Vanuatu plantation (farm) management training/rural development project, grant # 879-0251-G-00-1002-00 : project evaluation report

(IHAP) to establish an indigenous plantation management training center and to support rural self-help and women in development (WID) subprojects (SP"s) in Vanuatu. Mid-term Mission evaluation covers the period 6/81-10/84 and is based in part on interviews. IHAP has effectively met project targets, although problems in hiring and fielding a trilingual advisor delayed implementation for 6 months. IHAP has successfully played a catalytic role, and through its Vanuatu and New York offices has established good working relations with governmental and nongovernmental agencies (especially the Canadian University Service Overseas). Some 95% of construction on the Plantation Management Training Center (PMTC) was completed within 10 months after the advisor arrived in 1/82, and a comprehensive, skills-oriented curriculum was prepared for the PMTC, which trained its first class of 17 students between 11/82 and 8/83; a second class of 19 entered in 6/84. As a result of PMTC development, a cooperative-type Plantation Support Association representing Vanuatu"s major plantation islands has been established through another OPG. The project has also provided commodities to 13 small rural community development SP"s and to 22 WID SP"s as well as grant assistance to the Nasonal Komuniti Development Trust (NKDT) to supplement its small-loan revolving fund. While the small, village-level SP"s have had a definite beneficial effect, the result has also been a package of micro, narrow, dispersed, and costly interventions. Lastly, with funding drawn from the three planned components, a pilot component was added in 1/84 to train village entrepreneurs in assessing the profitability of their enterprises; expatriate consultants and five indigenous trainers carried out a training program on a rural island, and 53 small businesses have been serviced. It is recommended that the project be extended to 4/85 to complete remaining activities. Formulation of a new OPG should consider: extending support for the PMTC for 2 years, especially to upgrade staff; implementing future pilot activities through indigenous organizations from the start; favoring large over small SP"s; and increasing grant support to the NKDT.