Joint evaluation of OIC Sierra Leone

Special evaluation covers the period 1976-11/80 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with USAID/SL, Government of Sierra Leone (GOSL), and project personnel and with training program graduates and their supervisors. Opportunities Industrialization Centers, Sierra Leone (OIC/SL) has displayed a viable structure and sound operation, but its prospects for achieving financial self-sufficiency appear bleak. Local staff have been trained in OIC philosophy and in instructional techniques and are now capable of carrying out most routine operational tasks, however their managerial and institutional skills need further honing. Due to the enormous financial difficulties which have besieged Sierra Leone, private fundraising has fallen far short of even the revised targets. It appears that the GOSL will have to absorb most expenditures when the project ends. A total of 375 vocational trainees have completed feeder training (vs. a target of 300), and 203 have been placed in jobs (vs. 185 targeted); the former trainees' supervisors confirm that their job performance is satisfactory. Howeve, the project's 5-year placement targets will probably not be met, due to the country's pervasive financial difficulties and a lack of personnel (there is only one job developer, who must serve 12 districts in 3 provinces) and of transportation. Another 222 persons have completed training at OIC/SL's Management and Business Development Center (MBDC); 48 others are still in training. Instead of conducting four 3-month training cycles per year as planned, the MBDC has offered 12-week (34% of enrollments), 8-10 week (52%), and 3-week (14%) training cycles. The MBDC has suffered from personnel turnover and a lack of staff possessing practical experience in business, banking, and commerce. Although the MBDC has made more effort to attract private sector trainees, it is still biased in favor of training public sector personnel. Plans for assisting small entrepreneurs and for helping to develop the small business sector in general have been vague in both strategy and expected output. Ten recommendations to enhance OIC/SL institutionalization and to further strengthen its operational effectiveness are made.