Final evaluation : municipal development support project, 681-0004

The Research Triangle Institute managed the project's management training component, while A.I.D. managed the revenue enhancement and facilities construction components. Evaluation covers the period 9/90-12/94. Project results were generally positive; training activities and the revenue collection component, which improved property tax collection, were clearly successful A.I.D. investments. The evaluation concludes the following. (1) The project contributed importantly to development of a more democratic society through improved local government. Those who have been involved with the Municipal Development Support Project, nationally, regionally, and locally, will approach their work more productively in the future. (2) The project reinforced the tie between sanitation and health and improved environmental quality, primarily through a more effective approach to garbage collection and treatment of medical waste. (3) The decision to terminate the bilateral assistance program with Cote d'Ivoire has eliminated the possibility of some of the follow-up activities envisioned in the original project design. A.I.D. has lost its ability to monitor progress in decentralization and communal development at the local level, important because many other countries in the region have come to look at the achievements of the Cote d'Ivoire as a model for their own development strategies. (4) A great deal of management time, both that of A.I.D. and the principal contractor, was devoted to resolving contracting and procurement problems. Possibly, more direct involvement of A.I.D. contract experts in project design and contracting would have been productive. (Author abstract)