RURAL SERVICE CENTER PROJECT

A total of 15 cities will be selected for assistance. At the end of the project, each rural service enter will have trained and in place a professional development staff which will coordinate planning activities of the city government and serve in an advisory capacity to the City Development Council and the Mayor. These staffs will be trained by the GOP Provincial Development Assistance Project (PDAP), along with USAID assistance, and will employ methodologies used and developed by PDAP/USAID in the PDAP provincial program. Each city will adopt a social action plan, which will be a plan of development projects for the poor, and mechanisms for periodic revision of this plan. These will be incorporated into the cities" capital improvement programs. To upgrade staff capabilities, USAID will provide both technical advisors and participant training. Short term U.S. observation tours (60 days) will be offered to various city officials and technicians. This training will stress interrelationships between national agencies and local governments. Equipment pools will also be established or improved in each of the 15 rural service centers. Beneficiaries of this project will include the 922 people who will be employed to serve 13,416 families. Project Paper Amendment No. 7 of 7/28/83 extends the project 2 years to 6/85 and funds additional TA to: (1) refine rural service center systems in the 22 pilot cities and expand them to additional chartered cities, provincial capitals, and other municipalities; (2) strengthen the administrative structure of the Ministry of Local Government, the implementing agency, at the central and regional levels; and (3) explore alternative means of mobilizing nongovernmental resources in support of income-generating subprojects. (PD-AAR-111)