Final evaluation : USAID project number 608-0160 -- the Agronomic and Veterinary Institute Hassan II (IAV), Rabat, Morocco : an organization in development -- IAV at the crossroads

The project was implemented by the University of Minnesota. Evaluation covers the period 1988-93. IAV has become one of the most sound scientific and technological institutes for agriculture and rural development in the developing world. Between 1988 and 1993, an additional 80 faculty at IAV, and its two sister schools, the National Agricultural School (ENA), and the National School for Forestry Engineers (ENFI) completed their doctoral studies, increasing the number of U.S.-trained doctoral-level faculty working within Morocco by 150%. IAV also enhanced its long-established reputation as a fine research institute through a significant number of contract research activities by faculty members, primarily in the areas of animal science and crop science. In addition, IAV faculty participated in the Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Project (CRSP) and in a number of other collaborative research projects in the United States, Europe, and Africa. For example, the Institute hosts an International Irrigation Center in collaboration with the University of Utah, and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization has involved IAV faculty in more than 40 consultancies covering a range of disciplines. Project sustainability remains the outstanding issue. The assistance IAV has received from USAID and other major donors over many years has protected it from the dynamics of the environment in which it exists, and in which it must now function independently. To ensure sustainability IAV will have to make several institutional improvements, including curriculum reforms and the development of research and development agendas, administrative functions, management information systems, organizational structures, accountability, leadership, incentives, and strategic planning.