PACR of a project (8/84 to 12/88) implemented by the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) to assist small and medium-sized private enterprises (SME’s) in Honduras by providing short-term technical assistance through its volunteer executive program. The project (522-ESF-0258) was funded locally by USAID/H, except that operating costs for the San Pedro Sula office, as well as U.S. recruiting costs, were financed by the Bureau for Private Enterprises’ core grant to IESC. The project was successful and all outputs were accomplished, with 186 SME’s receiving TA, compared to a target of 100. IESC has provided an increasing amount of assistance to diverse sectors of the economy and in a wide variety of skill areas. The effectiveness of the volunteer executives was evident from interviews and anecdotal evidence. Client satisfaction was high, and in the majority of cases the clients felt they received much more assistance than they had specifically contracted. With the end of the core grant to IESC, future recruiting costs will have to be borne by USAID/H or by clients. Four major lessons were learned. (1) Guidelines for charging IESC clients and selection of recipients need to be established. (2) IESC must focus and expand its marketing activities, establish target numbers for projects by size and sector, and set a budget for advertising. (3) Achievement indicators need to be developed to measure the impact of project TA on income and employment. (4) As the opening of an office in Tegucigalpa demonstrated, field offices are necessary to expand the number of projects and the sectors served.
