Final evaluation of USAID/Peru poverty reduction and alleviation (PRA) activity : final report

The Strategic Objective determined that food insecurity is principally a question of poverty, that poverty is concentrated in corridors where people have limited access to markets, and that low-labor productivity reflects inadequate investment in human and material capital as well as poorly developed public policies and institutions. Consequently, USAID/Peru adopted an approach to link poverty-stricken rural areas (economic corridors) to markets in cities in Peru and abroad. PRA began in September 1998 with an agreement between USAID and the Confederaci�n Nacional de Instituciones Empresariales (CONFIEP), an institution representing private sector companies. CONFIEP was to apply a private business focus to optimize resource use in the economic corridors to reduce poverty through employment generation. The design expected that private businesses would implement creative market mechanisms to purchase inputs from the economic corridors. They would be supported by project established Economic Service Centers that were located in the economic corridors. It was expected that the business associates of CONFIEP would become the buyers. Implementation of PRA by CONFIEP did not meet expectations. In April 2002 USAID asked Chemonics to become the full implementing institution. Chemonics was already providing technical advice, international consultants and monitoring and evaluation services to this project. This evaluation provides quantitative and qualitative analysis of the direct and indirect impact, cost effectiveness, and strengths and weaknesses of PRA-supported activities and operations. Five key areas were evaluated: (1) Direct and indirect impacts; (2) the role of Economic Service Centers (ESC); (3) the relationship between PRA and Alternative Development (AD, implemented by a project known as PDA); (4) the level of assistance to agriculture versus manufacturing and services sectors; and (5) operational issues. (Author abstract)