Compassionate professionalism : a challenge for World Vision, an evaluation report

Evaluation covers the period through 6/82 and is based on site observations, records from an A.I.D. audit report, and interviews with project staff, government officials, and COLT scholars. A.I.D. has received a high return on its modest investment. While the quality and permanence of some results may be questioned, WVRO projects (day care, feeding, schooling, etc.) illustrate the advantages of using a PVO to reach and serve poor and inaccessible populations. However, WVRO must work to improve the balance between community dependence on government and the need for communities to develop independently; e.g., in one village, projects (day care, skill training, etc.) created new participation, hope, and confidence, but community self-reliance is new, while support from the Government of the Philippines (GOP) is weak and will disappear if WVRO departs. Thus, WVRO must adapt to GOP actions and help villages develop a capability for self-government and for mobilization of community self-help income. A.I.D.'s expectations for the COLT program were too high. The COLT approach alone cannot sustain impact, and it will require continued government TA and more time. The Barangay scholar training program is good, but scholars by themselves without infrastructural support in villages do not make health or nutrition programs. WVRO's approach minimizes possible intrusion of church/state issues that would violate the A.I.D. grant; COLT works through local institutions and relies on government. Despite inadequacies, WVRO data systems compare favorably to other PVO's, although measurement of project impact is hampered by absence of an adequate evaluation system. However, improving that system is less important now than improving feedback and response to evaluation findings. (FVA/PVC/ITA abstract. Source: PD-AAT-670, appendix B, page 41)