Mid-term evaluation of the microenterprise development program participating agency service agreement (MEDP PASA)

Midterm evaluation of the program, which is funded under projects 9311090 and 9365448, covers the period 1990-92. The PASA has spurred tremendous growth in the Peace Corps' Small Business Development (SBD) Sector (division), enabling it to: (1) increase its funding base by 200%, from $760,000 in FY 1991 to $2,225,500 in FY 1993; (2) launch activities in 23 new countries, raising the total number of countries being served to 28; (3) increase the number of SBD volunteers by 66%, from 279 in FY 1990 to 424 in FY 1992; and (4) provide training and networking opportunities to 6,550 host country nationals, 2,237 Peace Corps volunteers and trainees, and 206 Peace Corps staff. The Sector has an outstanding record of punctual response to field requests, groundbreaking word in monitoring and evaluation, and staff dedication. The program has demonstrated the impact that small amounts of money can have when used for innovative activities. Although even traditional in-service training has affected program and project development (Mali), innovative training activities which either brought people of different interests together (Uruguay) or focused on meeting specific host country needs (Poland) have had the greatest impact in-country and have most closely matched the program's sector and institution-building objectives. In the previous PASA (1988-90) and early in the present PASA, an A.I.D. project officer and a presidential management intern served as effective links between A.I.D. and the Peace Corps. Now, however, cooperation and collaboration between A.I.D. and the Peace Corps in Washington appear to be at an all time low, in part due to the project officer turnover and a failure to address the program's information development and dissemination objectives. The rapid growth of the Peace Corps' SBD Sector and the subsequent increase in level of requests for assistance, along with the increased workload placed on SBD staff have prevented the SBD from completing an analysis of lessons learned.