Environment and natural resources, expanded information base

and LDC"S and conduct related training and institution building activities. Evaluation covered the period 7/79-7/84 and was based on document and publication review and interviews with officials of A.I.D., the U.S. National Park Service (NPS - the implementing agency), and other organizations. The project is progressing well overall. Eighteen publications on natural resource planning and management, including state-of-the-art papers, case studies, guidelines, and project design aids, are being produced, mostly through subcontracts with leading scientific organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences. Most of the publications completed to date have been produced within budget, distributed widely, and are of high quality. However, in spite of increased management effort, a significant number of them are available only in draft form due to delays in contracting, development, peer and A.I.D. review, or reproduction. Six issues of the Natural Resources Technical Bulletin, produced in cooperation with the International Earthcare Network, have been also been produced and distributed and are widely acclaimed. Three more issues are in preparation. Funding for the Bulletin is planned to terminate when the project ends, but both NPS and Earthcare have expressed interest in continuing its publication (with further A.I.D. support). Training and institution-building activities, which were added by amendment in 8/83, have gotten off to a slow start because the funding provided by the amendment was insufficient to accomplish the scope of work. The scope of work was subsequently reduced to include only training of trainers workshops (these are expected to be completed as planned), but efforts are continuing to obtain additional funding for institution building. Among the lessons learned are that: A.I.D. should increase its number of technical experts in the natural resource management field and provide a career path for them; significant parts of the project"s publications should be incorporated into normal A.I.D. training materials; broad and complex projects such as this require design flexibility as well as an unusual amount of involvement by project management (both were present in the project); regular status reports should be required of the implementing agency; detailed, realistic cost budgets should be required when contracts of scopes of work are changed; and, a mechanism for user feedback on publications should be incorporated.