts of the Sahel countries and donors. This is a process that cannot and is not prescribed in a detailed set of neatly bound plans.

"The basic investments needed to realize the full potential of the Sahel require a long-term commitment by donors. The alternative is a series of rescue operations over the next 25 years which may salve the con­science of richer countries, but will be vastly more expensive than the development program needed to place the Sahel on a sound footing for the future."

Drought is a permanent condition in the Sahel, but in some years it's more severe. Here a cattle feeding station in Mauritania helps large numbers of livestock survive.

9

"Appropriate technology" are not household words. But if Jordan Lewis has his way, they will be, at least in the international develop­ment household.

To Lewis, 'appropriate technology' means helping poor people in devel­oping countries to help themselves. He is executive director of A.T Inter­national CATD, a private, non-profit organization created in response to a mandate of Congress and funded by AID. Its purpose is to promote the development and dissemination of technologies appropriate for develop­ing countries.

Speaking from his Washington­based headquarters, Lewis said:

"Our mission is to help poor people in .developing nations to create more jobs, earn more money and expand productivity. We provide small amounts of financial support and appropriate technical and man­agement assistance to local people and local resources. We call this 'appropriate tech no logy.'

"We respond to the needs of grass roots organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These or­ganizations, working closely with our staff, tell us what they need. In many instances the greatest need is not for money but for information and for brokering and combining of inputs."

He says appropriate technology means supplying the equipment and appropriate management to solve specific local problems. "Our proj­ects are small," he says. "The aver­age is about $80,000, and they are aimed at the poorest of the poor in the Third World."

Lewis concedes that there is a lot of confusion about the term "appro­priate technology." Some people call it intermediate technology, light­capital technology, or capital-saving technology. .

"I like to think of appropriate tech­nology as a process of using the most efficient and economical tech­nology to accomplish a specific ob-jective." ·

One international development re­searcher says intermediate techno!-

John Metelsky is a press officer in AID's Office of Public Affairs.

10

Accent on •1o

However you define ~appropriate technology: its grass roots B~ John Metelsk~

ogy lies anywhere between the most primitive stone age technology and the most sophisticated space age technology.

Appropriate technology also has been defined as "the tools, devices, and processes indigenously devel­oped to the greatest extent possible from local resources with local tal­ents to meet local needs within local cultural patterns." - ATI grew out of a belief that mod­ern technical assistance aimed at poor people in developing countries over the past 30 years often has missed the target. That is the opinion of many AID veterans and a growing number of experts concerned with development, including the House Committee on International Rela­tions.

One House reports states: ·The experience of more than a

quarter century of development as­sistance program overseas has clearly demonstrated that much of the technology used in the United States and other industrialized countries is not well suited to the economies of developing countries. It is too big, it is too expensive, and it does not create the jobs needed to absorb rapidly expanding labor forces in countries which already have an abundance of labor."

In June 1977, AID provided ATI with an initial start-up grant of $1 million to organize, staff, and begin program operations. Last August AID provided an additional $5 million. ATI is now fully operational and has a permanent staff of 10, plus 10 con­sultants. Lewis expects to increase its staff.

"For a nation to be in charge of its own destiny," Lewis says, "its technologies must be attuned to its culture, its economies and its poli­tics. A nation must create technolo­gies unique to its needs and aspira­tions, and select and adapt appropri­ate technologies from abroad.

Women in Pespire, Honduras, use the energy-efficient Lorena cooking stove to produce Mango Puree, a canned product produced by the community. Save the Children photo by Warren Jacobsen.

11

Appropriate technology helps a Somali farmer. An extension advisor works with the farmer in using a steel plow. Inset: Vampire bats attack cattle and other livestock in Nicaragua. AID helps small farmers with a bat control pro­gram.

12

"International technology transfer is as old as civilization. Six thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians in­troduced sailing to other Mediterra­nean peoples. Today basic oxygen furnaces from Austria and manage­ment techniques from Japan are on an endless list of technologies that are a cause and an effect in the rapid pace of development in the modern world."

He says large-scale, capital­intensive, labor-saving technology cannot have much impact on creat­ing jobs in the Third World.

