PVO development partners

and indigenous PVO"s and to local groups involved in development activities in Somalia. Evaluation covers the period FY85-3/89. The project has not achieved its goals, especially with respect to providing OPG"s and CAG"s and registering and funding Somali PVO"s. To date, only 5 of a targeted 12-15 OPG"s have been awarded, and 4 of these were to U.S. PVO"s. Moreover, instead of awarding the majority of OPG"s in amounts under $1 million, all of the U.S. PVO"s received sums in the $2-$4 million range. Two of the projects (sponsored by AMREF and CARE/Somalia) appear to be doing well, while the other three (Africare, OEF, and Haqabtir, the Somali PVO) have been delayed by various problems, including the logistics of operating in remote areas, macroeconomic conditions, and national security issues. Further, none of the 25 anticipated CAG"s have been awarded to date due to a lack of required management expertise among Somali PVO"s and local groups. Only one U.S. PVO has expressed interest in entering a partnership with a Somali PVO to manage a CAG, and none have shown interest in sponsoring a CAG. (Since the evaluation, two Somali PVO"s have begun the registration process and one has applied for a CAG.) During project implementation, the concept of the project Monitoring Unit for Support and Training (MUST) as an independent entity was changed by a decision to hire MUST staff through the Ministry of Interior (MOI). This has led to disagreements between the two parties and difficulty in maintaining sufficient qualified Somali staff due to the low levels of government salaries. While the evaluation made recommendations for strengthening the MUST, USAID/S believes that assistance to Somali PVO"s would be more effectively provided via a direct A.I.D. contract, with MUST serving as project management unit for the MOI. Nonetheless, MUST has functioned well as a secretariat to the proposal review group and has made a good start in training Somali PVO"s. Project experience indicates that meeting A.ID. registration requirements was much more difficult for Somali PVO"s than anticipated. A mechanism should have been included in the project for provision of small grants and assistance on financial accountability by an umbrella organization. (An action decision is made to establish such an umbrella agency.)