While 1971 marked the beginning of the United Nation's Second Development Decade, it was, for the Foundation, the beginning of a third decade of assistance to the world's poorer countries. The objective of this assistance is to help advance the competence of individuals and institutions to carry forward the tasks of development.

Such a process, which did not occur quickly in today's high-technology, highly educated societies, requires a sustained commitment if it is to succeed. Thus, a review of the Foundation's international work may indicate few discernible shifts from year to year. Over a span of years, how-ever, certain changes have clearly emerged.

For one, as more nationals of the less-developed countries become trained, they assume duties formerly performed by specialists provided by the Foundation from the United States and other advanced countries. Second, there has been a shift from activities in individual countries to those that have a regional or worldwide impact—for example, research on improved plant varieties and practices carried on at international agricultural research centers, and the development of linkages among various national organizations working on common problems. Third, a number of the activities initially supported by the Foundation—national family-planning programs, for example—are now being assisted by international organizations, such as the World Bank, or the aid organizations of Sweden, Canada, and the United States.

Changes are also occurring in the various substantive areas in which the Foundation works. In agriculture, while the search for improved varieties and practices goes on, emphasis has shifted to the problems of the small farmer and the incentives that will stimulate increased production. In population, advancing research on the reproductive process has led to a more focused approach to new contraceptive development. In education, where lines of development are not as clear as they are in other fields, the Foundation's assistance has shifted from university development to general educational reform.

Although the bulk of the International Division's activities is in the less developed countries, support also goes to international studies programs in the United States and to worldwide scholarly activities on contemporary problems in international affairs, such as the uses and abuses of the sea and changing economic and political relations.

The work of the division, then, falls into three major categories:

• aid to less developed countries to increase food production, strengthen educational systems, improve public administration and management, and reduce excess population growth;

• support of research and training within the United States and other advanced countries on reproductive biology and population problems generally;

• assistance to American and European universities and related institutions to increase scholarly knowledge of the world and understanding of complex world problems.

This aid in 1971 totaled $62,412,713, of which $38,402,744 was for development assistance (Asia and the Pacific $12,718,433, Latin America and the Caribbean $14,078,038, and the Middle East and Africa $11,606,273); $14,799,695 for Population; and $9,210,274 for European and International Affairs (including International Studies).