EVALUATION REPORT ON THE SUBTROPICAL LANDS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT -- MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST REPORT

Evaluation covers the period 9/74-11/78 and is based on the observations of a contracted management specialist. The project was administratively handicapped early on by the choice of a project coordinator who was unacceptable to the National Institute of Colonization (INC), the implementing agency, and was thus excluded from project meetings and decisions. A new coordinator, named in late 1976, was more effective but was given added duties which severely limited the time he could spend on the project. Much of the project's success to date has been due to the cooperation between the resettlement advisor and the United Church Committee (CIU), the PVO supervising the settlement/orientation program, and to INC's capable field director. While cooperation between CIU and INC has occurred, the high degree of interagency cooperation originally envisioned has not generally come about. The failure to fill the position of resident advisor to INC has been a problem. Also, much of the project's heavy machinery remains inoperable due to the lack of a field master mechanic. It is doubtful whether the project will proceed as smoothly once CIU personnel are withdrawn. Any Bolivians managing the project will be bound by the over-centralization of the Government of Bolivia (GOB) bureaucracy (an over-centralization designed to control abuses, but which also proves inflexibile) and will be unable to circumvent normal administrative channels as the expatriate advisors were allowed to do. A particular problem is the future of the orientation program. A counterpart Bolivian should commence training as soon as possible, and a new orientation department should be established to preserve the program's autonomy. The first settlers will become eligible for land titles in 12/78; it is imperative, therefore, to speed up the land titling process, which often takes years, although in theory it can be completed in 3 months. Finally, USAID officials should meet with the GOB to resolve the budgetary crisis, which has caused extensive delays in procurements and funding requests.