Institute for Liberty and Democracy : assessment report for the first year of the cooperative agreement with the US Agency for International Development -- final report

The evaluation covers the period 2/89-3/90. This first year of the project has been a successful one. The ILD has made remarkable progress in moving beyond its impressive achievements in research, advocacy, and the drafting of laws to direct involvement in implementing proposed reforms; the Cooperative Agreement should be modified to reflect this important evolution, which will also require ILD to reallocate its resources between research and implementation activities. In regard to outreach, ILD has successfully launched a training program for international visitors, signed agreements for technical cooperation with three governments (Sri Lanka, Bolivia, and El Salvador), and opened an office in the United States. Internally, ILD has taken concrete and productive steps to improve its financial management, planning, and reporting capacities, and has fine-tuned its research activities very effectively. It has also made progress in disaggregating and analyzing data to examine the role of women in the informal sector. While financial reporting and accounting systems require some additional improvements, the Institute has already taken some significant steps in that direction through its selection of new, highly qualified financial management personnel, and through progress in the design of a new accounting system. Organizationally, ILD has grown substantially over the last year in terms of budget, size of staff, and the complexity of its research and implementation activities. This has put some strain on top management, which is now responsible for supervising six major research circles, a national promotion and information dissemination program, a fundraising/fund diversification program, and general administration and financial reporting activities. It is recommended that ILD adopt an organizational division into national and international programs, each with its own manager. A formal personnel policy is also urged. In view of the increasingly complex and evolving nature of the ILD program and its global importance as a laboratory for A.I.D.'s development assistance agenda, it is recommended that USAID/Peru assign a full-time project advisor/coordinator to this project.