Advice Team In Columbia Receives Aid

Harvard's Development Advisory Service has received $150,000 from the Ford Foundation to continue helping the government of Colombia with its economic systems.

The grant extends only until the end of 1966, Gustav Papanek, Acting Director of the Service, said yesterday. Renewal depends on the outcome of congressional and presidential election set for March and May, he extend.

Nobody knows who will be the next Finance Minister; nobody knows who will be the next head of their Planning Agency," Papanek said.

He added that there were no apparent signs that Colombians were displeased with the aid, but he indicated that the reactions of a new government could not be predicted.

The Service team in Colombia has been advising the country for the last two years on various development problems, Papanek said. It does not originate programs itself but tries to help the country arrive at "a more rational process of making economic decisions" on projects conceived by the country, he said.

The current Ford Foundation grant financing the Colombia team expires Feb.

The present Colombian government is contributing to the new extension, Papanek said.

Harold B. Dunkerley, Development Development Advisor for the Service, is in charge of the is in charge of the Colombia team. He will be returning to Harvard in two or three months but no successor has been named because of the situation's uncertainty, Papanek said.

Other Harvard teams in Liberia, Argentina, and Pakistan are not financed by the Ford Foundation, Papanek said. These are not faced with disruption as in Colombia, he added.