Evaluation of the USAID-Kosovo SME and Agriculture - Economic ...

Development Associates, Inc.rehabilitation programs use labor-intensive manual labor—roadconstructions, canal cleaning—to generate immediate cash in the hands ofa desperate population. But there is little sustainability in this approach,and value added employment takes capital, management, marketing andproductive efficiencies, all aspects of business that require improvementover time.E. Meeting the arbitraty target does not appear to represent a useful standardfor determining the impact of the KBS program.4.7 Number of targeted sub-sectors with quality certification programs(cumulative).5. Revenue GenerationTargetsyear 4: 8 ATD: 0 LOP: 14A. Good concept for judging sector/cluster performanceB. Certification programs require standards, which are then certified as beingmet by individual enterprises. Kosovo does not have a set of acceptedstandards. These must be created, explained, agreed and approved by acertification body, which must be formed. We have observed workinggroup meetings in action, and they are taken seriously by the participants.But the process is not fast, and the targets are likely not going to be met byproject completion since this is not an output that KBS can deliver on itsown. There must be some local organization that agrees to be part of thestandards/certification process, both to set standards and to certify thatthey are being met.C. The Evaluation Team paid special attention to this target to attempt todetermine if there is a faster path to fruition of a certification program.We did not find one.D. The concept needs to be expanded and made part of cluster developmentsupport in any future SME program.E. The time frame before project completion makes this target unreachableby KBS.The target deserves some special explanation as it is not a question of whether it can be met—itis question of whether it is reasonable to assign this target when USAID has other priorities thatare important, such as creating sustainability for the capacity generated by KBS. There may be areal confusion in goals to be achieved, since the Task Order seems to state that fees equalsustainability, when the Evaluation Team believes that the opposite is more likely to be true.Modification 10, page 3, states the tasks of, “…simultaneously developing post-projectsustainability. This shall be accomplished through:Evaluation of the USAID/Kosovo SME 57 May 2004and Agriculture/Agribusiness ProgramsVolume I