Royal tropical institute, Amsterdam

The Dutch Royal Tropical Institute, founded in 1910, can now draw on the technical expertise gleaned from over 75 years experience in tropical and sub-tropical countries. This experience covers the whole project cycle, with particular emphasis on the study, methodology and implementation of development programmes in close collaboration with governments and local institutions. Projects are frequently carried out in collaboration with other institutes, universities and consultancv firms. The staff at the Institute, working in the fields of rural development, health and the transfer of knowledge, consists of some 100 professionals with considerable experience in developing countries. The Institute organizes educational and training programmes as well as information services designed to communicate information to both national and international target groups. The Institute derives particular strength from the way it not only carries out projects but is concerned with development-oriented research, training and the dissemination of information. The multidisciplinary approach aims to facilitate the understanding and implementation of complex development projects The short and long-term consultancy services at the Institute are based on research carried out in the context of its rural development and health programme. This consists of the following sector programmes: agricultural development, development planning and food policy, nutrition and agrotechnology, primary health care health care and epidemiology. The Institute's Information and Documentation Service (ID) is closely attuned to the activities of the rural development programme. It has about half a million references in the field of agriculture and rural development relating to tropical and subtropical regions. Its computer infrastructure enables it to compile abstracting journals, produce an international database (with about 60,000 references) and to connect with all major international telecommunications networks so as to have ready access to documents stored as abstracts in hundreds of databases Two abstracting journals of interest to agricultural and rural development workers are produced by ID: the monthly Abstracts on Tropical Agriculture (ATA) and the quarterly Abstracts on Rural Development in the Tropics (RURAL) . The Institute's Central Library, with its 6 000 current journals and 170 000 books, provides a unique input source. All new acquisitions are scanned daily by ID, also available online as file TROPAG (Tropical Agriculture) through the ORBIT Information Technologies Corporation (formerly SDC) which is connected to several international telecommunications networks linking South America, Europe, Australia and some parts of Asia to the USA. ID is currently working on merging the RURAL file with TROPAG. ID operates not only as a database producer but also as a user, offering computer search services on a large number of other files. Other services provided by ID are: selective dissemination of new information each time the database is updated, document delivery services and question-and-answer services. For further information contact Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen Royal Tropical Institute Mauritskade 63 1092 AD Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS Telex: 15030 KIT NL Agridoc InternationalThe Dutch Royal Tropical Institute, founded in 1910, can now draw on the technical expertise gleaned from over 75 years experience in tropical and sub-tropical countries. This experience covers the whole project cycle, with particular emphasis on..