/ &-/ _o
FINAL EVALUATION
OPPORTUNITIES INDUSTRIALIZATION CENTER
CAMEROON
March 11, 1994
Prepared for:
United States Agency for International Development Yaounde, Cameroon
Prepared by:
Richard Huntington Bernard Wilder
Sravanl Ghosh-Roblnson
INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE, INC.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
1. Introduction ...................................... 1
The Project OIC International Economic Climate in Cameroon, February 1994 Closing of the USAID Mission Evaluation Team, Schedule, Activities, and Scope of Work
2. Assessment of the Vocational Training Program ................. 5
Introduction Training Program Inputs Curriculum Content Follow-Up: On the Job Training, Job Placement, and Alumni Activities Diversity of COIC Trainees
3. Enterprise Development and Self-Employment ................. 14
Management and Business Seminars COIC Business Associations Cooperation Between the MBD/SED Unit and Job Developers Tracking the Self-Employed Small Enterprise Development Training Revolving Loan Program Rural Women's Training Unit
4. Impact of COIC Project ....... .............. ...... 21
Impact on Beneficiaries Impact on Community Impact on Government Policy
5. Institutional Sustainability ... . 24
Managerial Sustainability Financial Sustainability
6. Conclusions and Recommendations ......................... 28
General Conclusions General Recommendation Technical Recommendations to COIC Recommendation to OICI
Annex A: Scope of Work Annex B: Logical Framework Matrix Annex C: Executive Summaries of Previous Evaluations Annex D: Curriculum of One Month Intensive Entrepreneurial Training Course Annex E: Sample Business Plan Submitted to COIC Annex F: COIC Staff Background and Training Outputs
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Project
OIC International received a grant (631-0053) from USAID/Cameroon in June of 1986 to support the establishment of a vocational and small enterprise training center in the town of Buea in South-West Cameroon. The original grant was for a period of five years, at a funding level of $2,767,900. An additional $600,000 was granted in 1990. Phase II began in January 1991, funded through an amendment to OICI's Cooperative Agreement Grant (OTR-0244-A-00-010200). This added $3,200,000 to the project and extended the life of the project until December 1993. A no cost extension of the PACD was later approved and the project will end on March 31, 1994. In addition to this $6,567,000 funded by A.I.D., the Government of Cameroon contributed 110 million out of a promised total contribution of 244 million. Other donor organizations have recently provided grants to the Cameroon OIC in support of its training activities, especially the World Bank/National Employment Fund (NEF) and Bread for the World. This is the final evaluation of the A.I.D. grant to OIC International, and the last of three evaluations before the Cameroon OIC "graduates".
The Context
The economy of Cameroon has been in steep decline for several years. Unemployment and under employment rates are high as both the government and the private sector shed much of their work forces. The recent 50% devaluation of the CFA has added a sharp degree of uncertainty to the climate of economic stagnation, but may have a positive impact in the medium term.
The Evaluation
The evaluation was conducted between January 29 and February 19, 1994. After briefing and orientation meetings with USAID and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the team proceeded to Buea. From Buea, the team divided into three sections and spent four days carrying out an informal survey of beneficiaries throughout the five provinces of Cameroon where the majority of former trainees have found work or employment. Following the survey, the team carried out interviews, observations, and document reviews at the Cameroon OIC training center.
The team interviewed over 90 beneficiaries including graduates (employed, self-employed, and unemployed), current trainees undergoing on-the-job training with Cameroonian firms, employers and supervisors of OIC graduates and on-the-job trainees, participants in the OIC seminars for improving the management of existing small enterprises, and members of rural women's associations who have benefitted from OIC's outreach program.
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Findings
The Cameroon OIC is fully prepared to "graduate" from its direct dependence on OICI and on the original A.I.D. grant arrangement.
The institutional and managerial basis for the long-term sustainability of this Cameroonian NGO are now well developed anC on a solid foundation.
COIC provides quality training the results of which are evident in the numbers of its graduates who find employment or meaningful self-employment in these times of economic stagnation.
The evaluation team estimates that approximately 80% of COIC graduates are employed or selfemployed within six months of completing the program.
The process is well underway of reorienting the Cameroon OIC program so that job creation (entrepreneurship training and sm3ll business mcnagement seminars) is given equal or greater
weight to job placement. This is proving effective for preparing trainees for the tough employment situation in Cameroon, and attractive to donors.
The financial future of the institution is precarious, as is the financial situation of just about
every institution, public and private, in Cameroon at this time. For the immediate future, Cameroon OIC is funded by the World Bank National Employment Fund (NEF) grant, and a grant from Bread for the World. A large debt for development arrangement is being negotiated by the International Foundation for Self-Help (IFESH), which if successful, will support the center in Buea for several years and help start new centers and programs in Yaounde, Douala,
and Bamenda. However, both the NEF Grant and the debt swap depend on the availability of large amounts of local currency, and this may not be available at the required levels at the required times.
Overall Recommendation
The evaluators strongly recommend that Cameroon OIC's Buea training center largely continue It would be a mistake tooperating a3 it is, avoiding radical changes in its program content.
close down completely a program in auto mechanics or building construction because of the present lack of employment or on-the-job placement opportunities.
