ABSTRACT
The ideology of the Egyptian Population and Development Program (PDP) held that social and economic transformation at the village level was a prerequisite of fertility decline since it was needed to alter the cost/ benefit ratio of having children. But at the same time the PDP directly fostered the family planning message among community leaders by integrating it with other programs of development and among potential clients by means of a corps of extension workers. Ideologically, the PDP is an "integrated" program, since both its goals and activities cover areas ranging from pill distribution to economic development. A major failing of the PDP in the surveyed villages was the apparent lack of direct contact between raedas and the married couples they were supposed to visit. Another important drawback was certainly the lack of coordination between the program designed to motivate the population and the program designed to supply it with the appropriate means—the Health Ministry's distribution system.
