Cooperative program support grant : Agricultural Cooperative Development International (ACDI)

The project was a success. ACDI met or surpassed nearly all targets for the grant period core indicators, in the process strengthening both its international operations and the organizational effectiveness of ACDI headquarters. Specifically, the project resulted in: greater membership involvement in programs; strategic planning with a yearly operating plan; an increase in communications staff; improved evaluation functions (although the recommendation in the mid-term evaluation to hire a full-time evaluator was not implemented due to funding constraints); new internal procedures and systems with a business orientation (making ACDI more understandable to the U.S. cooperative community); and general development of staff capability. Recommendations are to increase the use of volunteer experts in providing TA, seeing that the use of volunteer experts is very cost-effective and is a public relations tool; and to increase efforts in exploring other sources of funding (e.g., World Bank, Mission buy-ins). The project taught that while ACDI has no formal system to ensure the incorporation of lessons learned into the design of new projects, lessons are shared informally through the completion of project evaluations, which are available to all staff members, as well as through meetings and day-to-day discussions.