Evaluation of OIC/Togo agricultural training and production project; FY 77-81

Special evaluation covers the period FY77-81 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with project personnel and trainees. Opportunities Industrialization Centers/Togo (OIC) performed poorly in implementing the project in the first 3 years but has since shown limited improvement. OIC is especially faulted for the weak caliber of its project personnel and for its inability to interface with the Togolese Government. While OIC headquarters offered frequent and substantive support to OIC/Togo, it grossly miscalculated in thinking that the project"s farm production component would support and sustain the training component. For its part, A.I.D. changed the way it oversees PVO"s (feeling compelled to keep very close tabs on PVO activity) and provided little technical guidance; A.I.D. was also slow in authorizing FY81 funding. Attainment of outputs is as follows: 42 of 120 ha (later revised to 50 ha) of land being used for agricultural production; crop rotation practices not in use and yields low considering the level of technology being applied; 59 of a projected 140 young farmers (revised to 70) trained as of 10/80 and only 35 of them resettled; the planned organization of 90 farmers into credit unions to buy farm machinery not achieved, although 10 farmers received a loan from the national credit agency; an off-site training program - not part of the original project design - reaching 114 farmers; 4 of 60 extension agents trained due to emphasis on farmer training; 24 of 28 planned Togolese counterpart staff trained, although 13 of them are no longer with the project; impressive core and basic skills curricula developed and in use; and most planned facilities and some which were not originally planned (extra dormitory, workshop, and kitchen) built. Specific recommendation are provided and various options for the project"s future - ranging from phasing out A.I.D. support to to extending support for 2 years to direct A.I.D. implementation of the project - are offered.