USAID PROJECT EVALUATION REPORT : small-scale INDUSTRY GRANT PROJECT NO. 931-0990 - KOREA AND THE PHILIPPINES

Evaluation covers the life of the project, 1/74-1/79, and is based on visits by the AID project manager and a private small industry expert to the Korean and Philippine subprojects and on a review of documents prepared by project universities, especially the final report of the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), "Stimulating the Growth of Small-Scale Industry." The funds provided by the AID counterpart grants to LDC universities were augmented by in-kind and monetary contributions by the respective host country agencies. These joint resources provided for technical management assistance; appropriate technology; education and training; data collection, research, publications, and information exchange; organization linkages; and audiovisual documentation. The evaluators found that job opportunities were created through the project, although they rejected the document estimates, as these neither included indirect employment generated nor adequately accounted for factors external to the project which may have stimulated employment. The progress reflected in most of the firms visited suggested that the assisted firms did improve their viability, but that the degree to which this can be attributed to project elements is uncertain. Promotion of the extension service potentials among appropriate government agencies was found to be deficient in both countries visited. Thirdly, although the project was apparently successful in introducing the counterpart universities to small firm extension functions, the level of funding did not allow the development of self-sufficient LDC extension capabilities. Also, while some alternate methodologies for strengthening counterpart agencies were field tested, little analysis was provided in the program documents to adequately evaluate their success or failure. Finally, a long-term linkage is definitely necessary between counterpart institutions for the success of this type of program. This report is appended to the Project Evaluation Summary of 6/9/80 (PD-AAH-297-A1).