A.T. International; evaluation : volume I, summary, conclusions, recommendations

Special evaluation, attached to a PES (PD-AAL-654), covers the period 6/77-12/81 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with beneficiaries. ATI has succeeded in developing a viable organization and program: was reasonably successful in strengthening LDC organizations, especially in regard to alternative institutional mechanisms such as franchising, and in developing and disseminating AT (although some projects visited were failures); demonstrated the potential of grassroots development organizations to promote AT innovation; and produced modest benefits on technology policy. On the negative side, the program, while properly targeted, is not too successful in reaching the poor and is insufficiently concerned with the U.S. private sector. Benefits from ATI's publication program are few. More importantly, the unit cost of program functions was higher than planned or necessary (a responsibility shared by ATI and A.I.D.) and the positive and negative lessons learned from the ATI program are not widely shared. To improve the technological aspects of its program, ATI should: create a demand for AT rather than promote it aggressively; improve its use of technical consultants; incorporate more technically trained staff and ad hoc interdisciplinary teams where called for; and limit and make indepth studies of the number of technologies in its portfolio. On the management level, ATI needs to articulate its charter better; strive to sell itself more actively to its clients (while preserving its current focus on grassroots efforts); and seek a broader base of support. It is recommended that AID/W: provide future grant funding for ATI field programs to encourage ATI to seek funds from other sources; strengthen its management of the program and in particular provide the policy attention needed if the program is to attain its full potential; relegate responsibility for the ATI grant to the Bureau of Science and Technology's Office of Multisectoral Development; and use A.I.D.'s "Proposal for A Program in AT" rather than previous grant agreements in preparing future grants. An improvement in ATI-A.I.D. communications is also called for.