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A growing trend in social science research is to reject those modes that treat individuals as objects of research and to accept the role of catalyst in helping the people to do their own research. Also, there is an increasing demand that results of social research must serve in a timely way to improve the situation of those involved. Participatory research meets these two requirements. Its basic premise is the democratic principle that oppressed and marginalized people can transform their social realities through education, research, and action. The facilitator does not choose the problem, the study method, or persons to carry out the study. The people set priorities and choose a problem, explore the roots of the problem, and research alternatives for correcting root conditions. The solution to one problem makes evident the next problem. Documentation is important but it need not be written. The cases of a group of indigenous women in India and a group of women in a city housing project in the District of Columbia, demonstrate participatory research's applicability in developing and industrialized countries. Adult education graduate students should learn this methodology because social science research is changing. Students need to be taught the following principles: people have to do it themselves; their values and not those of the students must prevail; people must choose their own methodology; people must choose their action priority; people must evaluate their own successes or failures; and what people learn will be the basis for further learning. (YLB)

The International Taskforce on Literacy, which is composed of nongovernmental organizations, has carried the literacy message to people everywhere. Two particularly noteworthy activities of the Taskforce are the People's Launch of International Literacy Year at the International Council for Adult Education conference in Thailand in January 1990 and the Book Launch. The theory, methodology, and practice of the literacy movement has evolved considerably and for the better over the past 2 decades. The first stage was the equating of nonformal education with literacy training in developing countries. The next stage, primarily in developing countries, involved an attempt to tie literacy and numeracy training to specific work situations to keep learners motivated. Problems that arose in this stage included the issue of empowerment and the language question, that is, teaching the native language or English. In a possible third stage, illiteracy was seen as a problem for the developed as well as developing countries. A new development emerged, a thrust to involve learners in assessing their own needs. This involvement would allow learners to participate in program planning, design, and implementation. One more stage in the literacy movement is the illiteracy that all share in a developing world. Even educated people are illiterate in many aspects of life, such as technology, health, human communications, social reform, or spirituality. (YLB)

Women in development refers to the needs and problems of women in developing countries and the responsibility of industrialized countries to ensure that aid programs serve the best interests of these women. A concern of adult educators is the relationship between adult education and the challenges facing women in the development of their countries. In addition, men and women in the United States must be educated as to ways in which they can be of optimal assistance. Illiteracy and lack of education and training of women contribute to a vicious cycle of underdevelopment, low productivity, and poor conditions of health and welfare. Girls get less schooling than boys; adult women have some opportunities to go to literacy classes, but have difficulty finding the time and energy. Current international activity relating to literacy promotion puts pressure on governments. Some of the most effective literacy work is done by women in nongovernmental organizations. The literacy movement has progressed from its beginnings as a skill taught in nonformal situations to a phase in which learning was connected to carrying out women's responsibilities. Now women require training for productivity. One obvious training opportunity could be provided by agricultural extension workers. Education of women is also the key factor in the area of family health. The only successful way to help women is to help them work toward their own empowerment. (YLB)

Participatory research began as a reaction to traditional social science research methodology, which tended to make persons into objects of study. It had its beginnings in Tanzania around 1970, when a group of farmers participated in research to assess and solve the problem of losses of grain harvests. The process grew out of the philosophy of Paulo Freire, which placed the locus of research with the people themselves in any situation where social transformation was the ultimate goal. It included a combination of research, education, and action. A facilitator must be with the people on an ongoing basis, have patience, and provide education in very informal ways. Documentation can occur without any written process. An illustrative case is that of a group of women in India who improved their situation through popular theater. The process was as follows: the women designed productions to initiate discussion, reworked them to portray the problem realistically, and then showed possible scenarios for correcting the problem. Another project in Appalachia shows how indigenous leaders representing a number of groups were trained to solve the problem of a low tax base associated with strip-mined land. Participatory research has been used in many ways to promote primary health care. Results are slow, however, and success may have to be redefined. (YLB)

In large and small countries alike, adult educators can no longer be content with educating adults as though they live in a vacuum but must instead become international adult educators to some extent. This is not to say that adult educators must teach an international subject every day. What it does mean is that they must make international understanding the perimeter or frame of reference for all their professional work. International adult educators live very consciously in the world, not only in their own cities or countries, and they try to see their own countries in a world context and be aware of their own national shortcomings. This in turn brings a perspective into their classrooms that opens the minds of adults to see themselves as responsible actors on the stage of the entire planet. The rapid growth of the International Council for Adult Education is proof that adult educators all over the world have a need and an interest in knowing each other and working together in a shared vision of the role of adult education in enhancing the quality of life on a global scale. As the council's founder, Dr. Roby Kidd was aware that the vast differences between adult education in industrialized and developing nations demand more than comparison of programs in different areas. What is really needed is a commitment among adult educators to mutual understanding and the sharing of personal insights to help others solve their problems. George Aker, Helena Kekkonen, and Adolfo Perez Esquivel are other prominent internationalists in the field of adult education. They have understood the need for and worked for international cooperation in the field of adult education despite the many political, cultural, and religious differences that sometimes make cooperative efforts difficult to develop. (MN)