Series S-1907 - Capacity Development: Training and study activities and arrangements

No. of Boxes: 21

The records in S-1907 document technical assistance projects administered to developing countries by the Technical Assistance Administration (TAA) for training and study activities. The records contain the administrative arrangements coordinated by the Programme Division of the TAA for projects, fellows and experts, and date primarily from 1956 through 1959. The function of S-1907 is derived from DESA.DEV.062 and DESA.DEV.063 of the retention schedule of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), dated 21 January 2013.

S-1907 records primarily consist of memoranda, correspondence, and reports by either experts or fellows documenting technical assistance projects administered by the TAA to developing countries for training and study activities through the provision of development and training institutions, conferences, seminars and training courses, which provided: expert advice, fellowships, scholarships, scientific and industrial research, pilot and demonstration projects, training of local technicians and officials through the establishment of regional or national training centres and the dissemination of technical information.

Development and Training Institutions and Training Courses

The records from the development and training institutions document the establishment of courses to support the activities of governments in research and applied research, planning, development, training and demonstration, or a combination of these disciplines. The records contain correspondence and memoranda on the planning of courses and development of training institutions such as the Instituto Cartografico, Montevideo, Uruguay; Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinamericanos (CEMLA), Mexico City, Mexico; Centro Regional de Educación Fundamental para la América Latina (CREFAL), Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico; and the Instituto Centroamericano de Investigación y Tecnología Industrial (ICAITI), Guatemala City, Guatemala.

There are also annual project requests, and memoranda and correspondence which cover funding, annual budgets and the assignments of fellows and experts. Correspondence is generally between country governments, resident representatives and the Programme Division of TAA. The experts were responsible for teaching, advising or directing development and training at the institutions, and records indicate that experts were also responsible for writing reports.

Conferences and Seminars

S-1907 contains records that document the planning and execution of conferences such as the Latin American Conference on Steel Making and Transforming Industries, Sao Paulo, Brazil 15-28 October 1956. These conferences were established by request from at least one government, offering to act as a host, and with evidence of interest provided by countries willing to participate.

In addition, seminars were a type of conference that provided an opportunity for participants responsible for making policy, planning programmes or directing operations in social welfare to discuss among themselves the newest technical developments under the leadership of technical assistance experts provided by the United Nations. S-1907 contains records of seminars including: Urbanization in Latin America, Santiago, Chile, 6-18 July 1959; Rehabilitation Seminar for Latin America, Copenhagen, Denmark, 21 June - 24 July 1959; Participation of Women in Public Life, Bogota, Colombia, 18-29 May 1959 and a number of seminars on housing for Central America and Panama from 1954 to 1957. The records consist of memoranda, correspondence and reports such as the "Desarrollo Economico y Social de las Comunidades Indigenas de Guatemala," issued by the Guatemalan Delegation to the Seminar on Teaching Social Service in Latin America. Correspondence and memoranda address planning seminars and nominating or recruiting participants.

Fellowships and Scholarships

The TAA awarded fellowships to assist governments in sending qualified senior personnel to countries where appropriate facilities existed for higher training or advanced study. Fellowships were normally granted for a period of three to six months, and in-training fellowships were awarded for a period of three to twelve months and would advance the governments’ programme for economic development, public administration and social development on the return of the fellowship holder.

Scholarships were awarded to enable governments to send technical personnel or civil service members to study abroad in training schools, universities or other institutes of higher education and to provide appropriate training in fields needing development in the scholar’s country. Scholarships were usually granted for one academic year.

Host governments which offered facilities for training fellows and scholars arranged a suitable programme of observation and study in consultation with the UN. Reports from fellows and scholars were used to determine whether the programme developed satisfactorily, whether it concluded successfully, and whether good use was made of the training and experience gained abroad.

A large portion of S-1907 records document the TAA’s fellowship programme. The governments of Latin American countries made requests in consultation with their government ministries to the TAA for fellowships which became an integral part of the country’s programme for technical assistance. A request was required for a fellowship related to the government’s economic, social or public administration development programme. In addition, the Director-General had the authority to invite countries which were not included in the Technical Assistance Board (TAB) country programming procedure to submit applications for fellowships under Resolution 418(V). After a detailed process to gain approval, the fellow would be assigned a post in their field and deployed to the host country.

Fellowship posts were offered in fields such as industrial development, transport and communications, telecommunications, meteorology, public administration and social welfare. Fellowships were offered by development and training institutions such as CREFAL, CEMLA, ICAITI and the Instituto Cartografico, Montevideo, Uruguay. S-1907 records include requests for fellowships and scholarships, memoranda and correspondence addressing administrative arrangements for fellows, drafts of policies and procedures and reports written by fellows.

Alphabetical

• English, French, Spanish