U.S. Agency for International Development Records, Programs, and Itineraries

U. S. Agency for International Development

On September 4, 1961 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 vas signed into law. On November 4, 1961 the Agency for International Development was set up in the Department of State to succeed the International Cooperation Administration. The main objective of AID was to combine the various foreign assistance programs into one program which would assist the underdeveloped countries in maintaining their independence by making them self-supporting nations. The Development Loan Fund, created in 1957 was incorporated in AID and AID was made responsible for foreign economic assistance and the coordination of military assistance.

The administration of the foreign aid program was largely reorganized at the time of the establishment of AID. The responsibility for operations was shifted from functional offices to geographic offices. Four regional offices representing Latin America, Europe and Africa, the Near East and South Asia, and the Far East were established with each having an assistant administrator responsible to the Administrator of AID. The effect of reorganization has been to plan aid on a country by country basis rather than project by project as was formerly done.

The working concepts that are the basis for the operations of AID are:

1. Long-term development assistance based on well-conceived program plans prepared by the developing countries in cooperation with the United States will result in significant progress toward self-sustaining growth during the 1960's.

2. Assistance will be successful in relation to the ability and willingness of developing countries to help themselves.

3. Aid programs will be tailored to the capacity of a country to use assistance effectively, as well as to the varied needs of different countries with respect to the threat of Communism. The nature of the aid to be used will depend on the situation in the particular country.

4. In order to encourage self-help, loans on reasonable terms are preferable to grants for long-term development and repayment should be in dollars rather than local currency.

5. Assistance to the less-developed countries is the collective responsibility of the developed countries and a greater share of the responsibility for aid should be borne by our allies.



U. S. Agency for International Development

The function of the International Training Division is to prepare cooperating country nationals to perform important roles in their nations' development programs. The participant training program's objectives are to improve the technical, professional, and managerial skills and knowledge of participants, and to introduce attitudes and values essential to social and economic development. AID is responsible for training approximately 6,500 persons annually in the U.S., plus 2,200 abroad. Each training program is designed by AID's International Training Division to meet the needs of a specific country or project within that country.

The Division regularly makes use of numerous other government agencies in carrying out its training functions. These agencies make available their technical knowledge and facilities to the appropriate training programs.

This collection consists of the program and itinerary for each of the various AID sponsored training programs carried out in the U.S. and other countries. The training programs are arranged under the Bureaus which sponsored them and include such diverse fields as agriculture, labor, industry and mining, transportation, public health, housing, public administration, community development, public safety and many others.