Page image

A.—l

(b) Education 35. The publications of the Organization will be educational in a broad sense. It should also promote more specific educational activities in several important fields, with the central purpose of furthering improved nutrition and adequate production and consumption on a world-wide scale. [Art. I.] 36. With a view to raising the standards of professional services and making them more widely available, the Organization should be prepared to assist governmental and other agencies in planning for expansion or improvement of the work of institutions of learning in the fields related to its workIt should be in a position to serve as consultant to institutions on courses of study and methods of training. It might well act as a clearinghouse of information on facilities for study and research in institutions throughout the world. It should encourage and facilitate the exchange between countries of students, teachers, and professional workers. [Art. /.] 37. To what extent, and in what ways, the Organization will be of assistance to educational institutions other than those at the university or professional level cannot be foreseen at present. Nations differ widely in their educational systems, which are peculiarly a matter of national concern. But while the rural school system should be one of the most important factors in improving rural life, it is in fact in most countries at a disadvantage in comparison with urban school systems; and in both urban and rural schools there are great and often unrealized opportunities for teaching young people elementary but important facts regarding foods and nutrition. Despite the difficulties involved, the Organization should be able to perform a useful service by advising on suitable courses of study, promoting adequate teacher-training in appropriate subjects, acting in a consultative capacity, assisting in surveys and studies to determine needed improvements, and in other ways. [Art. I.] 38. Various countries are interested in furthering adult education, particularly of the kind exemplified by agricultural extension, home demonstration, and similar services. Such services depend largely on local instructors and leaders who give personal counsel and assistance and demonstrate methods to help producers and homemakers apply the principles of good farming, food preparation, nutrition, and home economics, or domestic science, in their daily work and living. The Organization should be prepared to assist Governments in determining the need for these services ; to promote adequate training of workers, including opportunities for study in other countries when this would be advantageous ; and to assist in other ways in widening the usefulness and improving the methods and standards of such services. [Art. I.] 39. The Organization will be interested in improving the effectiveness with which adult education services could use such channels as newspapers, radio, and motion pictures to spread practical information. In addition, it should furnish authentic information for the public regarding its own activities. To what extent it should elaborate services of its own, designed specifically to furnish material for the press, radio, and other popular media, will depend upon the course of its development. Whatever may be done in this field should be safeguarded with unusual care against the risk of exploitation and misrepresentation for purposes of commercial or other propaganda. [Art. /.] fcj Library and Inquiry Services 40. As the work of the Organization becomes widely known it will probably be called upon to answer a large volume of inquiries on many subjects. Furnishing adequate information in response to these inquiries will in itself be an important service in disseminating knowledge. Partly for this purpose, and also for its other work, the Organization will need an extensive library, kept fully up to date. [Art. /.] 3. Advisory Functions 41. Much of the work of the Organization will be of an advisory character. This will include making recommendations ranging from a suggestion on some minor point to drawing up and submitting for approval an elaborate programme of action on a complex problem ; and from advice given to a single member nation or even a single institution to advice given to all member nations. [Art. I, IV.] 42. The Organization should have this wide scope in its advisory functions to enable it to achieve the objectives of the Hot Springs Conference. It is, however, a much more delicate matter to give advice on some subjects than on others. Special procedures are provided by which the Conference of the Organization may formulate and adopt formal recommendations to Governments. In addition, a wide variety of advisory services may be developed of a less formal character. [Art. I, IV.] 43. The effectiveness of advice and recommendations depends on the qualifications of those who give them, the adequacy of their preparatory work, their understanding of variations in local conditions, and their ability to enlist the co operation of member nations. The Organization should progressively establish its connections and build up a staff with a wide range of qualifications and experience. The Organization will thus be equipped to take the initiative in formulating recommendations designed to stimulate action by one or more nations or international authorities. Its initiative in making suggestions and offering advice to nations individually and collectively would be especially useful in cases in which co-ordinated action is required in several fields or by a number of countries. For a variety of reasons, a nation may feel itself inhibited from initiating a discussion of problems, the solution of which appears to demand modifications of the policies of other nations as well as of its own. In such cases, particularly, the Organization would be in a favourable position to initiate discussions and make recommendations. [Art. IV.] 44. The advisory work of the Organization would in appropriate cases be done in co-operation with other international authorities in related fields. [Art. XII.] (a) Typical Cases and Procedure 45. The Organization should be ready and willing to meet requests from one or more States for advice in regard to policy or for other assistance. The extent to which the Organization's advice in regard to the problems of individual countries will be required will of course vary greatly as between countries in different stages of agricultural and economic development. But improvements resulting from sound advice given to particular countries will in the long run redound to the common benefit, and by their general as well as their particular effects will promote the basic purposes of the Organization,

7