A consultancy organization providing a range of support services to NGOs, CBOs, NGO networks and social development agencies.

The section includes a brief description of the published documents of the organization.

	AIDS Awareness & Prevention: Utilizing Extension Methodologies
	Universal Literacy by Fits and Starts
	Universal Elementary Education: Decentralization through Community Participation

AIDS Awareness & Prevention: Utilizing Extension Methodologies;
by NVR Kapali, pages 75 + 20; Price Rs. 150/- or $ 10/- only; 1996.

AIDS, as a deadly disease of the twentieth century, reportedly made its appearance in some of the African societies and has engulfed all continents in the world. Developing societies like India are faced with the threatening prospect of a crippled humanity with the basic strength of its human resources considerably weakened. India can no longer pretend to live under the illusion that AIDS is still a menace in African societies alone. This book has been written to support awareness and education programmes launched in India both in the formal and informal sectors of education. The author is Assistant Director, Population Education Resource Centre, University of Madras, Chennai, India.

Universal Literacy by Fits and Starts,
by S.C. Bhatia, pages 114+8; Price Rs. 250/- or $ 15/- only; 1996.

Universal literacy, as part of Education for All, continues to remain a pipe dream in India despite hold declarations made from time to time. Lack of literacy among the adult, economically productive population has had the effect of keeping them confined to traditiional technology and low waged occupations. Some experts argue that low rates of literacy seem to be positively correlated with high fertility rates. The author has analyzed the diverse initiatives in India to attain universal literacy. Reviewing the efforts initiated in the past fifty years or so, he argues that such efforts have been undertaken by fits and starts, begun with a lot of enthusiasm and promise and often abandoned or diluted in the process of implementation. While the most significant obstacle to universal literacy in India is widespread poverty, both the political elites and the bureaucratic development managers have tended to shy away from community participatiion in the programme to the extent of providing it community ownership. However, the NGO movement continues to generate significant pressure on such elites to continue the process of innovation.

Universal Elementary Education:
Decentralization through Community Participation,
by S.C. Bhatia, (forthcoming); Price Rs. 400/- or $ 15/- only; January 1999.

Despite explicit statements in the Constitution of India, various policy pronouncements, and, now even a judgement from the Supreme Court of India, universal elementary education continues to be an unachieved goal. It should ordinarily have been achieved by 1960 as per the resolve reflected in the Indian Constitution; however, events have given rise to such a deteriorating situation that the country is forced to revise the goal from 8 years of compulsory education for all children in the age group of 6-14 years to five years of compulsory education (universal primary education). The centralized and state-managed implementation systems appear to have underperformed; hope is now being pinned on decentralization through community participation. The author has reviewed some of the possibilities held forth by both community participation and community ownership in this regard.

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