Project assistance completion report : Caribbean and Latin American scholarship program (CLASP) [including LAC training initiatives II and the Presidential training initiative for the island Caribbean]

Under the Latin American and Caribbean Training Initiatives II (LAC II) Program, 5 persons received scholarships, 2 for undergraduate degrees and 3 for graduate degrees, and 101 received short-term technical training. The Presidential Training Initiative for the Island Caribbean (PTIIC) Program trained 731 persons (including 339 women) against a target of 622. This included: long-term training for 225 persons, including 87 women, short-term technical training for 242 persons, and specialized teacher training for 264 teachers. All minimum target areas established by A.I.D./W were exceeded. The training covered such areas as agriculture, business, economics, education, public administration, agribusiness management, entrepreneurial management, hospitality education, farm management, women in development, democratization and leadership, and public budgeting and financial management. Lessons learned are as follows. (1) Beneficiaries should be involved in project design. PTIIC contained very stringent selection criteria which were not discussed with host countries; also, host countries were opposed to the specific targets established by A.I.D./W regarding percentage of women trainees, placements at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, etc. Although creative programming and sensitivity by the Mission made the program a success, participation by host governments would have made it much more successful. (2) Cost containment can be achieved, as it was in PTIIC, through careful selection, screening, and monitoring of trainees and through negotiation with training institutions. (3) It is better to avoid buy-ins to central contracts where the Mission has no control. In PTIIC, which was implemented through a buy-in to A.I.D./W's main contract with the Small Business Administration, RDO/C was charged overhead for both the prime contractor and the subcontractor; all told, administrative costs amounted to 28% of the $4 million expended by RDO/C. RDO/C also found it extremely difficult, at times impossible, to obtain information on trainees from the subcontractor, who insisted they had no contractual obligation to RDO/C.