Mali rural works project

Special PES covers the period 9/78-9/80 and is based on document review, and interviews with project personnel. Because of the GRM"s failure to support the project, poor project implementation, and faulty project design, the project failed to achieve its purpose and was terminated after 2 years. Although a national coordinating office and two of four proposed regional offices were established, there was little local outreach. As a result, villagers viewed the GRM as insensitive; communication, supervision, inter-agency coordination, and commodity transport were impeded; and sub-project (SP) implementation was delayed -- by 5/80 only 3 of the 12 planned SP"s were complete, but a final push following the decision to terminate the project resulted in the completion of 15 more. The SP"s (13 of which are wells) will, however, eventually benefit 30,000; the Tele Dike SP alone will serve 15,000 people. Advisors and GRM personnel were poorly trained and oriented, turnover was high, and two advisors resigned due to frustration in dealing with GRM personnel. Also, A.I.D. successively used four different project managers and assigned only two rural development workers to identify, design, and implement projects in each area. Many assumptions--timely provision of inputs, the need to motivate villagers rather than achieve RD, favorable local sociopolitical conditions, adequate GRM manpower, and a strong GRM commitment to local participation in RD--proved faulty. Lessons learned include: (1) Do not spread resources and personnel too thinly. (2) Decentralized project management requires skilled and motivated personnel and is difficult in a highly centralized country. (3) The Host Country Contract is an inappropriate tool in this type of project. (4) Coordination between beneficiaries and local officials is essential if conflict is to be avoided in RD projects. (5) Communities do have a degree of organization and structure and are not ignorant of their RD needs. (6) Projects must be designed with a clear picture of what is feasible given existing national and local sociopolitical and administrative structures.