Project completion report [: Inter-Agency Resident Mission (IARM)]

The project made a strong contribution to developing effective indigenous analytical and planning capacity, but its sustainability without direct external support is questionable. During the first phase of the project (8/82-12/86), RDO/C met its project obligations via a grant to the UN Development Program (UNDP) to provide short-term TA in support of the resident mission. In Phase II, A.I.D. assistance was extended in order to transfer project functions to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States/Economic Affairs Secretariat (OECS/EAS) and other regional institutions, specifically, by providing the EAS with funds to hire a macroeconomic advisor and a counterpart, provide secretarial support to the advisor, and carry out short-term studies and other TA activities. After a year of vacillation, the EAS hired a macroeconomic advisor in 6/87 for a 2-year contract. However, by this time the EAS director had taken another position. During the prolonged period before a replacement was identified, the EAS drifted and the economic advisor left after only one year. As a result, RDO/C advanced the PACD 4 months and deobligated the $173,000 remaining in the project. Project experience underscores the critical importance of effective and positive EAS leadership and management in order to avoid wasting expensive and scarce technical talent. It also underscores the potential for drift and atrophy in key regional development organizations when narrower political concerns are allowed to weigh too heavily in determining the direction and staffing of such organizations.