Central American peace scholarship (CAPS I) : Honduras peace scholarships (HOPS II)

The evaluation covered the period 1991-4/94. HOPS-II has developed a comprehensive program which should serve as a model worldwide and has provided academic and technical training to more than 3,000 Honduran leaders, 39% of them women (vs. a target of 40%). The inequities in geographic distribution of HOPS-I have been overcome, and intensive predeparture training and carefully designed follow-on activities, the most complete in the regional program, have generated a higher level of impact on the economy and the promotion of social change by returned HOPS-II scholars than by HOPS-I scholars. For some short-term programs, pre-departure training has become a complete program in itself, making U.S. training redundant. English-language instruction is the most problematic element for all trainees. Although the process used in placing Peace Scholars in their universities has caused some frustrations, those who receive Bachelors or Masters degrees are very satisfied with their training, as are short-term U.S. trainees. However, those receiving an Associate of Arts degree have had difficulty finding jobs and transferring credits to Honduran universities. Follow-on activities have reduced difficulties of trainee re-entry and fostered the creation of various regional and occupational associations. The program"s success is not widely appreciated in the Mission, and some misperceptions persist, e.g., that HOPS-II is expensive and bears no relationship to Mission objectives. In fact, however, HOPS-II"s costs are lower than the regional average, and the program is successfully contributing to meeting the Mission"s strategic objectives. HOPS-II training has been an empowering experience for many women, leading to larger incomes and better employment opportunities as well as far-reaching changes in attitude. Project personnel are to be commended for correcting the tendency to train doctors (primarily male) by offering courses for nurses and female medical technicians; the provision of business management training for women is also to be commended. At the same time, there is a need to recruit women more actively, adopting a 50% participation rate for women. (While agreeing with this recommendation in principle and having actually raised the percentage of female participation to 50%, the Mission has decided not to establish an official target of 50% for fear of falling short.) Lessons learned are as follows. (1) A Mission-funded scholarship program should be closely linked to the programs of the Mission"s technical offices and integrated with the implementation of strategic objectives. (2) The long-term impact of a training program is enhanced by carefully designed in-country predeparture training and follow-on programs. (3) It is critical that groups selected for short-term technical training be academically homogeneous in order to ensure maximum benefit from the intensive course for all the trainees. (4) Since long-term academic trainees tend to take the full amount of time authorized to complete their U.S. degrees even if they could have finished beforehand, administrators should authorize only the time required for course and degree completion (e.g., a year and a half for most Masters degrees). (5) Although long-term trainees receive English-language training in Honduras in order to keep costs down, trainees should travel to the United States 2-3 months before their U.S. classes begin for cross-cultural orientation and topping-off in English. Of the three long-term groups trained by the project, one group did just that and was able to complete its program in a shorter time than the other groups. (6) U.S. training programs are expensive, but if well designed have a long-term impact on development that justifies the cost. (7) In light of financial uncertainties, it is important to plan ahead regardless of whether funding for a given training program is authorized or not.