"Such hardware is too expensive for developing countries. It is too big for the small enterprises that pre­dominate in the Third World. Eighty percent of the farms are 12 acres or

less, most business and industrial enterprises are small, too. So are incomes.

"Creating jobs and expanding productivity requires investments, technologies and other practices that emphasize labor-intensiveness and are attuned to the skills of the poor. And because access to distant mar­kets is limited to the typical poor ·entrepreneur, development projects must focus on using locally available resources."

According to Jim Finucane, ATI's senior staff member in charge of Latin America operations, the pro­grams provide simple but effective technology.

"For example," he said, "we're helping finance a project in Honduras

that calls for constructing and dis­tributing the Lorena cooking stove. Major features of the stove, which has been developed by a Guatema­lan appropriate technology organiza­tion, are that it reduces firewood consumption in food preparation by 50% and is made of local materials -sand and clay."

With the help of a two-year, $55,000 ATI grant, the Save the Children Federation <SCF) of Hon­duras uses the stove as a leading element of its community develop­ment program.

Finucane explained that in many areas of Honduras, the intensive use of trees for firewood causes soil erosion and drainage problems. "The stoves will help cut down the use of firewood," he said, "and also reduce the time and money families spend in getting wood for cooking."

Finucane expects that the stove will significantly reduce the time women spend cooking. In the time saved, they will learn to repair and maintain the stove.

He said the stoves cost $15-$30 to build and the farmer can recoup that amount within three months be­cause the stove uses less firewood. An added bonus for the family is that the stove has a chimney and does not fill the house with smoke.

The SCF's community develop­ment workers, rural community groups, mothers' clubs, health clinics and child feedings volunteers will help promote the stove.

As part of the stove project, rural villagers will be taught how to build the stoves. SCF staffers also will teach the farmers forest usage and conservation. SCF will build a train­ing and demonstration center where farmers and their families can ob­serve the stove construction and learn how to apply appropriate tech­nology in farming. The center also will exhibit devices for using solar energy to preserve food, and pro­vide information on composting, small animal husbandry, intensive horticulture, and water systems.

Other ATI-supported projects in­clude: developing a management system for a cooperative that lends money to small businesses; increas­ing the capacity of local organi-

zations to respond to local inquiries about appropriate technologies; sup­porting the development of a local institution with a capacity for both developing technologies and dis­seminating them to poor people; and demonstrating the capability of small-scale hydro technology for generating electricity in remote areas.

Said Finucane: "In Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia in Brazil, ATI is working with AITEC, a local Brazilian non-profit organization to develop a financial institution to in­vest risk capital in very small busi­nesses in the poorest areas of the city.

"Under the program, local Brazilian business experts survey the enter­prises and prepare a package to bring success to the business. The experts may advise a business to update or repair equipment, change in location, and provide instruction on business planning and manage­ment."

Finucane said more than 120 busi­nesses are involved in the project, which began last July. The small entrepreneurs include carpenters, plumbers, jewelers, furniture makers, shoemakers, and tailors.

ATI is providing a $157,000 grant for three years. Brazilian organi­zations also are helping to fund the project. The project is expected to become self-sufficient by 1982.

Speaking of cooperation with other foreign aid agencies, Lewis said: "We work closely with the World Bank, AID, Overseas Devel­opment Council, Organization for Eco~omic Cooperation and Devel­opment, Intermediate Technology Group of London, and private volun­tary agencies."

After reviewing ATI activities, Lewis spoke of his hopes and aspira­tions:

"I hope we can build an effective program of responsiveness to local needs and build capacities for local people to solve their local problems. I also hope we will be able to aggre­gate our experiences and those of other organizations so we can share our knowledge with other groups with similar missions."

Simple farm tools are a good example of appropriate technology. A Nicara­guan couple weeds their cabbage patch.

13

Learning by radio Education project successfully overcomes lack of teachers and materials By Susan Super

"Sesame Street"- radio style­is helping first graders in Nicaragua learn 63% more mathematics than they did by traditional methods.

"The learning results are far and away better than anything we've ever done," according to David Sprague, deputy director of the Office of Education in AID's Devel­opment Support Bureau. "It's one of thE} best educational research proj­ects AID has."

