Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

766 Eric Trist
Development Plan, and in the second, of the Bank's monetary policies. The Corpora-
ci6n Vcnezolana de Guayana, which is responsible for the development of the region
of that name, also has research programmes at various levels intended for direct appli-
cation in its regional development programmes. The State and private universities
maintain economic research institutes pursuing programmes relating mainly to educa-
tional needs. There are also firms engaged in limited economic research in connexion
more especially with production and distribution for manufacturing or trading con-
cerns. Finally, there are private economic research institutes which execute specific
programmes; in the case of the Fundaci6n La Salle, its Instituto Caribe de Antro-
pologia y Sociologia regularly includes economic research in its social research program-
mes at sub-regional or small group level, generally on behalf of welfare institutions such
as the Instituto Venezolano de Acci6n Comunitaria or the Instituto de Servicios Rura-
les and for the orientation of programmes of community development or local socio-
economic improvement. For all these researches, the method generally used is that of
the survey varying in scope and elaboration according to the case and of course always
preceded by the fullest possible consultation of the available statistical and documen-
tary information. Other bodies which it is important to mention among the economic
research institutes in Venezuela are the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock with
its permanent statistics and surveys, and the Centro de Estudios Nacionales para el
Desarrollo Econ6mico y Social (CENDES) which is carrying out a number of highly
technical research programmes in close cooperation with the government's planning
bodies for the guidance of government economic policy.
7. Of the 14 largest research centres, six are supported entirely or substan-
tially (more than 50%) by international or foreign funds; five are supported
entirely or substantially by government funds; four undertake a certain amount
of contract work and two have the character of national private foundations.
Great difficulty has been experienced in securing sufficient funds either from
governments of from private sources. Government funds are usually restricted
to salaries and organizational maintenance. The absence of funds earmarked for
research induces a neglect of empirical work, especially in the universities.
Grants are rare but are sometimes made by the banks, the Bank of Mexico
having taken a lead in this regard, as has the International Bank for Reconstruc-
tion and Development. Such bodies confine their support to research and training
at an advanced post-graduate level in key institutions. In the opinion of the Rio
Centre no serious exploration of internal sources of support has been attempted
in most Latin American countries.
8. External sources have at times imposed not only theories and methods but
the problems to be studied. These policies were judged at the Seventh Congress
of the Asociaci6n Latinoamericana de Sociologia (1964) to be disastrous. Social
science in Latin America should be developed, it was stated, on the one hand,
from funds from inside the region, and, on the other, by international organiza-
tions free of political interest. However there are exceptions. European Catholic
Foundations, such as Misereor, have given untied funds to selected organiza-
tions. Valuable support of an indirect kind has been obtained from the technical
assistance programmes of France and the Netherlands, and from the Congress
of Cultural Freedom in Paris. Ford and Rockefeller Foundations have sup-
ported projects designed to develop local academic resources through collab-
orative research, teaching programmes and general institutional support.
9. Much favoured is the idea of joint programmes, some of which are already