REDSO/WCA project assistance completion report for Mauritania human resources development (682-0233)

The project achieved most of its planned outputs, providing training in four targeted areas: agriculture and rural development; fisheries; food procurement, importing, and distribution; and human resource planning. More than 40 persons attended U.S. universities, almost 200 were trained in Senegal, Tunisia, Mali, or Morocco, and over 400 professionals participated in in-country seminars. Agriculture was a major emphasis, accounting for 20 of the U.S. slots, several third-country slots, refresher courses for extension agents, and seminars on planning, production techniques, and policy. The seminars emphasized U.S. management techniques, and used a participatory approach. One seminar spurred dialogue between the public and private sectors, which had previously been suspicious of one another regarding regulation and privatization, and another elicited requests for follow-up workshops. U.S., third-country, and on-the-job fisheries training helped Mauritania regain control of its most important foreign exchange source by developing qualified indigenous workers to replace the South Korean nationals who had constituted most ships' crews. U.S. training in artisanal fisheries management was also provided. The food procurement component included third-country B.S. and M.S. business management training for officials of parastatals and private enterprises, seminars for public and private officials, and in-country training for clerical workers. This training aimed at improving the marketing and distribution of agricultural and fisheries products. Mauritania's capacity for human resource planning was improved through long-term training of government employees in planning, labor and employment analysis, and educational statistics; short-term computer and financial management training; and seminars for public officials. The project made a strong effort to reach the private sector in what is traditionally a donor-to-government type project: 28.5% of training funds were used for the private sector (vs. a targeted 20%). Less positively, none of the long-term U.S. trainees and only 5 of the third-country participants were women. The project's relation with the Directorate of Plan was hindered by the fact that the Directorate was understaffed, and those employed were not qualified to expedite project matters. No Directorate employee was designated as a counterpart. Most damaging was the high turn-over of directors -- four during the project period. Long-term project impacts could be affected by the intercommunal disturbances of Spring 1989, which resulted in random expulsion of Mauritanian nationals of black African origin, including five former participants who occupied important positions in ministries and parastatal organizations. The following lessons were learned. (1) Mauritanian officials often pressured the participant selection committee to choose family members or friends, a culturally acceptable practice in the country, and one that is difficult to expose. Development of a strict selection process could minimize favoritism. (2) The project was overly optimistic; the immensity of the human resources development problem in Mauritania (only 17% of the country's male working-age population was considered literate at project inception, and only 65% of these had completed primary school) required a long-term approach. This lack of qualified participants caused the project to implement training on a more primary level than anticipated.