The $2.5 million program, begun in 1973, is tackling basic problems common to developing countries- a shortage of trained teachers and instructional materials. By using radio, a medium with a well­established network in most coun­tries, the project has improved in­struction and in some cases has provided instruction where there are no teachers.

Tests show that first graders are learning 63% more and second graders 42% more than they did by previous methods. The probability of failure in those grades has gone from 26% to 17%, which means a

Susan Super is a writeraeditor in AID's Office of Public Affairs.

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savings of $3.25 per student each year. The radio math project costs about $2 per student.

It's "Sesame Street," but with a new twist. The television program has an added visual dimension, it's aimed at getting the attention of a media-saturated audience and each program presents discrete lessons in a variety of areas, Sprague pointed out. The radio math program uses a smaller format of instruction mixed with entertainment to keep children's attention, but it presents lessons in sequence. Each program builds on preceding ones.

The program is not just fun . "We found that the children paid more attention when they were asked to do something; that means four to five oral or physical responses a minute," Sprague noted. "We gradu­ally got away from the 'entertain­ment' and are concentrating on stu­dent participation."

After the fi rst-grade lessons were tested and introduced in classrooms in 1975, similar programs were de­veloped for second to fourth grades. Lessons are now being prepared for fifth and sixth grades. A teacher is present during the lesson and may follow it with 30 minutes of related

activities. However, as each grade progresses there is growing inde­pendence from teaoher guidance.

Finding and keeping qualified teachers is a serious problem for rural areas of developing countries, since teachers often move to cities.

"We wanted to do something to help the problem immediately, with­out spending a long time developing long-term solutions, II Sprague explained. "The area that looked most promising was radio. Radio is cheap compared to television and most people in the developing coun­tries have radios . II

Promising was an understatement. The radio project is an unabashed success, according to education ex­perts familiar with it. It has become internationally known. "Lesson 171 II in the second-grade radio math series won the highest award in the radio division for the Japan Prize for 1977. The lesson competed with 166 other programs representing 92 broadcasting organizations in 49 countries in the biennial contest.

After only one year, the Nicaragua government expressed interest in going nationwide and extending the ~echnique to other subject areas. Brazil, Paraguay and Thailand are

either planning or carrying out similar radio instruction programs, and the World Bank has urged the Philip­pines to consider the technique in future education projects along the same line. A 1976 conference in Nicaragua of representatives from 11 developing countries sparked con­siderable interest in this type of radio instruction.

Even the United States, despite its emphasis on sophisticated au- . diovisual techniques, is finding appli­cations.

"We have more TV research in the United States than we really need," Sprague observed, while radio re­search has been relatively neglected. A Los Angeles public school district and several districts in Texas are looking closely at the radio math program and rethinking how radio might benefit them. · What are the ingredients for a successful radio instruction pro­gram? Sprague attributes a great deal to the unusual degree of con­tinuity in the contractor staff working on the program- the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences, Stanford University. Another major factor was the firm support and enthusiasm of the

Nicaraguan Ministry of Public Educa­tion. Sprague, who has monitored the project since its inception more than six years ago, described the institute's staff as "first class" and . commended its job in developing and field-testing new techniques.

Developing methods that would capture and hold the students' inter­est was important. The contractor field-tested a number of promising methods for presenting the cur­riculum specified by the Ministry of Public Education and selected the most effective approaches to incor­porate into the 30-minute daily broadcasts. Local talent produced the lessons, which used a conversa­tional approach to encourage re­sponses from the children. Songs, games and jokes, in addition to math instruction, grabbed the children's interest and the lesson was paced so that the radio seemed to "listen" to the students.

Choosing the country in which to test the project was a very important step. Out of 12 countries that ex­pressed interest, Nicaragua was selected for several reasons. Chil­dren are taught in the native lan­guage, radio was not already being used for instruction and the govern-

ment agreed to support the pro­grams with facilities and personnel.

Although the Ministry of Public Education is firmly committed to con­tinuing the radio math program at the same level, expansion of the pro­gram is .uncertain because of current political changes. The program is expanding in other countries, how­ever, and AID is already building on the experience and success of this effort by examining the feasibility of a similar reading and language skills project to be developed in an African country.

