Midterm evaluation : PAC II training in the Near East/North Africa region, Ronco Consulting Corporation (Family planning training for paramedical/auxiliary/community personnel)

It reviews progress made by the contractor, RONCO Consulting Corporation, in achieving project goals in the Near East and North Africa between 1984 and 1987. PAC II"s main purpose is to increase the capability of LDC institutions (both in- country and regional) to train PAC workers to provide family planning services. RONCO has been operating in a region where wide differences in attitudes toward family planning, and extreme cultural and developmental variations among the countries, have made the job of training family planning workers very difficult. Compounded by RONCO"s own inexperience as a training contractor, these problems have resulted in a considerable shortfall in the number of trainees who should have been trained at the time of the evaluation. RONCO"s main achievements were seen to be limited to promoting its goals among training team members and government officials. From a practical standpoint, however, although trainers trained by RONCO were enthusiastic about the participatory methods they were being taught, they were judged to need more support and follow-up when they began to operate on their own. For a number of reasons beyond RONCO"s control (primarily lack of government interest), little had been accomplished in the area of pre-service clinical skills training. Principal recommendations called for a number of major personnel and organizational changes, as well as a concerted effort to plan future activities using measurable objectives. For the remainder of the project period, it was recommended that RONCO limit its activities to four countries - Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Turkey. (Author abstract, derived from PN-ABB-465, p.63)