ECONOMIC AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT PROJECT EVALUATION REPORT

Evaluation, conducted by a team of six U.S. and Ghana officials, covers the period 9/77-2/80 and is based on site visits, document review, and interviews with project staff. Due to recruitment and commodity procurement delays, the project is a year behind schedule. Nevertheless, the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) composed of five senior Government of Ghana (GOG) officials was established, but has been inactive and has failed to provide policy guidance. A Project Secretariat (PS), including professional GOG staff, was also formed, but its lack of leadership has isolated field staff. Due to manpower shortages, only eight of nine planned three-man training teams were formed and trained. These teams have conducted seminars, attended by 1,998 district and regional staff, in 63 districts. The seminars have been so well received that uninvited departmental heads have requested invitations. Quarterly field training seminars for the training teams have been held and curriculum and teaching materials are regularly reviewed. Lack of local resources for the seminars has discouraged District Councillors (DC) from participating in the seminars. Other problems include poor problem-solving techniques by field staff and resource and budget shortfalls due to Ghana"s economic instability. It is recommended that NCC be reactivated and reconstituted; PS be adequately staffed to expedite field support; logistical support problems, especially regarding transportation, be reviewed; government policies be modified to increase local financial authority and alleviate resource shortages; GOG budget allocations be transferred to the recurrent budget to ensure timely arrival of commodities; ways be sought to apply training outputs more effectively to villages; seminars be extended to subordinate staff; and local resources be used in the seminars and methods be devised to integrate DC"s in the seminars. Evaluation is attached to a PES (PD-AAG-384-B1).