Integrated area development studies

PES covers the period 1-12/82 and is based on an attached special evaluation (XD-AAN-088-A). Major objectives of the project, which was terminated 12/31/82, were not achieved. While the implementing agency, the National Economic Planning Council (NEPC), completed two studies - one defining the rural/urban hierarchy and investigating its infrastructure and resources, the other inventorying natural resources and determining rural/urban economic potentials - sample and survey techniques violated accepted scientific canons, resulting in sample biases and nonsample errors. Data obtained are thus of questionable validity and reliability and GOG agencies have shown little interest in using them. Research problems were due to insufficient definition of the variables for which data were collected; to alleviate this problem, future projects should concentrate on developing table formats, map layouts, and specific analytical needs prior to questionnaire development. Other problems hindering project implementation included the failure to provide timely, high-quality TA, lack of an in-country data processing capability, uncoordinated GOG inputs, and political turmoil. As a consequence of the latter, the staff of the NEPC was reduced from 350 to 70, and the 5-year plan for which the project was to provide data was shelved indefinitely. Finally, limited participation of GOG agencies at the design stage resulted in the failure to integrate into the project relevant statistical work conducted at the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Institute of Municipal Development. Before project data are utilized, it is recommended that: datasets be compared; the NEPC prepare a user"s guide for Studies I-III and Activity I; and the raw data from Study I be properly weighted. It is also recommended that further assistance to NEPC in creating a data bank focus on systems analysis.