As the economy changes, raore opportunities will open up for COIC graduates. For instance, two years ago, there was little construction work to be had. Now it has picked up as people
invest what little resources they have in the relatively safe haven of real estate. One might
expect that the recent devaluation of the franc could have a positive effect on the auto repair
business, as new cars and parts will cost double. It is the evaluators' view that COIC graduates are as prepared as can be to find their employment and self-employment niches in a changing economic situation.
Technical recommendations are presented in Chapter Six.
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1. INTRODUCTION
rhe Project
OIC International received a grant (631-0053) from USAID/Cameroon in June of 1986 to support the establishment of a vocational and small enterprise training center in the town of Buea in South-West Cameroon. The original grant was for a period of five years, at a funding level of $2,767,900. An additional $600,000 was granted in 1990. Phase II began in January 1991, funded through an amendment to OICI's Cooperative Agreement Grant (OTR-0244-A-00-010200). This added $3,200,000 to the project and extended the life of the project until December 1993. A no cost extension of the PACD was later approved and the project will end on March 31, 1994. In addition to this $6,567,000 funded by A.I.D., the Government of Cameroon contributed 110 million out of a promised total contribution of 244 million. Other donor organizations have recently provided grants to the Cameroon OIC in support of its training activities, especially the World Bank/National Employment Fund (NEF) and Bread for the World. This is the final evaluation of the A.I.D. grant to OIC International, and the last of three evaluations before the Cameroon OIC "graduates".
OIC International
OICI is a private voluntary organization specializing in the provision of technical, agricultural and entrepreneurial training for disadvantaged youth. First founded in the urban ghettos of the U.S. in the 1960s to prepare African-American youth for entry level employment, OIC soon spread to Africa in 1970 where there are now about 20 training institutions in 12 African countries, as well as two new training centers in Poland. In each country, OICI helps a local "interest group" form its own non-governmental organization to operate the training center. OICI secures the funding for the start-up process and provides field advisors to help get the new training center established on a sustainable basis. Each of these OIC affiliates gradually develops into a more or less independent NGO, no longer supported by the initial start-up grant secured by OICI, but operating on a diversified portfolio of funding support. OICI prides itself on its record of establishing sustainable institutions in developing countries, especially in Africa.
FAonomic Climate in Cameroon, February 1994
The Cameroonian economy shows no sign of emerging from the deep depression it entered shortly after the beginning of the OIC project in 1987. The economy continues its downward slide and throughout Camoroon public and private sector employers continue to shrink their workforce and reduce the salary levels of the staff that are fortunate enough to be kept on. The government is essentially broke and has not paid salaries of many teachers and other categories of civil servants for the past six months. Many government offices, schools, and universities are empty as the unpaid employees have stopped showing up to work. Since the government plays a significantly large role in the economy, both as employer and customer, this liquidity crisis impacts widely. In such an economy, finding jobs for entry level trainees has proven much more difficult than was envisioned in the original proposal to set up the Cameroon OIC.
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Recently, the CFA was devalued by 50%. The consequences of this event (the first devaluation of the CFA since its inception in 1948) are numerous and uncertain. On one hand, COIC's grants from Bread for the World, NEF and the IFESH debt swap are denominated in dollars and thus will generate double the number of CFA as anticipated. On the other hand, imported items doubled in price. Early inflation may take a toll of much of the gain. None the less, the impact of the devaluation in the medium term may be strongly deflationary, as too few CFA chase the goods and services of the Cameroonian marketplace. Certain Cameroonian exports should be more competitive, especially food exports to Nigeria which has just raised the value of the Naira. Additionally, abroad liberalization of the Cameroonian economy may finally materialize, with government price controls falling away from most commodities. For instance, the Arabica coffee market in the North West Province is now fully liberalized with over 70 different prices replacing the once unitary pricing structure, and the government is seriously preparing to extend this to Robusta coffee and other commodities. In any event, there will be a period of uncertain adjustment to the devaluation. Many of the economic events of the next couple of years may be counter intuitive, especially to the leaders of a non-profit NGO who have never experienced a devaluation or operated in a truly liberal economy. COIC should be very cautious in its financial dealings, especially regarding interest rates which are currently rising, but might decline in the face of the continued strictures on overall "national liquidity".
Closing of the USAUD Mission
The USAID Mission to Cameroon is one of the 21 programs to be closed during the next three years as part of A.I.D.'s program to consolidate its attention. This has consequences for the Cameroon OIC as an "American" project. Even as a "graduated" program, it might have benefitted in the future from continued interest from an active USAID mission concerned with private sector development. It is important to note that the Cameroonian OIC continues to be associated with OIC International and to benefit from services provided under OICI's centrallyfunded cooperative agreement grants. This will place some responsibility on the U.S. Embassy in the future in terms of facilitating or approving visits of OICI technical personnel and other matters, since U.S. funding through the cooperative agreement, debt swap, or other mechanisms will still benefit COIC.
Evaluatiou Team, Schedule, Activities, and Scope of Work
Team. The following persons participated in the evaluation:
o Richard Huntington, Institutional Development Specialist and Team Leader, International Science & Technology Institute, Inc. (ISTI);
o Bernard Wilder, Vocational Education and Human Resources Development Specialist, consultant to Pragma, Inc.; and
o Sravani Ghosh-Robinson, Evaluation Specialist, OIC International.
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Godfred Penn, the USAID project officer, joined the team for part of the time and contributed his insights and knowledge of the project.
