Mid-term evaluation : Sahel regional financial management project (625-0950)

projects. Special evaluation covers the period 8/82-9/84 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with involved officials. Overall, results are positive. Through workshops, on-the-job training, preparation of accounting manuals, etc., the project has strengthened the financial management capabilities of Sahelian personnel involved in A.I.D. projects and of many Mission project officers (although much remains to be done). The project has also has recently begun to address the broader need of upgrading host country financial management per se. Institutionalization efforts have had mixed success, ranging from The Gambia, where the project team has been integrated into a government entity due to strong government and USAID support for such a move, to Mali, where a likely entity is yet to be identified. Given the weak nature of Sahelian institutions, any institutionalization must be slow. The decision to use both a PASA with USDA and a cooperative agreement with Virginia Polytechnic Institute created a top-heavy bureaucracy which has only recently begun working together well. In the field, working relations have not always been smooth (e.g., Niger), but have varied according to the relationships among USAID"s, project headquarters and field personnel, and host country ministries. Other weaknesses have included: (1) dilution of project team resources in Senegal by assignment of additional responsibilities in Mauritania, Cape Verde, and The Gambia; (2) an impractical management information system; (3) insufficient coordination of some activities (e.g., 3 of the 5 countries visited had independently developed basically similar accounting manuals); (4) weak file and documentation management practices in all countries except Niger; (5) ineffective use of short-term consultants; and (6) inadequate preparation of team leaders for country assignments. It is recommended, inter alia, that a regional approach be maintained, even if some bilateral projects are enacted by individual USAID"s, that training in financial management of P.L. 480 and ESF counterpart funds be considered, and that the project be extended 2-3 years.