Caribbean regional development training project; evaluation report

Special evaluation covers the period 6/80-8/81 and is based on document review and visits to Barbados and Guyana. Despite initial delays due to slow selection of training officers, the implementor (Caribbean Community Secretariat -- CARICOM) now has the project nearly on target with 91 of a planned 300 participants enrolled. However, possibly due to unexpected trainee desire for long-term training (38%) and U.S. training (42%), per trainee costs have been high ($5,380 rather than $4,126) and could force a reduction in the number of participants to 220. Four of the 12 planned public sector seminars have been held with an average attendance of 22; a fifth seminar is underway. None of the regional private sector seminars and only 11 of 48 island-specific private sector seminars have been held. Attendance has been poor (10-11 attendees), apparently due to insufficient private sector involvement. Also, five grants from a discretionary fund have been provided -- four to CARICOM and one to the University of the West Indies. Although a Barbadian consultant was hired to develop ongoing evaluation procedures, the resulting data is inadequate. Nonetheless, it appears that a disproportionate number of junior individuals have been selected for training, in part because host governments have not afforded the project high priority. Further, submission of training workplans has been consistently slow due to the use (for reasons of economy) of relatively inefficient mail service. Providing U.S.-bound trainees with advance funds has been the chief procedural difficulty. Finally, CARICOM has failed to submit several progress reports.