Two members of the team, Huntington and Ghosh-Robinson, had participated in the 1992 evaluation and were able thus to directly evaluate and update the progress since that evaluation. The third member, Wilder, had previously lived and worked in Cameroon for several years as a senior A.I.D. officer. The Government of Cameroon representative, active in previous evaluations, was unable to join this team.
Schedule. The evaluation was conducted between January 29 and February 19, 1994. After briefing and orientation meetings with USAID and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the team proceeded to Buea. From Buea, the team divided into three sections and spent four days carrying out an informal survey of beneficiaries throughout the five provinces of Cameroon where the majority of former trainees have found work or employment. Following the survey,the team carried out interviews, observations, and document reviews at the Cameroon OIC training center.
Survey of Beneficiaries. The team interviewed over 90 beneficiaries including graduates(employed, self-employed, and unemployed), current trainees undergoing on-the-job trainingwith Cameroonian firms, employers and supervisors of OIC graduates and on-the-job trainees, participants in the OIC seminars for improving the management of existing small enterprises, and members of rural women's associations who have benefitted from OIC's outreach program.Figures la and lb show the numbers of beneficiaries interviewed according to category, industry, and location. Figure Ic shows the numbers of employers interviewed by program area.
Fig. Is. OIC GRADUATES INTERVIEWED, BY PROGRAM AREA
HOTEL/ BUILDING FURNITURE AUTO MONT RURAL TOTAL CATERING 1MAKING MECHANICS SEMINARS WOMEN
EMPLOYED 15 8 6 1 30
SELF-EMPLOYED 2 5 3 10
UNEMPLOYED 1 3 4
OJT 10 2 1 13
OTHER 17 7 24
TOTALS 28 16 11 2 17 7 81
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Fig. lb. TRAINEES/BENEFICIARIES INTERVIEWED, BY LOCATION
TRAINEE/GRADUATES SEMINAR RURAL WOMEN TOTALS PARTICIPANTS TRAINEES
BUEA 15 15
LIMBE 9 9
KUBA 1
MUEA VIL. 1 1
MYOLKO VIL. 6 6
TIKO I 1
OMBE 2 2
BAKUNDU BANGA VIL 77
MUTENGENE VIL. I I
NORTHWEST PROV.
BAMENDA 8 12 20
BANSO 4 4
LITTORAL PROVINCE
DOUALA 4 3 7
EDEA 3 _3
KRIBI 3 _3
CENTRAL PROVINCE
YAOUNDE 1 1 2
TOTALS 56 17 7 81
Fig. 1c. EMPLOYERS AND SUPERVISORS INTERVIEWED, BY PROGRAM AREA
HOTEL/ BUILDING FURNITURE AUTO TOTALCATERING MAKING MECHAN ICS
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Scope of Work. As this is the final evaluation of the A.I.D. project, the focus of the evaluation is on the overall assessment of whether the Cameroonian OIC has achieved the status of a sustainable non-governmental institution providing quality training with a significant and positive impact upon its intended beneficiaries, disadvantaged Cameroonian youth. It is important to note that this is the third A.I.D. evaluation to take place since the inception of the Cameroonian OIC in 1987. More particularly, it follows only 15 months after the thorough mid-term evaluation of November 1992. The present evaluation focuses, therefore, on measuring and evaluating the progress that has taken place in the interim, and in assessing the extent to which the recommendations of that evaluation have been followed or proven to be useful. (See Annex A for the Evaluation Scope of Work.)
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2. ASSESSMENT OF THE VOCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM
Introduction
When discussirg the COIC/Buea training program one must take into account all the experiences a participant has with COIC; from the time she/he submits an application until graduation. Indeed, the program doesn't stop there. The graduate will continue to receive help in job placement and assistance in creating self employment through short term entrepreneurial training programs.
Before commenting on the training program using the traditional headings such as trainers, curriculum content, and methods, it would be useful to follow a student through his experience at COIC.
Though invitations to submit applications are broadcast on the radio, and some student report having heard these invitations, prospective applicants typically hear about COIC from friends or family. It seems that the personal network of information transmission, so effective in Africa, is key. Applicants submit a letter requesting admission and other basic background documents. These are screened and applicants selected as eligible are asked to come to COIC for preliminary interviews, orientation sessions, and further screening. A basic literacy and numeracy examination is also administered. The guidance counselor assembles the dossiers and submits them to an admittance committee along with her recommendation as to which ones should be admitted. Those selected are notified by radio.
The first week of the 18 month program is devoted to orientation sessions. These are followed by the three month "Feeder Program". Though the Feeder Program is preparation for skill training and might be viewed by students as just a preamble, interviews with graduates indicate that the exact opposite is the case. Many of them indicate that the feeder program or elements of it, were what they appreciated most about the COIC experience.
Vocational skills training lasts approximately one year. It is not a high tech teaching/learning situation. The students spend approximately 70% of their time actually working in conditions as close as possible to those in which they will themselves upon graduation and on projects with materials that mirror the eventual job situation. In auto mechanics they learn on cars that will go back on the road, in hotel/catering, they learn in kitchens that serve real people, in furniture making they construct the type of furniture they will be later called upon to make for their customers.
