Mid-term evaluation : USAID/Opportunity International matching grant (cooperative agreement no. FAO-0158-A-00-3072-00) -- final report

The grant will be used to accelerate the pace of OI's agency creation and expansion model by linking local NGOs and their beneficiaries to the formal sector and by leveraging market-based funding. Midterm evaluation covers the period 9/93-3/97. Progress toward meeting the three objectives of the Cooperative Agreement are as follows. OI has been very successful toward the fulfillment of Objective #1; it has used the money from the matching grant to form new partner agencies in South Africa, Bulgaria, and Ghana, and to obtain grant and soft loan money from other sources to leverage the PVC grant funds with funds from other sources. Regarding objective #2 -- to link existing strong partners (in Indonesia, the Philippines and Zimbabwe) to the formal sector for access to market-based funding -- OI has had less success, although some substantive movement has been made. OI has achieved Objective #3, by substantially strengthening the international mechanisms for cross-fertilization and support for its 49 partners in order to accelerate the learning curve for national impact programs and to increase partners' capacities to respond to natural disasters through business rehabilitation loans for microenterprises. The progress made in achieving the three grant objectives demonstrates that OI is well on its way to achieving the purpose of the USAID matching grant. It has clearly accelerated its agency creation and expansion through the use of grant funds, although it still has a long way to go toward developing a link with the formal sector.