Evaluation of the Abyei development project, Sudan: a special IRD field report [: final report]

Evaluation covers the period 7/77-2/81 and is based on document review and site visits. Inadequate project design, planning, and funding by A.I.D.; poor management and implementation by the contractor, Harvard Institute for International Development; and lack of cooperation from the Government of Sudan (GOS) caused the project to fail in meeting its ill-defined objectives. Only one of six scheduled research reports was delivered in the form and content mandated. Except for construction and health services, other outputs (e.g., farm trials, job training) were similarly disappointing. A local institution, the Abyei Development Project Office, was created but was granted excessive autonomy by GOS standards and is unlikely to be able to continue post-project IRD activities. Also contributing to failure were insufficient reconnaissance of the target area (which would have indicated the sociopolitical tensions between the Dinka and Messiriya peoples, the latter of which were largely bypassed by the project); the GOS"s delay in funding and its down-grading of IRD projects relative to export-oriented agriculture; and Abyei"s remoteness. Thus, the only beneficiaries to date are 180 project employees, 150 group farm members, and a number of health care recipients. The project taught that: (1) the management-intensive nature of experimental projects tends to be overlooked and that such projects are incompatible with an OPG framework; (2) the implementor must accept the full burden of implementation and must adequately direct field teams; (3) isolated IRD projects require more field observations by USAID personnel; (4) more attention must go into designing a timetable and coordinating project components; (5) the target area must be thoroughly investigated; (6) human and financial resources must be more carefully matched; (7) beneficiaries must be incorporated into the learning process at an early stage; and (8) assigning national status to a small project is unwise. Because of the project"s overall failure, the evaluators recommend A.I.D. cease funding after the project"s 6/81 expiration.