After finishing the skills program the student is placed in an "on-the-job" situation for three months. She/he is expected to fill a position where the skills they have learned must be on a real job. The OJT supervisor takes care in choosing the assignment for the student. The student isn't just "sent" to the job site but is taken there by the 01"supervisor. He visits the trainee as often as possible. In better economic times, many, if not most of the 01"trainees were hired
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by the establishment where they did their training. This practice may someday return. In today's depression, however, other job opportunities usually must be sought. COIC has no formal responsibility to find jobs for the graduates but accepts the moral responsibility to do the best that it can. Other forms of follow-up are significant. The COIC staff arranged meetings with graduates throughout the country. In the first year they have had meetings in six cities. Typically when they visit another city, they announce on the radio that there will be a meeting of all COIC graduates and will ask them to come at a particular time. Through this mechanism the COIC staff has managed to meet about half of all the people who have every graduated.
The second form of continuing service to graduates is short term training programs. These range from a one month program on how to start a business to one and two day seminars on specific subjects such as marketing, costing, and small business management.
It is hoped that the above gives a picture of a many faceted but integrated program that is much more than just "skill training". It isa program that addresses the needs of the whole person and is student centered rather than curriculum centered.
Training Program Inputs
Trainers. The training staff has the education, experience and skill to carry out their duties. Appropriately so, the levels of education, experience and skill of the individuals that make up the staff varies greatly, as do the requirements of the training tasks they must perform. The head counselor has a masters degree in social services from a U.S. University and several years experience before joining COIC. The teaching staff of the Feeder Program are professional educators as well as having received additional training from OICI. They utilize sophisticated classroom techniques of the type one would find in the better U.S. schools.
The teachers of the vocational subjects are mostly technical school graduates; post secondary school but less than the B.S. level. More importantly, they are noted for their experience in the private sector in the fields for which they are preparing students to enter. The auto mechanics teachers have made their living as a mechanics. The construction teachers have been in the construction industry. The hotel/catering teachers graduaed from hotel schools in Nigeria and have run restaurants and hotels. The furniture instructor has made furniture for a living. When a teacher for a special skill not possessed by the staff is required, a part time persons is hired that has the required skill.
At the time COIC was founded, the entire staff was given six months of professional training by OICI technical assistance personnel from the US. In-Service Training for the teachers continued as the COIC program developed. Recently an outside consultant was hired to provide a series of workshops to upgrade teaching skills for the whole staff. The sessions covered curriculum development and revision, lesson plan development, classroom management, communication and leadership skills and training module development.
The training staff is well prepared for the tasks they are asked to perform. Nevertheless,
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opportunities for periodic upgrading should continue to be regularly provided.
Curriculum Content
Feeder Program. Of the five content/behavioral objectives of the feeder program, only one is academic in nature; the provision of language and computational skills. The objectives of the other four are personal development in nature and are articulated as:
N Develop positive attitudes and habits in terms of self acceptance, self-reliance, self-confidence and general positive thinking;
N Awareness of personal hygiene, grooming and hathe work place;
bits, especially as they relate to
0 To provide personal counselling; and
N To develop positive attitudes and receptiveness "World of Work".
to vocational training and the
To address the above, the published curriculum organized into the following units: Cultural Heritage, Personal Development, World of Work, Small Business Management, and Group Counseling.
These four areas are extremely important to the success of the COIC program. Interviews with graduates indicates that the program does a very good job of achieving the above objectives, However, when one examines the class time allocation, one find seemingly only 30% of the time devoted to these areas. The other 70% is devoted to mathematics and language, both English and French. However, the Feeder Program makes extensive use of small work group problem solving sessions, roll playing and small and large discussion groups. These instructional techniques are used during approximately 60% to 70% of the time allocated to math and language. COIC calls these activities "practical work". The reason the feeder program is successful in reaching its objectives in the five non-academic areas is that the substantive content of the "practical work" of the language and the mathematics programs and drawn from and/or is designed to reinforce the objectives of the five non-academic areas. The time allocation as presented in the printed curriculum vastly understates the amount of effective instructional time devoted on personal development activities.
Vocational Curriculum. In all cases the content of the vocational or job skills portion of the program are drawn from actual job situations which the graduate is being trained to fill. The OICI objective is to provide "Entry Level" skills. Therefore curriculum is not designed to prepare a journeyman auto mechanic, cabinet maker or the like. The graduate will have to continue to be trained after being hired to fill all the requirements of the work place. The curriculum does contain sufficient skill training and theory to allow the graduate to be hired as a productive worker right from the start. This is not the case with most graduates of the formal
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technical high schools. Indeed several graduates of the local Technical School enroll at COIC each year to obtain the skills needed to be employed.
That being said, many of the better students progress at COIC to the point to be able to start their own small businesses. One factor is that the teaching situation is flexible enough to allow the more gifted to progress further and/or to develop a higher level of skill. The Business Management Units incorporated in the feeder program and continued in each technical area further facilitate the graduates ability to start a small enterprise. In addition, as has been mentioned before, the COIC offers short term programs available to the graduates that further help them to establish their own businesses and become independent.
The discussion above must be taken in the context of Cameroon. One will not find curriculum content, shop facilities or skill training techniques that are "state of the (international) art" at COIC. Nor should one. What is appropriate to the needs and practices of the developed world would not always be appropriate to Cameroon.
