Final report : mid-term evaluation of the education and human resources technical support project (EHRTS)

Mid-term evaluation covers the period 1989-5/93. The EHRTS project is making a critical contribution to the LAC Bureau and Missions, its design evolving to support changing A.I.D. and national agendas without weakening the original intent. To date, the project has: (1) published comprehensive reviews of experience and practical applications for project design, implementation, and evaluation in the areas of basic education and vocational and participant training; (2) negotiated and managed 69 technical service orders (TSOs), 34 of which are buy-ins from 12 Missions; (3) participated in the formulation of a new LAC/DR/EHR vision focusing on education as an investment in human resources with an economic, political, and social impact (in contrast to A.I.D.'s previous focus on the internal efficiency of teacher training, textbook provision, and school construction activities) and used a core group of consultants to transform this vision into concrete activities; (4) developed an educational policy reform agenda, along with tools for generating national dialogue and championing support among local groups; and (5) disseminated to A.I.D. Missions publications and information packages on current educational topics, and commissioned state-of-the-art papers under the title "Advocacy Series." The following lessons have been learned. (1) The goal, purpose, and objectively verifiable indicators in the logframe bear no relation to the project as implemented. Identifying different and more appropriate indicators has been a difficult task. Indicators need to be easy to track, realistic, and related to project interventions. (2) Working through numerous TSOs for project implementation is not only tedious, but a tremendous management burden. In addition, the Contract Office's prohibition on using subcontractors outside the original consortium has made it difficult to fill positions with the most qualified candidates. Different contracting mechanisms need to be explored. (3) The RSSA with the Department of Labor, while an important resource to LAC/DR/EHR and field Missions, is of less direct value to the EHRTS project and the broadness of the RSSA's scope of work may preclude its complete integration into EHRTS. Nonetheless, it is important to capture RSSA experience and incorporate it into the cross-fertilization mandate of EHRTS. (4) The important task of writing, publishing, and disseminating documents has experienced lengthy delays. Most Missions would like more documents to share with host country counterparts, as well as more conference. (5) The restriction on operating expense (OE) travel monies has constrained the project, precluding important marketing efforts needed at the beginning of the project and allowing only one educational officers' conference to take place. For more extensive cross-fertilization to take place, Mission and host country personnel need fora in which to exchange experiences and lessons learned.