The facts and figures testify to the performance of this program. But these statistics reflect the human impact of the radio math project. Sprague, a teacher before getting a Ph.D. in educational media and later coming to AID, sat in on many of the radio lessons in Nicaraguan class­rooms. And even while he makes a strong case for the program in cold statistics, he also reflects a teacher's interest and pride at the achieve­ments of these children. Not only are they learning, he said, "but they really get involved and enjoy these programs."

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AID's Somalia Mission, in cooper­ation with the Somali government, has developed a low cost, minimum standard shelter program to provide permanent housing for nomads who were settled into new farming vil­lages as a result of the severe drought of 1973-75.

The drought was particularly dev­astating in the northern and central portions of Somalia, where the majority are nomads following their herds in search of water and grass. Livestock losses were immense and many families were left destitute.

In 1975, the government estab­lished 21 relief camps in the most severely affected area to provide food and medical assistance for the destitute nomads. Ultimately, the government decided that these camps could never be a permanent solution since the people living there had no means of livelihood. There­fore, in view of their long-term policy of encouraging the settlement of nomadic and semi-nomadic groups, they decided to resettle these people where they could earn a reasonable living. The nomads from the 21 relief camps moved into three agricultural villages, two on the Shebelli River and one on the Juba, and into three coastal fishing vil­lages. Relief activities continued there, but emphasis was placed on the permanent nature of the new settlements and on the development of an economic base.

Kurtunwaare, with 4,000 families, is one of the three villages estab­lished by Somalia's Settlement De­velopment Agency CSDA). The SDA has emphasized a comprehensive approach to development in the re­settlement villages. Agricultural de­velopment provides the livelihood while social services, such as health and education, serve as strong in­centives to popular participation until the economic incentives are more evident. Infrastructure programs, such as access roads and the pro­posed housing program, will make the villages more permanent and pleasant. Ultimately the productive

This article was provided by AID's mission in Somalia.

activities will eliminate the need for relief and the village will become self-sufficient.

In Kurtunwaare the agricultural program has begun with joint financ­ing from the World Bank and the Arab League. Initially 3,000 hectares of irrigated land and 3,000 hectares of dryland crops are planned, with ultimate expansion up to 15,000 and 30,000. Land is now under develop­ment, with 800 hectares completed, and is being farmed collectively. Long-term plans call for subdivision into three-hectare individual plots for irrigated land and six-hectare plots for rainfed land. This will come after sufficient land is developed to allow complete and equitable distribution to all villagers. Present crops range from fruits and vegetables to oil seeds and cotton and include sub­stantial areas of-subsistence cereal crops. Ultimate plans call for the village to be more than self-sufficient in cereals and to produce significant cash crops.

The existing village is providing primary and middle school education for all. Primary education will be provided in each satellite village, while higher level education will be centralized in the principal village. Plans call for the building and staffing of a vocational school in the next year and expansion of the existing educational facilities.

A 140-bed hospital has been built and staffed and 400 community health workers have been trained in a crash program. This proved effec­tive for the debilitated physical state of the nomads when they were ini­tially resettled. However, a greater emphasis is needed on training and supervision of health workers so that preventive medicine can be prac­ticed. The Ministry of Health will begin this change, using funds from their annual budget, from UNICEF and from AID litle I local currency proceeds.

It is also essential to provide the villagers with minimum standard housing before the village can be­come truly permanent. Their present crowded units are temporary shel­ters built of mud and wattle. They were built as a short-term solution and now need to be replaced.

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The crude temporary units were built rapidly with little or no planning because of the need to move the people from tents into some form of longer lasting, temporary shelter. The mud and wattle is rapidly deteriorat­ing from insect damage and heavy rains over the past two years. Sev­eral of these units no longer offer sufficient protection from the ele­ments and are virtually uninhabitable.

When the houses were built, grad­ing and site work was not under­taken, so drainage is causing s~vere problems. Insufficient provision was made for waste disposal, a serious health hazard. In short, the present village solved only the short-term shelter problem. The AID project begins long-term solution.