The evaluators' judgment is that the curriculum is perfectly suited to the needs of the trainees. However, the work place requirements in Cameroon will change rapidly and must be monitored so that periodically the curriculum can be changed accordingly.
rining Facilties and Equipment. With the completion of the new Hotel/Catering facility, which will include a new restaurant, a four room hotel and auxiliary rooms, the physical facilities of all the programs appear adequate with two exceptions. There are The shop for the new Auto Body and Welding program and counseling facilities. Considering the number of students in the program, the size of the auto body/welding facility should be doubled. If the Auto Mechanics program is definitively dropped, the auto body program can expand into those unused shops would probably be a better use for the facilities than trying to run a profit making enterprise. If the auto mechanics program is continued the program could expand into the unused area where the construction classes were taught or an inexpensive shed structure could be built that would be sufficient for teaching the beating and welding. The present auto mechanics shop could then be used for finishing.
The second area where additional room is needed is for counselling. Counselling is now done in the offices of the four counselors. They lack the privacy needed for individual counseling. The requirement is not great. A small, comfortable room where the door can be closed and the counselor and student can be assured that she will not be disturbed is all that is required.
Instructional Materials. A broad view of what constitutes instructional materials has been taken. Anything that aids the teacher or the student to achieve the learning objective was considered.
It was found that there are detailed curricula specifying the content of all the courses. Every teacher then expanded this listing of topics into a detailed schedule for the time available. This schedule is in more detail and provides the sequence, day and amount of time to be devoted to
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each of the topics. The teachers also have prepared detailed plans for each lesson. A copy of the form used for this can be found in the Annexes. In total, the COIC has four levels of detail for the training program; the Curriculum, the Unit, the Time Table and Topic List and the Lesson Plan.
Disappointingly few other teaching aids are used. There are a few commercial models of automobile parts and engines. Though there are two television/VCRs in the hotel/catering area, only six or seven instructional tapes are available. There is an overhead projector in the auto mechanics shop but only about 10 useable transparencies and no indication that the materials or knowledge are present to make others. There were some charts in evidence but much more extensive use could/should be made of simple charts and other devices, such as teacher made models, to enhance instruction.
The shops balance the lack of traditional instructional materials with probably the most effective instructional devices for someone about to enter the world of work, that is, the tools, equipment and machines that the students will find at the job site. Nothing can take the place of learning to do a job with the tools and equipment with which you will ultimately make your living. That being said, the program still could make more use of instructional materials than it has and could enrich the program with other materials that could be easily made by the teachers.
Training Methods. The training methods used in the various sections of the COIC program vary from some of the most up to date interactive/facilitative techniques to those used during the earliest days of trade training. The methods vary with the substance of the activity and the training/education of the Teacher.
The counselor, who conducts much of the counseling and coordinates the rest, has BS and MA degrees from the US and applies counseling techniques that would be found in the best facilities in the developed world. In the best African tradition, she personalizes the process. Hence she becomes much closer to the student than might normally be the case elsewhere. Being counseled is a new experience for most Cameroonian students and they respond positively. When asked what was the most important aspect of the COIC experience for him, one student, who had graduated four years earlier, stated that, "COIC change me and changed my life. It was due to the counseling." Several students gave similar responses.
The instructional methods used in the feeder program are characterized by the staff under the broad headings of 30% lecture and 70% practical. On observation it was found that the "lecture" aspects of the program are not what one would usually think of in Cameroon as lectures. The teachers do expound but not like the traditional Cameroonian teacher who talks, writes what he said on the board and waits for the students to copy it down, whereupon the class ends. The feeder teachers make extensive use of discussion, posing questions that require thought and solicits questions from the students. Extensive use is made of roll playing and simulation games. In these sessions the substance of the situations created are related to jobinterviews, employee/supervisor relations, dealing with the government, moral/ethical dilemmas, the world of work situations and the like. Students are also organized into "Mastery Groups"
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where they hold discussion and solve problems. The latter in particular allows the more gifted students to advance more rapidly and/or to delve deeper into a topic. He is not held back by the rest of the class. Nor in the whole class geared to the faster students and hence the slower student deprived of the time to master the material.
The instructional methods used in auto mechanics, auto body/welding, construction and furniture making sections are essentially alike. Lectures are given and material is written on the board for the students to copy in their notebooks. There are no texts in any of the classes. Virtually all the students have to study are what they copy from the board in a notebook. The notebook also becomes his work manual when he leaves and gets a job. There is a new library and students are increasingly taking out the mostly professional books. The collection is small and if each of the students checked out one book, there would remain only a limited selection. The staff should consider the concept of "reserved" books and adding facilities so the student could study in the library. At present there are no tables or chairs.
Demonstrators are given with the tools the student will eventually use on the job. Materials and the techniques are also those he will later use. After the demonstration, the student duplicates the operations. Usually, the work the student does contributes to a useable object. He doesn't make a wood joint, have it graded and then throw it away. The joint he makes is on a piece that becomes a part of a desk, a chair, a bed or the like. The lecture/demonstration/student repetition sequence is also used in auto mechanics and body/welding. Here the demonstrations and student practice is on a real vehicle.
