Assessing nonformal education projects, an initial exploration

COST/BENEFIT TECHNIQUES TAUGHT IN UNIVERSITY CLASSROOMS ARE NOT USEFUL FOR THOSE PERSONS WHO CONDUCT SUCH ANALYSES ON PROJECT SITES, ESPECIALLY IN THE AREA OF ASSESSING THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF NON-FORMAL EDUCATION (NFE). THE PAPER CONSISTS OF FOUR PARTS. FIRST, IT CONSIDERS CHARACTERISTICS OF NFE MOST RELEVANT TO COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS. SECOND, IT DEVELOPS A SIMPLE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR CONDUCTING ECONOMIC ANALYSIS. THIRD, IT EXAMINES PROBLEMS OF APPLICATIONS IN TERMS OF IDENTIFYING TYPES OF INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS, COLLECTING DATA, DEFINING THE EXTENT OF DATA NEEDS, AND RECOGNIZING CONFLICTING DECISION-MAKING PERSPECTIVES. LASTLY, IT INTEGRATES THE PRECEDING SECTIONS BY USE OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE OF HOW A LOW-COST ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE MIGHT BE UTILIZED. THE PAPER PRESENTS A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE FOR NFE PROJECTS. THE TENTATIVE DESIGN IS LOGICALLY CONSISTENT. THE PRACTICALITY OF THE PROPOSED METHODOLOGY CAN BE DETERMINED ONLY UNDER ACTUAL FIELD CONDITIONS, WHERE STRUCTURAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CONSTRAINTS MUST BE DEALT WITH.