POPULATION TRAINING SERVICES

Evaluation covers the period 4/72-11/78 and reviews an American Public Health Association evaluation which included review of project documents and interviews with project and other Latin American FP personnel. The project provided short-term training in the United States, in-country training (mainly for paramedics), and academic training in the United States and Puerto Rico for physicians and educators. Some 2,847 medical and paramedical personnel (3,188 were planned) and 3,428 educational trainers (1,864 were planned) were trained and in turn trained or assisted 1 million others (100,000 were planned). Other outputs included an increase in FP personnel in rural clinics (641 trained), new FP administrators (1,154 trained), and paramedical personnel trained by indigenous professionals (1,163 trained). An unexpected benefit was an improvement in womens" status through the training of a primarily female workforce. Although evaluation has been difficult due to the imprecision of the project paper"s categorization of trainee types, the project has generally succeeded in bringing FP knowledge and practices where none previously existed. The success of the contractor, Development Associates Incorporated, was due to its versatility in shifting program emphasis from a broad-based strategy to country-specific programs, as well as to its sound managerial and business skills, responsiveness to needs in the field, and ability to relate well with Latin American personnel at all levels. In future contracts of this type, AID/W internal approval procedures should be limited to the program monitor and Contracting Officer and contract terms should remain flexible regarding training location and focus and type of trainee. Future contractors should be judged in terms of demonstrated expertise in management, training and curriculum development, and language competency. To avoid a hiatus in training while a new project is being developed, the existing contract should be extended to 9/79.