In the construction area the students fhst learn the construction skills. They actually build a house at COIC but using only sand for mortar. When they have mastered the techniques, the house is pulled down. This is the only practical work done in a shop courses that does not result in a usable object of some sort. They then len to draw a plan for a house designed to use the construction techniques learned in the shop. The better students have used their drawing skills to create self employment opportunities after graduation. They become "para-architects" of sorts. They are in demand because they know how to draw the plans for a house utilizing the materials and techniques used in practically all the houses being built in their part of the country. They can't draw plans for a wooden house. They can only design houses using poured concrete post and lintel construction with block curtain walls. But that is what is used and needed.
The instructional methods in the hotel/catering section are likewise lecture, demonstration and practice. The practice in this case is obtained by running two restaurants, one for CIOC students by the beginning students, and one for the public by the advanced students. A four bed room "mini" hotel will soon be in operation to give the students practice that comes as close as one could to the eventual job situation.
It is felt that the above instructional techniques are appropriate for Cameroon and the Cameroonian student. Sophisticated simulation training materials and techniques would be too expensive and possible too abstract. Instead, COIC replicates the work situation as closely as possible and puts the student in that situation as soon as and for as long as possible. One can
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argue that this is the ultimate simulation devise. Unlike the work situations found in the developed world, it ischeaper and easier for COIC to replicate the actual eventual work situation for the students than it would be to try to simulate it, as an American vocational school would attempt to do.
Given the massive unemployment in Cameroon, the COIC is fortunate that they have been able to find OT situations for its trainees. Given the difficulty of placement, the COIC has not been in a position to demand much from the employers who accept OT trainees. Though the COIC OT supervisors endeavor to match students to training situations and physical location of training, no attempt is made at this time to require the organization accepting the trainee to provide a particular set of experiences. They are only requested to "rotate" the trainee through various aspects of the job. The trainee runs the danger of becoming an extra set of hands and what they learn will depend upon the job supervisor. Interviews with 01 supervisors indicates that the ways the trainees are used and the opportunities they have to expand their experiences/skills while on 01 varies greatly. As soon as practical, which probably means when the economy improves, the 01 experience should become more structured. A written agreement between COIC and the establishment should be entered into that specifies the experiences the student will be exposed to while on 071T. This set of experiences should be determined so as to meet the students needs.
Equipment. The equipment presently available to the skill training programs is appropriate to Cameroon. It is mostly what is in use throughout the country and hence the tools and equipment the student will use to make his living. There are minor gaps, some of which are in the process of being corrected. The new Auto Body/Welding program has recently expanded and tools are on order.
The new hotel/catering facility is about to be completed. Equipment for this facility is on order and some has already arrived. The power wood working equipment is now seven years old and will have to be replaced in the next two or three years. At issue is whether large industrial equipment of the type found in only the largest shops should be purchased or whether smaller equipment is more appropriate. A small survey should be conducted to see what type of power tools a furniture maker buys when he takes the step from hand to power tools and those should be purchased.
In summary, the evaluation team finds that the training program as a whole is excellent. There are some things that can be done to improve and update the program as will be below. However, the team does not recommend that any major changes be made. The program works, it is preparing COIC participants in such a way that they are sought after or if they choose, can establish their own small enterprises.
Follow-Up: On the Job Training, Job Placement, and Alumni Activities
Finding O1 opportunities, helping graduates to fmd jobs and in general following-up and keeping track of the CIOC graduates are all responsibilities of the two "Job Development
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Officers". Assigning them the particular responsibility of following up on graduates in addition to all their other duties is logical because they are the ones who do the most traveling outside of Buea. The Job Development Officers themselves see the three main elements of their responsibilities as one continuum. OJT placement and monitoring, job placement, and follow-up are indeed are closely related. Finding OJT possibilities leads to the identification of potential jobs, and visiting job sites places them in the situations where graduates are likely to be found.
The continuum starts with the OJT activity. After finding an opportunity and taking the trainee to start his training, CIOC policy is that the trainee should be visited once a month, or about three times during this phase of his training. At these visits, the job developers meet with the employers and also explore future job possibilities for the graduates. In many situations there is also a graduate working at the establishment. The job developer calls on him/her and also inquires if they know the location of other graduates. In this way a network is established and expanded. The importance of the job developers getting out in the work community can not be stressed erough. They can not do their job in Buea. Recently, due to budgetary constraints, the number of visits to OJT trainees during this phase of the program has been reduced from three to one.
Following up on a graduate who is placed in a job by the Job Developers is not difficult. However, some graduates find their own jobs or become self employed. These graduates are harder to keep track of. One way COIC maintains contact is through the network mentioned above. Another strategy takes advantage of the fact that the job developers help conduct the SED/MGMT workshops in towns around the country. On these occasions, the job developers advertise their presence in the city over the radio and through the informal network and invite all CIOC graduates to a meeting. Such meetings have also been called independent of SED workshops. A total of eleven such meeting have been held for the purpose of forming local alumni groups. Reports of two of these meetings are included in the Annexes. As has been mentioned elsewhere, approximately half of all CIOC graduates have recently been directly contacted in this way.
One trial "symposium" for employers was conducted in Douala in order to inform them about CIOC and to explore OJT and employment possibilities for COIC trainees. Given the costs of renting a hall and providing refreshments, COIC concluded that such symposiums are not cost effective ways to network with potential employers.
