Evaluation of Development Associates, Inc. contract (AID/DSPE-C-0060) for paramedical, auxiliary, and community (PAC) family planning personnel training in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

Special evaluation covers the period 9/79-2/84 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with trainees and with personnel of Development Associates, Inc. (DA), FP agencies, and A.I.D. Despite a small staff, DA has effectively and efficiently improved the quality of FP/PAC training in the Latin America and Caribbean region. DA believes in and respects the FP organizations with which it works; it is flexible, responsive, and nonbureaucratic; it has excellent logistic and reimbursement systems; and its staff is dedicated, competent, and accessible (though overburdened). The project is not without its weaknesses, however: (1) the DA contract places undue emphasis on quantitative as opposed to qualitative training targets, resulting in programs which are ill-defined ("information giving") and/or non-standard (motivational training); (2) DA has not articulated long-term training program strategies for the countries in which it works; (3) program and budget decisionmaking have been separated, the former performed by A.I.D. field population officers (with DA help) and the latter by AID/W; (4) the project's excessively narrow focus on PAC's has been a barrier to DA in developing a coherent training plan for some agencies; in some cases, physicians who have not received project training have prevented PAC's from using their skills; and (5) needs assessments, done for the most part by client agencies (often staying within the PAC constraints, rather than taking a broader look at agency training needs) have been of variable quality. A follow-on project should: address broader organizational development goals, while continuing to emphasize training; fund a wider range of TA and training activities (including more training of private sector FP administrators); include training evaluations and follow-ups, where appropriate; and make more frequent use of external project evaluations.