The settlement project was one of the first identified when AID became reinvolved in Somalia's development program. Last October an architect­planner and a construction engineer were brought to Somalia to design the project. After surveying the so­cial and physical situation, the design· team developed a master plan for the entire village, integrating the housing of 5,000 families with exist­ing facilities and existing and pro­posed agricultural development. The village was designed as a principal settlement with three satellites. Each area is divided into neighborhoods and wards according to the social structures defined.

The design of the houses required considerable innovation because of the difficult physical conditions and the need to meet acceptable stand­ards at low cost. Numerous alterna­tives ·were considered by the AID consultants and the Settlement De­velopment Agency. Prefabricated units were not available locally, drainage and sanitation were ex­tremely difficult because of the flat topography and the high water table .. and the soil over much of the area expands and contracts greatly with wetting and drying, making founda­tions difficult.

The alternative that was selected addresses these problems in what is felt to be the most cost-effective method. Each house is on a plot of approximately 180 square meters surrounded by a small wall. The plot

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includes a two-room house of 31 square meters with space for a third room if desired in the future, a cooking area, a toilet, and outdoor living area and a small garden area. The use of local materials is maximized.

The houses will be built of locally produced blocks laid on a mortarless foundation of coral rock topped by a grade beam. In black cotton soils, where expansion is likely to cause undue cracking of the walls, the grade beam will be set on bored piles rather than the rock footing. The houses are oriented perpendicu­lar to the prevailing winds, providing cross ventilation. The roof will be built of dimension lumber rafters and local wattle purlins topped by tar paper and local thatching. Plot walls will be of local mud and wattle, with the possibility of using a living fence of acacia shrubs. The roofed cooking

area will co.nsist of a water basin and charcoal grill with a flue for fire protection. The toilet will be an indi­vidual composting toilet.

The project is based on training Somalis as both craftsmen and supervisors so that they can repeat the project with minimal external as­sistance. The project emphasizes labor-intensive methods and appro­priate technologies. AID is providing $2.1 million for technical assistance, heavy grading equip'ment and im­ported materials. The government of Somalia is providing $1,220,000 to pay laborers and $500,000 from the sale of PL 480 litle I commodities for local materials and costs. Food-for­work commodities from the World Food Program also will be given to the workers. These funds and com­modities will make possible the con­struction of 400 houses sufficient to demonstrate the validity of the de-

sign and construction methods and to train the local craftsmen and supervisors. Additional houses could be built for about $2,500 each, or slightly over $8 a square foot. Other donor nations such as West Ger­many and the Netherlands have ex­pressed interest in the project, possibly for duplicating the model at other settlement sites.

The prototype unit has generated great interest and enthusiasm among the people of the village, and the project is gathering momentum even before beginning on a full scale. The project intends to make the most of thi.s enthusiasm in getting the con­struction off to a rapid start. By December 1979 the project will be finishing 10 houses a week and all 400 will be complete by autumn of 1980.

Permanent houses get their roofs at Kurtunwaare, Somalia, a new agricul­tural village where 4,000 nomad families are settling. AID and the So­mali government developed the design for the houses. Inset: Children attend class outdoors while their school is being built.

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·Briel Thoughts On Develoament How much has the United States invested in the Third World? The Department of Commerce says it adds up to about $150 billion at the end of 1977, about double what it was just three years earlier. Roughly half of the U.S. investments in the LDCs are private sector assets, held mainly in banks and securities. One-quarter goes into direct equity ownership, where the U.S. investor has a controlling interest. And U.S. government lending bites off another quarter. These billions generate sub­stantial income -estimated at $13 billion for the year, $8 billion from direct equity investments and $5 billion from the remainder.

U.S. exports to developing countries, according to latest figures from the State Department's bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, are far greater than U.S. economic assistance to those same lands. Exports of U.S. goods to all the developing countries in 1977 came to $52.1 billion, compared to $2.4 billion extended to those countries in US bilateral ODA (official devel­opment assistance) -a ratio of $22 in exports to every $1 in aid. In 1977 U.S. exports to the 102 non-O?EC members of the Group of 77 came to 20 times what we spent on assistance to them. Even U.S. exports to the 30 poorest countries far outweighed our aid efforts there: in trading with the 30 nations with per capita incomes below $500 the U.S. earned $737 million, which was three times as much as the $254 million that these countries received in bilateral U.S. aid.