The follow-up effort following the training is as much a part of the special OIC approach as is the feeder training at the beginning. To the extent that it is efficiently increased through such mechanisms as the formation of alumni associations, issuing a simple COIC newsletter, making use of SED training sessions to increase contact, and other means of maximizing contact, COIC is better able to continue to help its graduates and to help its graduates help COIC.
Diversity of COIC Trainees
The CIOC graduates are a very diverse lot, especially in comparison to what one usually finds
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in a formal technical vocational school. In formal vocational schools, entrants are usually all of an age and have all just come from the same level of the formal school system. The CIOC entrants, on the other hand, range from 17 to 38 years of age. Their educational backgrounds vary from just having finished primary school, secondary school or even, in one case, a university graduate who had been teaching for several years and wanted a change. Many others are drop-outs and didn't successfully complete the last level of school they attended. Most do not come direct from the formal school system, but have typically left school two to three years earlier.
Some are from cities, small and large, some from villages and some from quite isolated rural locations. Some have had no experience outside the village. It is not unusual for the hotel/catering teachers to first have to teach prospective servers bow the eat at a table using modem utensils before they can be taught how to wait on others. But teach them they do and graduates from the hotel/catering program are among the most sought after by employers.
Most do have some things in common. They have not typically been successful at what they have tried or are unable to obtain positions they would like because the formal school system has failed them, either literally or failed to prepare them for a place in the community of work. For many it is thus a second chance. Almost all want a job and most know what they want to do. Some are more self directed than others. Counseling, orientation and the feeder program build the confidence and sense of purpose in those who need it. Thought some students temporarily leave, the permanent dropout rate is very low.
What accounts for the success of the CIOC program in changing the lives of such a diverse group? The CIOC staff thinks that it is because none of the students have had any experience with the type of program they find themselves in at CIOC whether they are from the village or have graduated from the university in Yaounde. Therefore some may progress faster and farther, but none of them are saying to themselves, "I have done this before." This is particularly true of the counselling, orientation, and feeder program.
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3. ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT
The November 1992 evaluation recommended a major shift in emphasis, and concomitant changes in COIC modus operandi, regarding the role of small enterprise development in the COIC program. The evaluation recommended that given the implosion of the formal employment sector of the economy, COIC focus more of its attention on self-employment and on employment generation through strengthening existing businesses. This involves, among other things, envisioning the MBD/SED program as the lead program in the center, rather than as an adjunct activity to vocational skills training.
Management and Business Seminars
The program of providing management seminars to groups of business persons in key locations in Cameroon, begun in 1991, has continued, expanded, and improved during the past year and a half. The MBD/SED unit has given a series of nine business management seminars in six towns. These include a two-day seminar delivered in each of the six towns and an additional one-week-long seminar (funded under the NEF grant) in each of the three largest towns: Yaounde, Douala, and Bamenda. The topics presented included basic ideas about customeroriented service, accounting and record keeping, management, and marketing. A popular special seminar topic focussed on "Creative Selling in Times of Economic Crisis". We had opportunity to discuss the impact of these seminars with participants in Bamenda, where the MBD/SED unit has given the most seminars to the largest numbers over the longest period of time. Ten participants provided detailed, and sometimes impressive, examples of what they had learned and how it had already improved their businesses and their lives. These seminar participants are for the most part established and already successful people either in business, education, or government.
A successful older Bamenda businessman and prominent citizen stated that in all his years in business the idea had never occurred to him that being nice to customers could actually increase revenues. That just wasn't the style of doing business. He had his gas station business; people needed gas for their cars; they came, his employees pumped gas into their cars, they drove off and that was it. He sat in the office. After the seminar, he started appearing out front and greeting his customers, asking if they were content with the service, encouraging them to be regular customers. Business has improved.
* A young mathematics teacher in a private school, stated that like many teachers and civil servants he also has a small poultry operation to provide supplementary income. He attended the seminar hoping to learn some things to help him better manage the poultry business. He stated that the seminar had the unexpected effect of making him rethink his role as a math teacher. Students are not much interested in math which they find boring and hard. He started to think of teaching as a client-oriented activity, with his students as clients. He improved my lectures with interesting examples, role playing,
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humorous examples, and other techniques he had seen at the seminar, and treated his students as customers, respecting them, smiling at them, trying to put them at ease. He became a very popular teacher, and also found himself enjoying teaching more than ever before. Then word of his popularity spread and some of the evening schools around town started asking him to lecture. He now has a new supplementary career as a paid lecturer.
* The owner of a drinking place said that the seminar helped him understand that his customers, even those who have had too much to drink, are his clients. In the past, if a customer was too drunk, he loudly and forcefully had him removed, often causing a violent scene. Now he realizes that this is not good for repeat business either of the drunk, his friends, or other customers witnessing such scenes. Now he has developed a strategy of going respectfully and sitting down and talking to the overly drunk customer, and with the help of the person's friends, negotiating his departure as patiently and quietly as possible. This "put the customer first" lesson, he says, has helped him solve this nightly problem and has improved the atmosphere and revenues at his drinking place.
People attended the first seminar for a variety of reasons, most prominent was the hope that it would lead to an opportunity for a soft business loan, and, in the case of Bamenda, to show general support to OIC whom they expect to open a center in their town. Participants reported being surprised to find themselves learning a radically new approach to business and customer relations: thinking of their customers as potential repeat clients.
