Project assistance completion report : public services improvement project -- grant agreement no. 519-0320

The report covers the period 8/89-3/95 against a PACD of 9/96. The project was a success. The restoration of public services permitted the continuity of utility and transportation services during the war, thereby helping to preserve the national economy and the livelihoods of those in the industrial and commercial sectors and creating an economic climate that attracted foreign investment even before the Peace Accords. The project has rehabilitated 1,200 km of rural roads, a third of them in the ex-conflictive zones, and created access to potable water for 100,00 rural residents (with 171,400 more to be added by the PACD). Latrine research has led to community acceptance and use of latrines; as a result, the Social Investment Fund (FIS, IDB-funded) and others will resume building latrines as part of their water supply and sanitation (WS/S) activities. Women have played a key role in the project"s own WS&S programs. While health impact data are not yet available, mothers feel strongly that their children are getting sick less frequently, indicating the importance of health promotion (and the active involvement of health committees therein) in any rural WS&S program. In terms of employment, the project generated some 18,300 person-years of work directly and 40,000 persons-years indirectly. The following progress towards institution building has been made. (1) Project training, especially in the Management Units, has developed marketable skills, as evidenced by high turnover in some components. (2) TA has strengthened the management capability of the Administration for Machinery and Equipment (AME), established under a previous USAID project, and is now servicing the Roads and Urbanization Directorates of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP). (3) Work done by the Road Rehabilitation Management Unit (MU) has developed valuable managers for the Directorate General of Highways (DGC). A former MU manager, for example, has been made manager of the much larger highway and road program funded by loans from other donors. (4) The Autonomous Port Executive Commission (CEPA) communications with its subsidiary organizations were substantially improved, while computer system expansion has made the Acajutla Port more efficient in managing port operations. (5) The project highlighted the need for change in host government organizations and methodologies in order to ensure the delivery of public services to rural areas and small municipalities. Specific needs are for a national entity to accept the responsibility to support independent municipalities and rural water committees in the development and maintenance of small water systems, and for new funding and management mechanisms to ensure road maintenance and protect the recent investment in road rehabilitation. The following lessons were learned. (1) The more complicated an activity"s implementation arrangements, the more likely the chance for implementation failure. Large and complex projects, especially those with serious implementation problems, require strong management. While special implementing units for projects or activities can aid implementation, they can also impede institutional improvement. (2) PIOs for services or commodities that are critical to implementation should be issued immediately after the Project Agreement is signed. (3) USAID funds and/or influence within a country can be strong enough to persuade a host country agency to undertake an initiative that either it is not equipped to handle or not interested in. (4) A project to maintain basic infrastructure may be critical to the avoidance of economic collapse during civil war. Having such a project in place at the end of the war can also accelerate the implementation of reconstruction interventions. (5) WS&S infrastructure construction projects in rural areas will not have the desired health impact nor be sustainable unless there is organized community participation and meaningful health promotion activities before, during, and after the construction period. Health education is rarely effective unless it is coordinated with continued monitoring and support by local groups, e.g., Water and/or Health Committees, and carried out in cooperation with mothers, lay health promoters, teachers, and other local personnel. (6) The possibility of unauthorized use of project-funded vehicles commonly exists in USAID projects. Commodity end-use rules need to be reexamined and revised so that they are not an encumbrance to implementation. (Author abstract, modified)