RURAL ELECTRIFICATION TRAINING CENTERS

Project purpose will be achieved through construction and equipping of two NEA training centers. NEA will implement the project with USAID financial help. The new NEA training centers will be constructed in Misamis Oriental and in La Union on the land of existing rural cooperatives in order to provide training as close as possible to actual work experience. Construction will include room, board, and learning facilities for 24 live-in students, along with libraries, study rooms, and audio visual/lecture presentation rooms. Both centers will be provided with 26 course syllabi and training aids and with backup audiovisual facilities. Subject areas will cover procedures for planning, financing, establishing, and equipping rural electrification systems, including organizational and training requirements; development of an indigenous NEA"s and of in-country supply facilities; and other areas such as electrical rates, safety, and the socioeconomic impact of rural electrification systems. Printed course material will be in English, but will be explained in the dialect of participants when necessary. Major techniques of training at the centers will be learning-by-doing and live demonstration approaches. Courses will be taught in such a way that participants will be able to use the materials and methods learned to teach personnel in their home organizations. Projection equipment, specifically tailored software from the National Media Production Center in Manila, and video tape recorders will be also be provided if necessary. Throughout the life of the project, it is expected that 72 courses will be offered, providing training to 100 personnel each from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Bangladesh; to 50 Pakistani; and to 100 personnel from other Asian countries.