Agricultural management development project

Despite the MOA's inability to release as many staff members for training as targeted (due to the departure from Ghana of many mid- and upper-level managers) and despite deteriorating in-country economic and political conditions, the project succeeded in developing a relatively self-sustaining management capability in the MOA. All three project training programs - the 2-week Annual Regional Management Seminars (ARMS) at Kwadaso Agricultural College, the 9-12 month Diploma in Agricultural Administration (DAA) program at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, and the Masters in Agricultural Administration (MAA) program at the University of Ghana, Legon - were implemented with the help of U.S. technical assistance (which was several months late in arriving). The MAA program has been discontinued with the end of A.I.D. support, but the GOG is still supporting the other two programs, which are integral parts of the MOA's management training. The ARMS component has perhaps been the project's most successful; the seminars were conducted by full-time Ghanaian trainer/consultants, each of whom had received AID-funded overseas training. Eleven other Ghanaians received participant, mostly U.S., training during the course of the project. Severe economic problems made construction of a new structure at Kwadaso College infeasible (an underutilized campus building was renovated instead) and prevented the MOA from meeting all its financial requirements. Specifically, training operations were delayed or frustrated by the MOA's failure to provide quarterly financial encumbrances on schedule; adequate funds were consistently lacking for such expenses as food at residential seminars and building maintenance; and a shortage of foreign exchange caused travel and clearance problems for overseas training participants. Prior to the mid-term evaluation, MOA managerial support was inadequate; the situation improved thereafter.