International Travel/Visitor

The Office of International Activities provides research and training opportunities in environmental programs for qualified foreign specialists in order to promote EPA's domestic programs and foster international exchange.

Description and Objectives of the Program

Since 1970, EPA has provided support to international organizations bilaterally and/or multilaterally through technical exchange primarily in the areas of (1) research and regulatory issues, (2) seminars and conferences, (3) providing short-term consultants to other countries and through bilateral and/or multilateral arrangements and international organizations, (4) hosting foreign visitors, and (5) providing technical information in response to foreign inquiries.

EPA provides research and training opportunities in environmental programs for qualified foreign specialists to promote EPA's domestic programs and foster international exchange.

The Office of International Activities (OIA) serves as the focal point for international environmental affairs at EPA. The overall purpose of OIA's activities is to (1) provide leadership on international issues affecting EPA, and (2) promote coordination and communication throughout the U.S. Government and international community to help address global environmental challenges.

EPA also serves as a lead agency for a number of programs internationally that encourage research and technical cooperation among countries. EPA experts help organize international training workshops or are asked to serve as training instructors. Countries with which EPA cooperates with under either interagency or intergovernmental agree

ments are Canada, Mexico, Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, India, Russia, independent Eastern Europe countries, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, and Nigeria.

Description of New Program Initiatives and Major
Accomplishments in 1991

During FY 1991, EPA traveled to many regions of the world under the sponsorship of foreign governments and foreign nonprofit public or private organizations, for which $379,529 was received. EPA spent $1,641,134 for travel to 1,449 countries and 1,498 cities.

In addition to providing technical and scientific assistance and exchange through direct consultation abroad by EPA staff, EPA's International Visitors Program coordinates foreign visitors' programming at Headquarters, Regional Offices, and research laboratories throughout the United States. During FY 1991, EPA hosted 1,194 visitors from 56 countries on topics such as, but not limited to, hazardous waste sites, water quality, industrial control, emergency response, hazardous air pollutants, pesticides and toxic substances control and disposal, global climate monitoring, forestry/biodiversity, and marine science and coastal issues.

In FY 1991 (November 27, 1990), President Carlos Salinas de Gortari of the United Mexican States and President George Bush of the United States of America agreed to direct their respective environmental authorities (the Ecological Sub-Secretariat of the Secretariat of Urban Development and Ecology [SEDUE] of Mexico) and the U.S. EPA to work together to develop a comprehensive border environmental plan designed to solve environmental problems in the border area. The first stage of the plan (1992-1994) represents an important step toward the fulfillment of that joint presidential directive.

In FY 1991, EPA, as advised by President Bush, took the lead in establishing the Gulf Task Force to deal with the many pollution problems that resulted from the Gulf War.

In South America, EPA and Brazil agreed to a pilot program on emissions, in which Brazil will take the lead.

Foreign officials and technical experts responsible for urban planning, finance, and development in countries around the world visit the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which coordinates visits and arranges appointments for these visitors.

HUD is the principal Federal agency responsible for programs concerning housing needs, including publicly assisted housing and fair housing opportunities and programs directed at facilitating improvements in America's cities and towns. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), a mortgage insurance program, and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), a secondary mortgage market facility, are major organizational elements within HUD. HUD's programs are administered through 10 regional offices and 70 area or local offices across the country.

Requests for foreign visitor appointments with HUD officials should be directed to the international staff of HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R). In FY 1991, this staff arranged appointments for 187 foreign officials and technical experts in housing and urban economic development from 34 countries.

Funding: N/A

Any source of funding could apply to foreign visitors; no HUD funding of foreign visitors supplied.

Inter-American Foundation (IAF) Fellowship Program

In 1991, the IAF Fellowship Program celebrated its 18th anniversary by awarding 38 fellowships in its three academic fellowship programs in order to expand the cadre of grassroots development specialists. IAF offers the only fellowship program dedicated to increasing the community of specialists in grassroots development in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region.

During its 18-year history, the program has supported over 600 Fellows from nearly all countries in the Western Hemisphere and has played a unique role in encouraging a cadre of specialists focused on grassroots development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Former Fellows have strengthened nongovernment development sectors in LAC countries as well as the U.S. network specializing in LAC grassroots development. For example, former Fellows have assumed such leadership positions in their home societies as executive directors of nongovernment organizations (NGOs), development project managers, directors of applied research centers, university professors specializing in development topics, high-level government officials, and influential officials in international development organizations.

Fellowship Programs

In FY 1991, 38 fellowships were awarded to development practitioners, applied researchers, and scholars. These new Fellows pursued U.S. graduate education and conducted field research in fields related to ecodevelopment (29 percent), health (21 percent), food production and agriculture (13 percent), enterprise development and management (5 percent), cultural expression (3 percent), and other fields (29 percent).

By stressing practical solutions to obstacles in grassroots development, the fellowship program fosters increased attention within the development and academic community on microlevel development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Practical, problem-solving

approaches to grassroots development continued to be emphasized during FY 1991.

Through its initiatives, the fellowship program encouraged expanded interest in the organizational and production strategies of the rural and urban poor, both in efforts to improve their lives and in the study of policies and programs in the private and public sectors designed to directly alleviate poverty. Priority was given to interdisciplinary approaches, contemporary problems, and empirical analysis. In addition to these issues, emphasis was placed on the professions, physical sciences, and technical fields, since local development often emerges through activities in agriculture, agronomy, appropriate technology, business, engineering, and environment resource management.

IAF supported fellowships in applied microdevelopment in four areas: (1) the nature and dynamics of effective local organizations of the poor; (2) the nature and roles of effective intermediary or grassroots support organizations; (3) systematic appraisals of local development activities related to community health care, innovative credit mechanisms, marketing by small-scale agricultural and artisanal producers and microbusiness, and development activities for specific poor populations (including female-headed households, indigenous populations, and youth and the aging); (4) emerging trends that affect the poor, including the impact of redemocratization on nongovernment development organizations, the collaboration between grassroots support organizations and state and local governments, the influence of changing labor markets, the social challenge of biotechnology for small farmers, and how increased concern for conservation and development translates into effective local projects and programs.

South-to-South Program Initiative

IAF offers four fellowship programs. Inaugurated for an initial 1991-1993 period, the Dante B. Fascell Inter-American Program awards one fellowship yearly to a distinguished Latin American or Caribbean leader for dissemination throughout the hemisphere of successful approaches to grassroots development. This unique South-toSouth program deals exclusively with public dissemination and communication, so that people in the LAC region can learn from each other and improve the way they deal with problems at the grassroots level. Unlike other IAF fellowship programs, this program does not involve university enrollment. The next competition of this program will be held in 1993 for the 1993-1995 period.

The U.S. Graduate Study Program for Latin American and Caribbean Citizens supports professionals and applied researchers from development and research institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean whose work in grassroots development would benefit from advanced study in the United States. In 1991, 13 fellowships were awarded in this program to men and women from nine countries who have associated themselves with 11 universities in eight U.S. States. In 1991, the U.S. Graduate Study Program constituted approximately 47 percent of IAF's fellowship financial resources.