Agro-climatic environmental monitoring, 1986

The evaluation covered the period FY81-12/85. Despite substantial delays in procurement, the project is now on schedule in most areas. All major equipment components have been installed and are functioning. Software is being tested, and with some notable exceptions, appears to be operational. All foreign training has been completed with moderate success. On the negative side, the project needs to exert more effort than anticipated in institutionalizing effective operation and maintenance of the remote sensing equipment. SPARRSO personnel have not received training in facility management, nor has the organization developed the organizational structure required for the routine management of such a facility. The project also greatly overestimated the technical support available from the commercial sector, as well as SPARRSO"s mechanisms for employing that support. Cooperative linkages between the predecessor Bangladesh Landsat Project and various users have not been as well maintained as expected. The major lesson learned is that high technology projects usually face problems when the total systems aspects are not adequately assessed. The system does not stop with the equipment and associated personnel, but includes also the institutional structure which supports the facility and promotes and distributes the new products and information.