May 24, 1999 Volume II, Issue
3
In this issue...
• The ALO/American Association of Community Colleges International Workforce Development Partnerships RFP closed May 14.
It is not too early to begin planning projects for a possible Year 2000 RFP, which will be issued contingent upon future obligation of USAID funds.•
ALO announced the issuance of a Special Request for Proposals for a three-year higher education partnership between one or more U.S. colleges and universities and the Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador. The partnership will support a program in early childhood education in El Salvador. The announcement is in PDF format, viewable by Adobe Acrobat Reader, on the ALO Web site and is available by mail upon request. Proposal applications must be received at ALO by July 20, 1999.
Peer review of proposals will occur in early August. The highly ranked proposal(s) will be shared with USAID/El Salvador, which will be asked to provide concurrence. Notification of the partnership selected for the award is expected in August. U.S. higher education institutions that intend to submit a proposal should notify ALO of this no later than July 1, by providing contact name, title, address, e-mail, and telephone. Such persons will be notified of any changes to this solicitation. Any such changes also will be posted to the Web site.•
An
Indonesian boy applies pesticide to a crop of cabbage.
Five years ago, when children returned home from their work in vegetable fields in Indonesia, their mothers washed thick, white powder from their bare legs. The powder, a pesticide used to control crop-destroying insects, was applied in such excess that it poisoned the people and their environment. Further, the pests had developed a resistance to the chemicals, resulting in severely-reduced crops of rice, Indonesia's staple food.
Today, a growing number of Indonesians are using a healthy form of pest management, thanks to a partnership between Clemson University and Indonesia's Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB).
The Indonesian government instituted an integrated pest management (IPM) training program for rice farmers in 1987. Since then, farmers have demanded training in the secondary crops they plant in rotations with rice. These include soybeans and vegetables where pesticide overuse is even more intense than on rice.
Clemson and IPB are developing an IPM program for secondary crops in the major growing regions of the country, through a University Development Linkages Project (UDLP), sponsored by USAID since 1993. The IPM training program uses an extensive network of field-oriented, season-long training for farmers in pest control.
IPB, the major agricultural university in Indonesia, is now recognized as a center for IPM expertise in Indonesia. Access to the expertise available at Clemson, an institution with broad international experience in Latin America and Africa as well as Asia, reinforces the capability of IPB to serve as a technical resource center.
Michael Hammig, project director and Clemson professor, said, "The alternative to chemical control is less expensive for farmers, much less harmful to the environment, and results in a healthier product for consumers." Using the new techniques for cabbage, farmers now need only occasionally spray a biological pest control agent (Bacillus thuringiensis) and handpick insect eggs. The new shallot pest control method uses a naturally occurring virus, which infects the insects and provides better control than chemicals. A single farmer can propagate enough virus for a whole village.
Through Clemson and IPB's joint efforts, over 500 farmers and extension workers received the IPM workshop. These trainees in turn are providing the course to farmers in their communities. Hundreds of thousands of farmers have learned about the rice IPM, and many have received secondary crop training, but this is still just a fraction of the 100 million Indonesians who work in agriculture production. The teachers battle the chemical industry, which has sales personnel in every village who hand out free samples and gifts such as t-shirts and hats.
"It's hard to break the habit," said Hammig. He added that the dangers of pesticide poisoning are not obvious to the farmers as the effects are "slow torture, not sudden and painful."
The benefits of the new methods are more obvious. On shallots alone, IPM farmers earn $700 more per hectare, per crop, than those who follow common practice. Local officials estimate that about 500 hectares are now under IPM production systems. The current benefit of the shallot IPM is between $750,000 and $1.0 million per year. Potentially, the technology will spread to all farmers in the region, and to farmers in other areas with similar pest problems, and the benefit will multiply to $100 million or more.
Other partnership results include the development of a Masters program in IPM in Indonesia, which had five graduates by the end of 1998. Three staff members from the IPB Department of Plant Pests and Diseases are pursuing Ph.D. studies at Clemson and two more will begin in Fall 1999 with funding from Japan and the Indonesian Ministry of Education. Under the UDLP, IPB has implemented a wide range of field research activities to support IPM development. Research involves key crops - where common pesticide use is particularly excessive (such as shallots, cabbage, potato, and soybean) - and key pests such as the leaf miner fly that attack a variety of crops.
Farmers in South Carolina, and the Southeastern U.S. in general, face many of the same pest problems as those encountered in Indonesia. Through the UDLP, Clemson scientists discovered and tested new pest management approaches for possible application at home.
The USAID project was extended to 2000. The partners also have a small USDA grant to develop an IPM program for potatoes.•
Visitors
from Novgorod State observe production techniques at the Mason-Dixon farm
milking facility.
Faculty and staff from Russia's Novgorod State University visited environmentally-related sites, observed classes, met with faculty, and examined curriculum materials with their partners at Purdue University and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD).
The 11 members of the Russian delegation, which was in the U.S. from April 16 until May 7, spent 10 days each at Purdue University and UMD.
Along with Purdue, UMD is working with Novgorod University in the development of an environmental sciences and policy curriculum.•
College of William and Mary's Harvey Langholtz
briefs U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on the status of the training
initiative for the U.N.
The conflict in the former Yugoslavia presented special challenges to a college professor designing a United Nations (U.N.) peacekeeping course for the region.
