Mid-term evaluation report of activities under cooperative agreement (OTR-0158-A-00-8155-00) with Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)

The evaluation covers the period through 3/90. VITA has cultivated a client base that is willing and anxious to utilize its services and information and has made progress in each area of grant activity. Progress has been uneven, however. VITA has fulfilled grant objectives for its Technical Information Service, its original mission and the most advanced component of its organizational network. Other targets have not been met, however. target -- the first due to faulty assumptions regarding the ability of trainees to attend training sessions and of local organizations to arrange for in-country programs; the second due to FVA/PVC's refusal to allow VITA to use federal monies to meet its matching grant obligations, and the withdrawal of public and private support. Provision of information network support has been hindered by technical factors beyond VITA's control. A more general problem is posed by VITA's poor documentation, monitoring, and management of specific grant-related activities. This stems largely from VITA's expansion from a small PVO dedicated solely to providing information services into an increasingly complex organization and information newtwork. VITA seems not to have noticed this evolution. There is no one at VITA headquarters whose sole responsibility is grant oversight. Instead, VITA's executive director and a program officer have lumped grant management along with their other responsibilities. Management confusion is evident in that several VITA managers were unable to distinguish their grant activities from other activities. It is recommended that VITA: (1) concentrate its training activities in three countries (including Kenya), integrate its courses into ongoing in-country programs, and develop a remedial course for beginners and information specialists who lack immediate access to microcomputers; (2) pay less attention to the number of in-country programs and more to grant management needs, local institutional growth, and the possibility of including other VITA African country programs (e.g., those in Chad, Djibouti, and the Central African Republic) as part of the VITA's contribution to the matching grant; and (3) seek a no-cost extension to allow time for achieving the original targets for ground stations and information centers.