In this issue
No. 96 January 1981

LettersUpdate

WISDOM FROM ABOVE
Wherever development experts go they take privilege and power with their skill and knowledge. Issue editor Christopher Sheppard asks whether they are more of a hindrance than a help to the poor.

Experts - The Facts

Poor Visibility
When the urban policy-maker goes in search of poverty he rarely finds it. Robert Chambers explains.

Inside Story
Development journalist Peter Stalker pays a visit to the village.

Million Dollar Man
A poetic look at how the expert puts his best foot forward.

Checking-out the Bank
The World Bank spends a great deal on evaluating its aid projects, but people can get lost in the statistics. Betsy Hartmann and Jim Boyce report from Bangladesh.

The Man with No Ears
The story of an expert and his tomatoes. By Judith Molomo.

Inside the Outsider
For fifty years Rene Dumont has been the profesional outsider. In an exclusive interview, the New Internationalist asks about life on the inside.

The desert shall bloom... or else
Richard Palmer-Jones investigates irrigation in Nigeria.

The Technopeasants
Technological progress puts power into fewer hands. Wayne Ellwood reports on the struggle over nuclear energy.

Cut-price professionals
Volunteers are low on pay and high on motivation. Can they do better than the professionals? asks Peter Snoad.

Action - Campaign Directory
A monthly guide to action groups around the world.

Reviews: New books and a classicCountry profile: BrazilCover photograph: Penny Tweedie/OXFAM