Overseas Education Fund (OEF) specific support grant (DPG)

DPG designed to enable OEF to acquire expertise to plan, dvlp, & eval an expanded cross cultural program directed to selected needs of LDC poor, in particular, poor women. PES evaluates initial 2 yrs of 3-yr DPG; is based on 1977 OEF annual report and AID/OEF discussions. OEF"s Office of Planning & Programming (OPP) has been instrumental in dvlp of 2 AID projs, in rural Thailand & in San Jose, Costa Rica, both seeking to achieve DPG logframe goal of enhancement of role of poor women in dec-making process of their respective societies. Awaiting AID approval are projs for Ecuador & Thailand, and worldwide consulting services proj on needs/rights of women. OEF personnel initiated numerous contacts with multi-national, governmental, private voluntary, local community, & business orgs in course of investigating proj formulation & funding possibilities. OEF sponsored: trng workshops for OEF staff/volunteers on fund-raising, time mgmt, goal setting & program planning/eval; an Asian Women"s Speaker"s Tour in the US; formation of a Coalition on the Role of Women in Intl Dvlp that now has 65 affiliated institutions. OEF staff/volunteers received trng from outside sources on design & eval, non-formal educ & rural dvlp, leadership & org dvlp, writing & communications tech, & proj proposal writing. OEF has successfully developed a proj proposal review & approval process as well as a system for selecting countries for potential proj investigation. A mgmt & operations eval system is currently being designed & should be tested during grant"s final 6 months. Despite its efforts, OEF has been unable to attract a sufficient amount of alternative funding. Funding sources appear to be less willing to cover proj planning & dvlp costs & general admin expenses than proj operational costs. It appears likely that AID support must be continued if OEF"s OPP is to be maintained. PES directs the dvlp of an AID proposal for continued support; also directs OEF to continue to pursue alternative funding.