This report summarizes 1996 activities of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), an independent agency of the U.S. government. The IAF promotes equitable, responsible, and participatory self-help development in the Caribbean and Latin America by awarding grants directly to local grassroots organizations, as well as to larger organizations that provide local groups with credit, technical assistance, training, and marketing services. It also enters into partnerships with public- and private-sector entities to scale up support and mobilize local, national, and international resources for grassroots development. Of $30.5 million in IAF grants, 23.9 percent supported food production and agriculture; 38.1 percent funded small enterprise development; 26.4 percent funded education and training; and the remainder funded projects related to research and dissemination, ecodevelopment, health, and housing. Educational funding covered areas such as education and training for women, animal husbandry, agricultural education, adult education, health education, literacy education, youth education, organizational development, leadership training, and natural resource management. The IAF also supports In-Country Support (ICS) programs that contract with local development professionals in Latin America and the Caribbean to facilitate assistance and training to grantees in areas such as operational management, financial administration, resource mobilization, marketing, project evaluation, small business development, and agronomy. This report briefly describes 64 new IAF grants, as well as supplemental grants over $10,000 and ICS grants; lists foreign graduate students awarded fellowships to study in the United States; profiles fellows and their goals for grassroots development; lists IAF publications and videos; and summarizes financial information. (LP)