Microenterprise development project (FINCA) : AES for final evaluation

FINCA implemented the project. CAM, with TA from FINCA, has undertaken and planned many actions to improve its operations and achieve sustainability. Although beneficiaries who responded to the evaluation survey were generally positive about the economic impacts of the lending program, the evaluation team was concerned about the lack of graduation and low average loan size. The team made several recommendations for improving the FINCA/CAM microenterprise program, including changes in the techniques of microenterprise lending and in the techniques for improving CAM"s financial sustainability, as well as organizational changes that would strengthen CAM"s operations and interactions with FINCA. Recommendations for USAID emphasized interventions to strengthen CAM through staff training, client training, and skills training for CAM"s General Assembly and Board of Directors. Lessons learned include the following: (1) Expatriate control of a project from a base outside the project country may lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings between local and expatriate project partners. (2) Reliance on an expatriate (U.S.) project team raises project costs and increases the proportion of project costs used for administration. (3) Reliance on or affiliation with an international organization connected with numerous similar credit or savings projects may improve the quality and amount of TA available to a local credit/savings institution. (Author abstract, modified)