Evaluation of the Development Planning Studies Project

Special evaluation covers the period 9/80-2/83 and is based on document review and interviews with project and USAID/E officials. Focus is placed on the possibility of achieving DRTPC institutional viability - in terms of fiscal status, the market for DRTPC services, and the DRTPC training and consultancy development - between 1/83 and 7/86, the end date for a project extension recently proposed by CU and MIT. Fiscal support has come entirely from project funds, but future viability depends upon the DRTPC's ability to provide services that clients want. The DRTPC is expected to face formidable funding problems beginning in l985-86, and little has been done to identify the problem or to plan for its solution. The DRTPC's marketing division has become increasingly successful in obtaining research contracts in the sectors of transportation, physical planning, and water resources, but has had only limited success in penetrating the key sectors of construction, industry, and agriculture. This suggests a possible misalignment between DRTPC services and the organizational structure of its potential clients. Good progress has been made in upgrading the technical skills of participating CU faculty, while DRTPC consultancy services have helped clients solve serious development problems and DRTPC seminars and workshops have helped GOE and industry professionals upgrade their skills. With the DRTPC working as a successful infrastructure only for the past year, however, further progress in these areas is needed. It is concluded that institutionalization of the DRTPC will require a project extension and that the project's research and other efforts (especially in light of a managerial hiatus beyond the project's control) warrant a continuation of the project subject to recommendations made in the evaluation. (For a summary of key recommendations, see the abstract of the accompanying PES, PD-AAM-724).