Project assistance completion report (PACR) : development support training (391-0474)

During Phase II, which began in 6/90, the project focused on the fields of health and education and on the private sector. The project, one of the largest human resources development programs ever undertaken by USAID, substantially enriched Pakistan's professional capabilities in both the public and private sectors, and provided Pakistanis a unique opportunity for U.S. and third country academic and technical training in agriculture, public health, education, energy, engineering and other technical fields. In the project's largest component, 6,479 persons received overseas degree (1,205) and non-degree (5,274) training under the Thomas Jefferson Scholarship Program. Due to curtailment of activities stemming from the Gulf War and the Pressler Amendment, this represented a 40% shortfall from the 1988 target of 10,850. Under the program, the target of 10% female participants (17% from the private sector) was achieved, with 136 women earning higher degrees; the overwhelming majority of trainees voiced satisfaction with their training; and 94% of trainees have returned to Pakistan. The project also: (1) created a Center for Intensive English Language Training and an institutional TOEFL program aimed at screening potential USAID participants; (2) upgraded branches of two national public sector training institutions (the National Institute of Public Administration and the Pakistan Institute of Management) and constructed a campus for the Lahore University of Management Sciences; and (3) provided in-country management training to 2,072 vs. a target of 1,600. Lessons learned are as follows. (1) The project became too diverse. When the emphasis changed from in-country management training and institutional strengthening to participant training, the systems in place were not adequate to accommodate the change. (2) The Academy for Educational Development (AED) contract was a management nightmare, mostly as a result of having been negotiated to emphasize a different set of tasks than the one the contractor was ultimately expected to perform. When the project was designed, only 228 participant trainees were targeted; it was impossible to foresee that AED would be processing more than 6,000 participants from 22 projects. (3) Requiring prospective participants to reach qualifying TOEFL levels prior to nomination would have lowered the pre-qualification attrition rate (which reached 36%) and resulted in more rapid implementation of training and fuller use of training opportunities. (4) In a large participant training program such as this, a user-friendly database integrated into the daily work of program administrators is an essential tool for monitoring work progress and accurately reporting training achievements. (5) A participant training program is labor-intensive. Adequate and wise staffing is important to achieve the most successful individual training experiences and to accomplish the most from the overall training program. (6) To realize the goal of using participant training to build agents of change, the project implementing team has recommended: making demonstrated commitment to change on the part of the sponsoring institution a condition for nominating participants; requiring management courses for participants in non-management fields and computer training for all participants; using special arrangements and quotas to offset bureaucratic obstacles to women's participation in international training; and supporting same-country participant networking during training as a way of strengthening national ties.