Westel International
ER 9/16
6780 Greatnews Lane
Columbia, Maryland, USA 21044
301-854-0474
Fax:\301- 854- 9465
March 6,1997
Dr. R.W. Seiders
SDR Division (D-404) ROME
FAO
1001 22nd Street, NW
Washington
D.C. 20437
Dear Bill:
My apologizes once again.
Here, finally, is the hard copy, with Mac and IBM diskettes, of the Curriculum Development Guide for everything except for the activity sheets and a clean printout of the illustrations on pages 3 and 4. I will complete my work on the activity sheets and send them to you on March 15th or earlier if possible along with good clear copies of the two illustrations (the currciulum development model and the phases and steps). As indicated in my last e-mail to you, I was in the process of preparing for a USDA/AID youth initiative assignment to Malawi. The trip was canceled suddently and unexpectedly by the mission director - at least for the time being. Since then I have interviewed and been accepted for a position as an international training specialist with USDA/FAS/USAID -pending paperwork processing. This gives me about three weeks to finish-up all ongoing projects. The curriculum guide definately is at the top of the list to be finished first.
The enclosed diskettes give you a Macintosh version (WordPerfect 3.0) and an IBM version (both WordPerfect 5.1). Please let me know if you have any problems with them or if WP 6 is better for the IBM version. My suggestion is to use the Mac version, if possible, as there is no problem with format changes due to the conversion. I have tried opening the IBM versions but my Mac converts them back to Mac WordPerfect. Therefore, I am not sure what the conversion to IBM WordPerfect does . My hunch is that there will be a number of conversion errors.
Two of the illustrations were done in Quark Express by my illustrator. I do not have that program and hope that you do. When saved as a TIFF document, I can review and print it but the images are not clear and there can be no editing without Quark. Please let me know if you now have access to a Zip drive. If you do, I will send everything on one zip drive, both Mac and IBM versions when I send the activity sheets.
Lessons Learned and "if I had it to do over again" - (and if I could afford it):
1) I'd "retreat" to complete the project it out. Writing takes total uninterrupted concentration for me and I or a team to keep the momentum going.
2) Always write the content unformatted. It can then be transferred and converted more readily into the appropriate word processing program and/or formatted with a program that works for all parties involved. The numbers of pages may vary between the programs but the transfer and conversion of the content by electronic mail is so much easier and better that any page differences are worth it.
I am really sorry for all of the delays and hope that the wrap-up goes more smoothly for you. This has been a very important work for me, personally and professionally. I thank you for the opportunity to work on this and regret that I was unable to complete it in a timely manner.
The position that I will be taking, International Training Specialist, is to assess training needs and help USAID missions develop strategic plans for training. The first phase will be in Africa expanding to globally later. It would seem that I may have opportunities to encourage the use of FAO Population Education materials - which I think are very good- and encourage more youth development initiatives. Of course I am very biased having worked with youth development throughout my career, but it is an area I feel needs a lot of emphasis. Especially in training youth in micro-enterprise development and preparing them for entering a workforce. I am still involved with the USDA/AID youth initiative project in Malawi. We have been asked to resubmit another proposal which is due to go to the mission within the next week.
From what I have learned so far, I will be traveling to missions quite frequently in my new capacity. If schedules permit, I would like to schedule a stop over in Rome to meet you and become more familiar with FAO training efforts and youth initiatives.
Once again, I really apologize for all of the delays on this writing project. I appreciate and thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Best Wishes Always.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gwen El Sawi
