Emerging problems of development II

A joint RTG/USAID coordinating committee, involving the RTG Department of Technical and Economic Cooperation (DTEC) and the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), will implement the project. To support NESDB staff development, the project will fund 10 doctoral degrees for mid-level staff (2 each in transport planning and management, econometrics, industrial and financial management, systems engineering, and public policy science). A economist will be provided to strengthen NESDB"s communications program and NESDB economic and social development studies will be funded. The project will also support full-scale research programs at the Thailand Research Development Institute (TRDI) in 7 priority areas (e.g., agricultural development, macroeconomic policy) and help TRDI establish long-term relationships with U.S. institutions that can provide on-call expertise. In Northeast Thailand, the project will train 36 faculty members from at least 10 disciplines at Khon Kaen University in how to apply the case study approach to research and training pertinent to policymaking and management in the public and private rural sectors. To strengthen the RTG"s natural resources management capability, an environmental profile will be constructed and programs will be established for training of trainers in coastal resources management and for inservice training of Thailand Institute for Scientific and Technical Research staff. Also, advanced degree training will be provided to Department of Agriculture (DOA) staff to support the DOA"s decentralization policy. Activities in health, population, and nutrition will include support for the formation of a health economics and financing policy study center, assessments of primary health care management and training, nutrition and operations research, the monitoring of air pollution from cooking fires in northern Thailand, and TA in family planning services, as well as 9 U.S. fellowships and in-country management and technical training. The project will also help to improve municipal management of urban growth and to promote programs for the urban poor. Finally, DTEC management will be strengthened and support provided to centrally funded A.I.D. projects. Memorandum of 6/16/87 describes the Coastal Resources Management (sub-project), to be partially funded under the present project. See the abstract of PD-CAX-454 in the DOCUMENT data base.