EVALUATION OF THE UNIVERSITY SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, AND UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

THE USA PROGRAM PROVIDES FUNDS TO MOBILIZE THE UNIVERSITIES' INTERDISCIPLINARY RESOURCES IN THE FIELD OF POPULATION AND FAMILY PLANNING, AND TO USE THESE RESOURCES TO HELP LDC'S DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT SUB-PROJECTS - BOTH THOSE ADDRESSING SPECIFIC PROBLEMS AND THOSE FOR BUILDING INSTITUTIONS. THE THREE UNIVERSITIES ARE MAKING VALUABLE AND SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ACHIEVEMENT OF AID'S POPULATION/FAMILY PLANNING OBJECTIVES. THE SMALL CORE STAFFS AT THE UNIVERSITIES ARE STIMULATING AND MOBILIZING EFFECTIVELY THE RICH, CAMPUS-WIDE, INTERDISCIPLINARY RESOURCES. SUB-PROJECT QUALITY IS GENERALLY EXCELLENT. AID SHOULD CONTINUE BOTH CORE AND SUB-PROJECT FUNDING TO THE THREE UNIVERSITIES. THE ORIGINAL INTENT OF THE USA FORMAT WAS TO USE THE UNIVERSITIES AS AN EXTENSION OF AID/PHA/POP, THEREBY REDUCING THE PHA/POP WORKLOAD. THIS INTENTION WAS NOT REALIZED TO THE EXTEND IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. AID AHOULD DELEGATE MORE RESPONSIBILITY TO THE UNIVERSITIES FOR CARRYING OUT SUB-PROJECTS. FOR INSTANCE, THE POPULATION CENTER STAFFS AT EACH OF THE USA UNIVERSITIES ARE NOW CAPABLE OF TAKING OVER RESPONSIBILITY FOR MONITORING SUB-PROJECTS. TIME NEEDED FOR ADMINISTERING THE USA PROGRAM COULD BE FURTHER REDUCED BY CLARIFYING OBJECTIVES AND GRANT LANGUAGE AND BY CONTINUOUSLY PROVIDING FIRMER STRATEGY DIRECTION. THE UNIVERSITIES SHOULD ALSO BE REQUIRED TO FORMALLY EVALUATE EACH SUB-PROJECT ANNUALLY. LDC'S ARE, WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS, EFFECTIVELY UTILIZING SUB-PROJECT RESULTS TO IMPROVE THEIR POPULATION AND FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMS. THIS FINDING IS BASED ON A SAMPLING OF 10 SUB-PROJECTS IN FIVE COUNTRIES - TAIWAN, THAILAND, INDONESIA, VENEZUELA, AND COLOMBIA. (SUB-PROJECT REPORTS ARE ANNEXED TO THE EVALUATION; PD-AAD-391-A1.) IN LIGHT OF THE LARGE AID INVESTMENT TO DEVELOP CAPABILITIES AT THESE THREE UNIVERSITIES, AID SHOULD GIVE THEM PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION OVER OTHER UNIVERSITIES WHEN AWARDING CONTRACTS OR GRANTS