Final report : midterm evaluation -- AIFLD - AID cooperative agreement in El Salvador, contract no. 519-0368-C-00-3077-00

Evaluation covers the period through 4/93. In the past AIFLD has seen both radical antiunionists and radical non-democratic unionists as equal threats to the development of a pluralistic society in which democratic unions played an important role. With the end of the civil war, the leftist threat to democratic trade unionism has diminished. While AIFLD had proposed to establish a centralized training facility, lower level training has been carried out by the individual unions and federations, although training content varied little. Inter-organizational political differences appear to be the principal barrier to centralized union-cooperative training. AIFLD's cooperative administration courses have played an important role in helping cooperatives become viable agribusiness operations. AIFLD has provided administrative support for client union federations during the project, the first year with few controls over spending, the second based on real budgets, and the third focused on weaning the union federations from this support and/or assisting organizations in setting up programs to make them self- sufficient. Rural sector agribusiness components involving the sale of fertilizer to member cooperatives and the marketing of sesame have been supported by AIFLD through bank-rate loans to cooperative organizations and should lead one federation to self- sufficiency within the year. Union Nacional de Obreros y Campesino's (UNOC) capabilities (regarding its credibility within the democratic labor's positions on national issues) have been unquestionably strengthened through the project. The key has been the hiring of excellent, dedicated technical people (one economist and two lawyers), who have not only helped to strengthen UNOC as a respected labor organization but who have also played a crucial role in the viability of the Intergremial (under UNOC leadership) and of the Foro (again, under UNOC leadership). However, this team's important role in assisting UNOC in these roles means they have had less time for other tasks also important to UNOC. AIFLD achieved just four of ten new collective bargaining agreements planned, although the construction union agreement covered the largest union in El Salvador. The distrust of unions by the private sector coupled with the focus of unions on political questions hindered the achievement of this objective. AIFLD successfully provided small loans to the rural and urban poor through village banks (rural) and microenterprise programs (urban). AIFLD learned this program from other agencies but now requires no further assistance in running the program. The program is progressing toward self-sufficiency. (Author abstract)