REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF THE FOLLOWING SECTIO ON 211(D) GRANTS : U OF HAWAII (AID/CSD-2835), PRAIRE VIEW A&M (CSD-2836), U OF PUERTO RICO (-2857)

THE 2-YEAR GRANTS ARE EXTENSIONS OF EARLIER 5-YEAR 211(D) GRANTS. THEY PROVIDE FOR STATE-OF-THE-ART WORK IN THE AREA OF BIOLOGICAL NITROGEN FIXATION AS WELL AS OTHER ASPECTS OF TROPICAL SOILS. THE 5 UNIVERSITIES ARE: PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY (9310126), CORNELL UNIVERSITY (9310127), UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO (9310128), THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII (9310129), AND NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY (9310130). DUE TO DELAYS IN USAID FUNDING, WORK PLANS ARE SEVERAL MONTHS BEHIND SCHEDULE. EVALUATORS RECOMMEND EXTENDING THE GRANTS FOR UP TO ONE YEAR TO ALLOW FOR COMPLETION OF WORK. THE ADDITION OF EXPLICIT WORK PLANS AND THE USE OF THE LOGFRAME HAS HELPED CONSIDERABLY IN GUIDING PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION. THE USAID GRANTS HAVE INDEED BUILT UP A RESPONSE CAPABILITY WITHIN THE UNIVERSITIES. LDC UTILIZATION OF THIS CAPABILITY, HOWEVER, HAS GENERALLY NOT PROCEEDED AS WELL. THE ABILITY TO ESTIMATE LDC DEMANDS REALISTICALLY IS THE WEAKEST LINK IN THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING UNIVERSITY RESOURCES TO FILL INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS. ACCORDINGLY, USAID SHOULD IN THE FUTURE TAKE SERIOUSLY ONLY THOSE TROPICAL SOILS PROPOSALS WHICH PROMISE TO ACHIEVE THE FOLLOWING: (1) AN ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTIVE LDC DEMAND FOR THE ACCUMULATED CAPACITY OF THE GRANTEE INSTITUTIONS; AND ( ) A DESIGN FOR EFFECTIVE TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY WHICH WILL STRENGTHEN LDC NATIONAL SYSTEMS FOR CARRYING OUT RESOURCE INVENTORIES, SOIL SURVEYS, TAXONOMY, SOIL CLASSIFICATION, AND EFFECTIVE SOIL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS. USAID MIGHT ALSO IMPROVE UTILIZATION BY ADOPTING A TOTAL SYSTEMS APPROACH. THIS WOULD REQUIRE AN ACTIVE SEARCH BY AID FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO FIT A UNIVERSITY'S FINDINGS INTO AN ON-GOING OR PLANNED PROJECT, OR TO HAVE THE UNIVERSITY INTERPRET THE RESULTS OF ITS ACTIVITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF SPECIFIC FUTURE PROJECTS.