Evaluation report : Caribbean Investment Promotion Service, United Nations Industrial Development Organization

Special evaluation covers the period 10/83-9/84; is based on document review, a CIPS meeting in Antigua, and discussions with UNIDO personnel; and is limited to Antigua/Barbuda, St. Kitts/Nevis, Belize, and Dominica, the program"s full-time participants. The first year of the program has amply demonstrated its potential value. IP officers from the four countries have been stationed in New York, where through formal training (a 1-month orientation program) and on-the-job doing, they have learned IP tools and techniques and have begun to get a feel for the U.S. market. The four officers have attended 10 trade shows and numerous Caribbean Basin Initiative promotional events; compiled sectoral and other lists used in direct mail promotion; prepared IP literature and sent out 2,500 pieces of professionally competent direct mailings; developed country IP strategies and action plans; and made 750 follow-up phone calls to various contacts. The latter have resulted in 30 personal interviews and 13 serious possibilities for U.S. investment in one or more of the four countries. CIPS suffers from several weaknesses, however. There is need to: strengthen the officers" home country institutions (which have not always provided adequate support); adopt a more selective approach in order to target the most promising subsectors of the U.S. market; and combat a tendency to rely excessively on computer-power before the fundamentals of IP and entrepreneurial skills have been learned. It is recommended that UNIDO"s proposal for the program"s second year - which represents a three-fold increase in A.I.D. funding - be approved, except for items regarding software and possibly office rent. Early in FY85, CIPS participants and UNIDO should develop a long-term strategy and action plan, centering on the establishment of an Eastern Caribbean Regional Investment Development Office in the United States, and should aggressively approach potential donors for support.