Integrated non-formal education

The Government of Guatemala"s National Board for Non-Formal Education (NBNFE) will implement the project, which will strengthen NBNFE"s institutional capacity to provide NFE support and use extensionists and radio broadcasts to provide the rural poor with health, education, and agricultural information through regional NFE offices. The NBNFE Secretariat will be strengthened to provide greater and more consistent support to an NFE regional office (RO) in Quetzaltenango expanded to 16 departments and to new RO"s in Baja Verapaz and El Quiche. These will be responsible for developing five NFE instructional packages for in-service training of up to 2,720 extensionists (promoters and technicians) in NFE methodology and for basic research and materials evaluation. The project will fund RO on-the-job staff training (70 short courses, workshops, or conferences), two additional positions for research/evaluation and materials development, and computer time for data processing. Each RO will have a trained radio staff and a mobile production unit; a radio transmitter and studio will be built in Baja Verapaz. Private commercial radio time will be purchased for NFE messages. There will be 600 minutes of radio programs per month, and listenership will be increased by at least 20%. With this expanded service, it is expected that up to 500 additional NFE study groups will be functioning; 900 new community projects will be generated; and demand for RO services from other institutions will increase by 25%. NFE support will be included in 60% or more of rural development projects. NFE services will be delivered through the project to 175,000 rural poor directly and 1.5 million indirectly. Short-term technical assistance will be provided in materials development, printing, and evaluation; long-term assistance will aid in overall project administration. Office equipment, vehicles, and educational materials will support the Secretariat"s radio, curriculum development, graphic investigation/evaluation, and administration departments. Training activities will improve national and regional NFE policy coordination.