Support to regional organizations II

A.I.D."s regional administration office will implement the project; subprojects (SP"s) will be managed at the field level under a central manager. A baseline study in the project"s first year will: (1) identify key African problems susceptible to regional solutions; (2) classify existing RO"s and their possible roles in regional problemsolving; (3) provide data on these RO"s in terms of their origins, functions, results achieved, sources of financial support and financial shortfalls, and modes of operation; (4) inventory regional infrastructure; (5) identify significant efforts in intergovernmental coordination, networking, cooperation, or economic integration; (6) develop an RO support strategy, including a model to define objectives, roles of donors, indicators for measuring progress, and standardized evaluation procedures; and (7) design a flexible and self-adjusting methodology to coordinate A.I.D."s assistance with that of other donors. The project will establish a management system to strengthen SP selection and implementation. Like its predecessor, the project is an umbrella project, with all funding, outside of the baseline study and evaluations, directed toward SP"s, each of which will be designed, according to the logframe schema, to support an RO. In general, through the SP"s, A.I.D. will provide training, TA, technical studies, commodities, and conferences/seminars to strengthen RO institutional capacities to carry out their general mandates or to implement specific action programs. Candidate RO"s will generally be those which: focus on regional socioeconomic development in a way consistent with A.I.D. strategy; are financially viable; operate under a mandate not duplicated by another RO; and have a sound management record, a qualified core staff, adequate absorption capacity, and an acceptable internal assessment process. Potential candidates include financial and training institutions, economic communities, and resource-oriented institutions.