"By the time we had the course drafted and edited, it was out of date," said College of William and Mary Professor Harvey Langholtz.
Another problem Langholtz found in designing this particular training manual was in defining the rules of engagement for peacekeepers. The U.N.'s mission in the former Yugoslavia is not clearly defined and few precedents exist for stationing U.N. peacekeepers in the middle of a conflict, he said.
Langholtz is funded by the U.N. to prepare learning materials for peacekeeping forces in 56 nations through the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Program of Correspondence Instruction (UNITAR POCI).
Recently, there have been as many as 70,000 U.N. peacekeeping forces representing 70 nations, serving on 20 similar U.N. missions. To achieve efficient and coordinated effort among military and civilian components from around the world, it is important for personnel of all nations to receive standardized training and preparation.
Thousands of students have enrolled in correspondence courses from UNITAR POCI. Most are military officers but many are non-commissioned officers, diplomats, civilian employees of ministries of defense, teachers, and citizens interested in peace.
For more information on the program, see the UNITAR POCI Web site.•
Vernonia
galamensis A new plant whose seeds can be used to produce a high-demand, environmentally-friendly oil is the focus of a cooperative effort to stimulate Eritrea's ailing economy.
Three decades of war have drastically depleted Eritrea's economy and manpower. Today, over 80% of the population depends upon agriculture for its livelihood, but the government lacks the necessary agricultural expertise to stimulate employment, competitiveness, and production while protecting the environment. To enhance its capabilities, the Eritrean Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) seeks collaborative efforts with other institutions.
One such activity involves Virginia State University (VSU), Eritrea's University of Asmara (UOA), Ver-Tech, Inc. (a U.S. company), private farmers, and a new industrial crop called Vernonia galamensis.
With a grant from USAID/Eritrea through USAID's Human Capacity Development Center to the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO), the partners are developing and establishing a vernonia crop. Since the project was first effected in December of 1998, researchers and members of the Eritrea Ministry of Agriculture have collected wild vernonia seeds from Eritrea. The USAID Mission in Eritrea sponsored a vernonia marketing assessment trip to the U.S. for representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and Industry. With representatives from Virginia State University, they held discussions with private U.S. companies interested in purchasing vernonia oil from Eritrea.
In the coming year, the partners will distribute selected seeds to farmers and work with small-scale farmers to develop new products as alternate sources of income. In the third and final year of the project, researchers will identify the best seeds, make them available for U.S. researchers, and work toward a long-term breeding program on vernonia in Eritrea.
Brent A. Turner, Vice-President of Ver-Tech, Inc., worked on the development of the plant as a new oilseed crop with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in its earliest stages. A superior species of vernonia was originally found in Ethiopia. Today, Ver-Tech has already pinpointed a market for 4 million pounds of the oil at one company which will use the oil to produce coatings for metal furniture and wall paneling. Turner said 44 patents for vernonia oil applications have been issued during the past few years, promising a burgeoning market.
The United States stands to gain from the partnership, too. U.S. industries will now have low-cost access to a naturally-derived epoxy oil. The partnership will also accelerate opportunities for U.S. researchers to develop a vernonia crop adapted to Virginia's environmental conditions.
The USAID grant of $99,856 will be complemented by approximately $88,143 from VSU, $10,017 from the Ministry of Agriculture, and $16,000 from Ver-Tech, Inc. The total estimated cost of this institutional partnership is $214,016.
Watch for new developments on this story and others on the ALO
Web site. •
In late February, ACE President Stanley O. Ikenberry expressed "strong support for U.S. re-entry into UNESCO" in a letter sent to President Clinton. ACE sent copies of the letter to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley.
As quoted in March in ACE's newsletter, Higher Education and National Affairs, Dr. Emily Vargas-Baron, deputy assistant administrator of the Center for Human Capacity Development at USAID, said, "We are losing important opportunities to engage in partnerships, as many other foreign institutions -- particularly European institutions -- are doing through UNESCO."
The U.S. withdrew from UNESCO in 1984. Budgetary constraints continue to impede U.S. reentry, according to State Department reports. The U.S. pays no assessed contribution to UNESCO, but continued in 1996 to participate selectively in its programs.
For information on UNESCO and the World Conference on Higher Education, see http://www.unesco.org.
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USAID's
Web Site on Intersectoral Partnerships
(ISPs) provides information on why ISPs are an important development
strategy and how donors and other organizations can facilitate
their growth. ISPs create joint inter-organizational initiatives
across two or three sectors (business, civil society and government).
For information, see http://www.info.usaid.
Prince George's Community College
(PGCC) Is Leveraging Resources from all over toward its
ALO/AACC partnership award with South Africa's Vista University.
Hewlett-Packard will provide nine, 18-month paid internships,
and Africare established Vista's computer conferencing system.
ITP and Intel have provided texts, CD-ROMs, and a computer conferencing
system.•
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Established in 1992, ALO coordinates the efforts of the nation's six major higher education associations to build their partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and to help their member institutions plan and implement development programs with colleges and universities abroad. Copyright 1999 by the Association Liaison Office. All rights reserved. Use of this publication in full or partial form is encouraged, but requires the permission of the publisher. Send comments, requests for addition to list, questions, and ideas for stories to ALO.
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