Project activity completion report for ONAPLAN trust fund local currency project, AID project number 999-0001

to establish a local currency trust fund for the Dominican Republic's Oficina Nacional de Planificacion (ONAPLAN) to cover the agency's administrative and operating costs and increase its capacity to implement foreign-funded development activities. The project enabled ONAPLAN to procure computer equipment and software and to send a staff member to English-language training. It also allowed A.I.D. the opportunity to provide input to and review ONAPLAN's contracts for A.I.D.'s own programs and activities. However, the project does not seem to have in any way strengthened ONAPLAN's ability to design, execute, supervise, and evaluate projects financed by international agencies and foreign governments -- which was its main purpose. The project underscores the dilemma faced by A.I.D. as it attempts to support institutional development. Trust funds such as this one, while intended to strengthen the host country institution, actually place an added management burden on the Mission and constrain the institution's independence.