Mr. CALLAHAN. We certainly thank you, sir, not only for your testimony but for your efforts and the efforts of your organization and the members of the Rotary Club International. What a noble project, and how successful you have been. The fact that AID has not responded to you as per our request is unforgivable. I will contact them and try to get back to you this week a more definite indication of what they plan to do. If they do not plan to do it in a timely sense, we will instruct them in a timely way in next year's legislation to be more aggressive in their involvement in the funding for your efforts. We thank you very much for your efforts and thank you for your testimony. Mr. PIGMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We eagerly await that news, as do the nations that are waiting to give the green light to their eradication drives. Mr. CALLAHAN. We will try to get in touch with you before next Thursday. I will be right back. THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1996. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR INTERCULTURAL DEVELOPMENT WITNESSES FATHER WILLIAM L. GEORGE, S.J., ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR FEDERAL RELATIONS FATHER JULIO GIULIETTI, S.J., DIRECTOR, GEORGETOWN CENTER Mr. CALLAHAN. We appreciate both of you coming. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to testify. We are grateful for the committee's support over the years, and I just want to mention three quick programs that are in our testimony. We work with the Global Bureau in Georgetown's Institute for Reproductive Health, and we are grateful for the support you give to that Bureau. The IED teamed up with Georgetown in Nassau, and we are involved in small business centers in Central America that will hopefully be set up to do business with the United States. Father Giulietti is with me, director of our Center for Intercultural Education and Development at Georgetown, and his program, he will speak to it, but the unique thing about it, in my mind, is that it is foreign aid monies that benefit American communities. It is pretty interesting stuff, all the good stuff we are doing. He is getting into global communications as well. Father GIULIETTI. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and staff members. I would like to give a few cameo snapshots actually of two programs that are on the record in our testimony. I think for your interest and to let you know how innovative we are trying to be in education and training in different parts of the world, last year an independent evaluation appointed by AID, did a thorough investigation and evaluation of the economic and social impact of our Latin America and Central American program and did the same thing in the communities where our students are studying in the United States. I am very happy to let you know that we had a very fine evaluation, and even in a year of funding difficulty, USAID has emphasized this particular CASS program as a model for a truly innovative program for training in Central America and the Caribbean area as well as other areas of the world. Today, as we speak, there are 590 participants in the program. They are preparing themselves in 10 fields of technical study at 23 campuses in 15 States in the United States. Each of our colleges in our network shares with us 25 percent of the cost and in many cases up to 35 percent of the cost. It is very cost-effective for the Government and for Georgetown University. I think the thing that might be very interesting to you is our Internet technology. As you know, the Internet is in every aspect of life and has revolutionized technical training. By the end of the second semester of their study in the United States, each and every one of our participants is trained on the educational use of the World Wide Web. Last year USAID asked us to explore the feasibility of developing a long-distance education network for the region, and we have done that. Next week, on May 1, the Georgetown CASS Distance Education Program will begin, initially in four countries in Central America, with programs designed by Georgetown in the area of small business management, in ecology, and electronics. By December of this year, 3,500 alumni will have access to these ongoing training programs, which means that the investment we have in the U.S. will continue and the high skill level they receive will also be augmented. As I mentioned, it will be in all countries of Central America by December and in Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Lastly, I would like to thank you and the members of your committee and hard-working staff for support you have given to the East Central European Scholarship Program. Through your support this year, we are able to train 120 midlevel managers, mainly in their thirties, in the areas of public policy, public administration, and rural health care. This training moves further along the whole democratic process and establishes professional relationships between American people and people of East Central Europe, which I think in the future will have economic benefits for all involved. Mr. Chairman, I ask you and members of your committee who are in absentia now to please continue the support of Georgetown University's efforts in bringing world peace in our small way. We do it in the area that we do the best, which is education and training. [The information follows:] Subcommittee on Foreign Operations Room H-144 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, we are Father Julio Giulietti, S.J., Director of Georgetown University's Center for Intercultural Education and Development (CIED), and Father William L. George, S.J., assistant to the President for Federal Relations. We appreciate the opportunity to testify before your Subcommittee on the following topics: (1) The Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships (CASS), (2) The East Central European Scholarship Program (ECESP), (3) The Institute for Reproductive Health, and (4) The Latin American Small Business Centers. Thank you and your Subcommittee for your generous support for the cost-sharing program, the Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships (CASS). We would also like to thank you for your encouragement to the East Central European Scholarship Program (ECESP) which provides scholarships for Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We are grateful to the Subcommittee for its support. In FY'96 we received $13.75 million for the Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships (CASS) and $2.75 million for the East Central European Scholarship Program (ECESP). We request that the Subcommittee recommends the same amount of funding for FY'97 as we received in FY’96. (1) COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION OF STATES FOR SCHOLARSHIPS (CASS) Under a Cooperative Agreement with AID, Georgetown University administers CASS. The University's mission in fulfilling the will of Congress is to provide peace scholarships to capable, economically disadvantaged students from Central America and the Caribbean who attend United States community-based institutions for academic education and technical training. CASS has been designed to contribute to the formation of more effective work force resources and to foster the leadership and technical skills required to meet social, economic, and democratic needs in Central America and the Caribbean. CASS works closely with incountry experts, support network members, United States PVOS, AID Missions and AID Washington to determine which fields of study can best support strategic objectives and contribute to the economies of participating countries. United States community-based institutions then develop or adapt programs to provide students with the technical skills and experience that are in demand in the region. Needs analysis and follow-up studies of alumni are conducted periodically to modify course offerings based on current and projected economic realities in the region. "Experience America" is an essential phase of the program. Its three major components -- academic training, experiential opportunities, and personal and professional |