EVALUATION OF HAITI COFFEE ROADS PROJECT AND IMPLICATIONS FOR OTHER LABOR-INTENSIVE RURAL WORKS

This special evaluation, prepared by Group Seven Associates, covers the period 7/30/74 to 8/31/79 and is based on a review of project documents and reference works, interviews with project personnel, field trips, and a sample survey of locals involved in the project. Government of Haiti (GOH) support has been far less than anticipated, but with no adverse results. Major departures from project design -- which seems to have been physically and institutionally inappropriate for Haiti -- were reversal of the planned roles for GOH engineers and the U.S. consultant (whose work was very effective), and the exceeding of road standards. Haitian design standards generally exceed those of Kenya and Honduras for labor-intensive (LI) construction, the method used on all five project roads. Although only two kms of roads are completely finished, roads overall are 43% complete. Notable construction features include placing a macadam cover of broken stone over a Telford base of 15 cm stones; applying a choker mixture to bind the macadam; and providing drainage facilities. The cost to date has been $455,000, or 67% of the original budget. Evaluators' projected costs for road completion, for which no further U.S. technical assistance is needed, are 3.3 times those projected by the U.S. consultant. The sample survey revealed that the project had positive socioeconomic effects. Evaluators present a research plan for collecting further such data for future road projects. Whether project responsibility should be shifted to the Department of Public Works depends on GOH commitment to road projects and to LI methods. The latter commitment, plus the avilability of a sound rural development strategy and of adequate leadership and layout personnel, will also determine the use of LI methods in future projects in Haiti. Eighteen recommendations are presented, ten of them project-specific, the rest pertaining to LI methods in general.