The "Development Gap" is a phrase describing the differences between the poorer and richer nations that economic development programs are attempting to redress. Here's the gap in human terms, averaged for LDC s and for the developed world: I ricome of $500 per capita in the developing world compared to $5,500 for the developed nations. Infant deaths in 120 out of 1,000 births in the LDCs, 20 per 1,000 in the developed world. Daily protein intake of 54 grams per person in the developing world and 97 in developed lands. One doctor for 3,490 inhabitants in the LDC s, one for 680 in the developed world. An average life span of 52 years in the Third World, 71 in the developed world. A 43% literacy rate in the developing nations, 97% in developed countries.

The world's second largest 1977 economic aid donor after the United States was Saudi Arabia. The United States gave $4.2 billion in ODA (official development

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assistance), the Saudis $2.4 billion. Saudi Arabia is top giver among the 10 donor nations in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. (The donors are Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela; no aid flows are reported from Ecuador, Gabon and Indonesia). 1977 was the third consecutive year that OPEC members gave out over $5.5 billion in assist­ance, and for the last five years the OPEC donors as a group have averaged over 2% of GNP in foreign aid. By contrast the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports a "disappointing" perform­ance from the 17 industrialized nations that make up OECD's Development Assistance Committee. These DAC members transferred a total of $14.7 billion in development assistance for 1977, which was .31% of their GNP, the second lowest ratio since statistics on aid flows began in the mid-1950s.

Mexico is aiming to drop its population growth rate to 1% by the year 2000 -the first Latin country to set such a firm goal. The target is considered realistic, says the Population Reference Bureau, if family planning ef­forts begin to show results. Last month that organiza­tion reported several "hopeful signs" of a growth rate turndown, but cautioned that it "rema-ins to be seen" if this early change will accelerate. 1b reach a 1% growth rate by the turn of the century, Mexico must reduce its average family size to two children -a sharp reduction from the 6.15 children per woman which was the officially-measured national average at latest count (1973-75).

Can world poverty be eliminated by the year 2000? It's possible, according to papers issued by the World Bank and the Overseas Development Council. But will it happen? "Highly unlikely," says the bank study. Only with a serious joint effort by both the developed and developing worlds, says the ODC. In the bank paper­"Growth and Poverty in Developing Countries"­economists Montek S. Ahluwalia, Nicholas G. Carter, and Hollis B. Chenery say the goal could be reached by combining accelerated growth with more equitable distribution of the benefits, through agrarian reform, curbs on uneconomic accumulation of financial capital, income redistribution, and other politically difficult methods. But the authors don't see this happening. Without widespread reform, their best projections are that the number of impoverished would drop from about 38% of the total Third World population in 1975 to 17%

in 2000 -which still leaves about one-half billion people in extreme poverty. But with equity reform and accelerated growth policies they see the number in absolute poverty reduced to about 100 million, or less than 4% of the total population of the LDC s they sampled. The ODC, in its "Agenda 1979," says the basic needs of the world's impoverished could be met by 2000 if the developing countries acquire the political will to "undertake major social changes as well as exert major economic efforts. Their ability to do so, however, depends considerably on prior assurances, in a degree not yet available, that such domestic policies will also receive increased support from the United States and other industrial democracies."

The first Hubert H. Humphrey fellows, chosen exclu­sively from the developing world, should begin showing up in the United States this summer. Announced by the

White House last December, the Hubert H. Humphrey North-South Scholarship Program wants to attract rising leaders from the developing world. Only those already working in public service will be eligible for the one year's study in the United States, with a guaran­teed return to public service employment at the end of the year. 109 developing countries are eligible to participate under a formula that allows one candidate per country with a population under 1 million, two per country of 1-10 million, three per country over 10 million. This adds up to 240 scholarships in food, public health, library science, rural-urban development and public resource management. The International Communications Agency is launching the program in cooperation with the Humphrey Institute at the Univer­sity of Minnesota, where the fellows will participate in an opening summer workshop, and the Institute of International Education in New York, which will help place participants.

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