Background paper : print media for farm families; Caribbean Basin initiative PVO grant to the Simon Bolivar Foundation

Aims of the paper are to help newly literate adults and young people acquire or improve their literacy skills, provide them with development-related information, and stimulate the private sector via wide-scale advertising. A 10-person Honduran professional staff will be recruited to produce the newspaper and will receive classroom instruction and on-the-job training in specific production skills from the staff of El Campesino, the successful newspaper produced by Accion Cultural Popular (ACPO) in Colombia and the model for the present project. The paper will be a 16-page, black and white tabloid written in Spanish at the third to the seventh grade level. Each issue will feature: (1) news relevant to farmers (e.g., farming problems, the processing and marketing of farm products, government agricultural programs, new farm technologies) as well as national and world news; (2) serial fotonovelas about rural people in real-life settings; (3) a removable centerfold providing step-by-step instructions in agricultural techniques; (4) word games and quizzes; (5) illustrated articles about family health, hygiene, nutrition, family planning, and child-rearing; (6) editorials; (7) letters to the editor; and (8) human interest articles. Existing rural networks and local businesses, including local radio stations, will distribute the paper. Revenues to make the paper self-supporting will be generated from sales of the paper to readers, advertising, and sale of space to the public sector for instructional features. A nonprofit private foundation composed of both private and public organizations will run the paper in each participating country, with technical, training, and organizational support from the SBF and its affiliates, MEDCON (Miami) and ACPO. The paper will be produced first in Honduras and later in a second CBI country following test-marketing to determine where the paper could achieve the greatest circulation and impact, meet the least amount of government interference, and generate the most private and public sector support.