[NLA] Media Discussion -- What do potential funders read?

[AWilder106@aol.com]

David,

Thanks for taking this up.  I guess I am thinking of "critical literacy" as 
it applies to myself and in this case, funders, policy makers.  I have never 
read in the popular press, or even the unpopular press, of the multiplier 
effects of adult literacy.  This information is available I know at the 
policy levels at which Tom Sticht works (Tom, don't retire!), but for the 
rest of us it takes digging and library research and interviews.  Maybe my as 
yet unread book by Amartya Sen discusses it, but where else?  This is what I 
mean by lack of analysis, even the best newspeople simply don't put 2 and 2 
together.  Last night I listened to a radio interview of Jared Diamond 
("Guns, Germs and Steel") and he lead the interviewer to the conclusion that 
"philanthropy is the best defense."  Well, YES!  Meaning that if we don't 
actively help people get out of poverty we will all go down together.  

I haven't yet heard an interview with Andrew Natsios, the head of USAID.  If 
we can't do it for ourselves, can we do it for other countries?  There is a 
big problem with leadership, here, and it is linked to a GULF in information 
about WHAT WORKS.

Andrea