SAED training project evaluation report

Special joint evaluation covers the period 10/80-7/82 and is based in part on site visits. Progress has been very limited. The only training provided has been a few short courses which were been organized by ORT (the contractor, acronym not identified) and provided by equipment suppliers. Good farm equipment has been procured and most arrived early or on time, the beginnings of a supply management system are visible, a few perimeter workshops have been reorganized, and there is one counterpart who has a good relationship with an ORT technician. Outweighing these modest accomplishments are a multiplicity of deficiencies. So little training has been provided because SAED changed the job descriptions of the ORT technicians, assigning them production rather than training roles. SAED also failed to provide the counterparts, training facilities, training coordinator, and support personnel it had agreed to furnish. ORT, for its part, failed to take initiative in developing personal and professional relationships with those counterparts who were available. When, in 6/81, SAED was persuaded to emphasize training over production, ORT produced an unsatisfactory training plan. The project has also suffered from: SAED's informal and inconsistent management style; ORT's failure to provide orientation for its personnel and to produce timely workplans, training plans, budgets, and quarterly reports; the joint decision to send ORT personnel to Senegal before housing was available at the project site; construction delays; and a decision to relocate the central repair base. The results have been frustration, demoralization, lack of mutual respect between Senegalese and ORT staff, confusion as to the relative priorities of various tasks and objectives, excessive preoccupation with the housing issue, and minimal transfer of knowlege and skills to the Senegalese. No overseas training has been provided. Key recommendations are to place ORT personnel in greater proximity to their work and to assign counterparts able to devote most of their time to project tasks.