Training and Recruitment: Some Principles of International Aid
| Author | Cyril Belshaw |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206301800104 |
| Published date | 01 March 1963 |
| Date | 01 March 1963 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Training
and
Recruitment:
Some
Principles
of
International
Aid
Cyril
Belshaw*
HE
provision
of
experts
to
serve
in
technical
capacities
abroad,
and
of
facilities
to
provide
higher
education
and
training
assistance
for
the
peoples
of
rapidly
developing
countries
constitute
two
of
the
most
sensitive
and
difficult
ele-
ments
in
international
technical
aid.
The
technical
expert
is
ideally
a
senior
and experienced
professional,
with
considerable
command
over
the
specialty
that
is
required
of
him,
and
with
the
maturity
and
flexibility
to
apply
his
knowledge
to
the
conditions
that
he
will
meet.
All
aid
pro-
grammes
require
that
the
expert
should
have
many
years
of
practical
responsibility
in
the
special
field,
and
that
his
knowl-
edge
of
it
should
be
recent
and
up-to-date.
An
engineer
will
normally
not
be
hired
to
give
advice
on
the
development
of
an
irrigation
system
in a plains
area
where
there
is
a
problem
of
rapidly
increasing
salinity
if
his practical
experience
in
this
field
was
fifteen
years
ago,
if
his
main
recent
contribution
is
in
the
construction
of
dams in
mountainous regions
for
hydro-
electric
purposes,
or
if
he
has
never
worked
in
an
environment
or
a
society
analagous
to
that
of
the
country
which
wishes
to
employ
him.
Great
stress
is
placed
on
the
expert's
powers
of
communication
and
of
handling
with
care
and patience
not
only
the
men
whom
he
may
have
to
supervise,
but
also
his
relationships with
civil
servants
and politicians
in
the
host
country.
The
work
that
an
expert
carries
out
varies
considerably
in
type,
although
theoretically
the
types
are
but
two,
namely
the
provision
of
advice
and
the
performance of
operational
ser-
vices.
The
provision
of
technical
advice
through
UN
auspices
set
a
pattern
which
influenced
the
form
of
most
bilateral
pro-
grammes,
including
that
of Canada.
In
order
to respect
national
*
Department
of
Anthropology
and
Sociology,
University
of
British
Columbia.
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