Although there is now a nominal charge for these seminars, much more of the cost needs to be recovered from the participants. These are not poor youth. Many are established business persons (or civil servants planning an early retirement) who are in many instances by their own admission benefitting financially from the lessons taught them by COIC. Ninety participants showed up for the last seminar in Bamenda and paid the registration fee. Word of the practical value of these events has spread since the first small seminar was held there in 1991. A smaller seminar with fewer attendees paying higher fees would be more effective in the long run. Many attendees at the seminars came for the wrong reasons or were the wrong persons for such an event. Also, the enthusiasm of participants in Bamenda is not fully matched in the other locations, for a number of reasons.
It takes time for a busines advisory service such as COIC to build up a network of appropriate and appreciative clients in each town. Much progress has been made. More progress could have been made if more attention could have been paid to following up with the participants in each town several months following the seminar. This evaluation team strongly recommends that the follow-up to the seminars be increased, and that more frequent shorter (one day) seminars be given, rather than the rarer two and five day affairs. This will allow the COIC staff to narrow down the participants to a smaller number of more appropriate persons and a more serious group in each town.
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COIC Business Associations
It was also recommended in 1992 that as a means of getting more focussed participants, the MBD unit formalize its seminar participants into a business association in town, visit it periodically with a series of seminars to improve business practices and perhaps even increase employment opportunities for COIC trainees and others. In theory, there would gradually develop a network of COIC business associations, with approximately 30 members each, these associations would provide COIC with a network of serious and increasingly informed business persons nation wide, business persons who are, with the help of COIC's MBD/SED seminars, expanding (or at least maintaining) their businesses. This same network would be useful for placing COIC graduates in jobs or for OJT, and could even be useful for future fund raising activities.
The creation of COIC business associations, while begun in six locations, needs considerable more follow-up in order for them to become useful institutions for themselves and for COIC. At least in the Anglophone areas, people seem quick to join associations of all kinds. At this point, these COIC business associations seem to be just another membership card for many participants.
Although the target of associations in ten towns was mentioned in the last evaluation, the operations in the six towns currently being served seems adequate and reasonable. The six locations include three in the Francophone zone and three in the Anglophone zone; the capital and the largest commercial city, and cover the five provinces closest to COIC. We recommend that the MBD/SED staff continue to concentrate on firmly establishing the business associations in these six towns before expanding to others.
Cooperation Between the MBD/SED Unit and Job Developers
The 1992 evaluation recommended more cooperation between the MBD unit and the job developers. A critical problem at the time of the last evaluation was that the job developers were largely prohibited from travelling, the rationale being that their ever more frequent (and hence, expensive) travel was producing fewer and fewer results in the declining economy. The evaluation suggested that job developers work closely with the MBD/SED personnel, cooperating with them in the delivery of the seminars, travelling with them to these towns, helping the MBD/SED personnel identify potential seminar participants, and then utilizing the networks, contacts, and travel opportunities to seek positions for COIC trainees and graduates.
Both the job developers and the MBD/SED personnel are extremely pleased with the results of this cooperation. It has improved the seminars, raised the prestige of the job developers in the eyes of potential employers, and led to placement opportunities for COIC graduates. And it has allowed the job developers travel and carry out their difficult task with a more efficient use of scarce resources. This manner of working together should be continued, increased, and strengthened.
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Tracking the Self-Employed
As, part of the reorientation of COIC toward self-employment and job creation, the 1992 evaluation recommended that COIC must make more of an effort to keep track of self-employed graduates. At that time it was the COIC practice to view them as those who are not yet placed in a job. Although people knew anecdotally of a number of entrepreneurial success stories of COIC graduates, the formal compilations list those who had been job placed and those not job placed.
The job developers have begun a more intensive effort to follow-up on COIC graduates, especially on those who are successfully self-employed. In an effort to track down and followup more effectively with COIC graduates, they have held a series of meetings in most of the towns where graduates are settled, and have helped the graduates to form local alumni chapters. In this manner COIC has enrolled almost half of the graduates and updated the information on what they are doing now. For this sample, they now know who is self-employed, as well as where and in what sort of enterprise. And they are continuing to gather and compile such information on graduates as they are located.
For those who have graduated since the last evaluation, the job developers have a good record that includes both the "job-placed" and the self-employed. Of the 108 trainees who completed the course between October 1, 1992 and September 30, 1993, 57 are listed as having been placed in jobs and 11 are reported to have set themselves up in business. A number of these graduates completed their program at the very end of the fiscal year and are now finding jobs and setting up business, so the percentage of FY 93 graduates who are placed or set up in business within six months of completion will very likely reach 80%. (COIC's record keeping scrupulously avoids any double counting, but in the process it seems to fail to capture a significant number of potential placements and self-employed graduates whose employment or self-employment takes place after the end of the fiscal year.)
It is difficult to predict at this point how many of the 108 will go into business for themselves. With the shortage of even small amounts of capital for purchasing tools and supplies, many of those interviewed expressed their intention to work for awhile until they could save enough to strike out on their own.
There are still problems with the COIC system of recording self-employment in its official statistics on graduates. In addition to the above mentioned problem of not capturing a number of the placements and self-employments that take place in the following fiscal year, there is still no formal system in the MIS for reporting self-employment separately from the "jobplaced", nor any system of distinguishing between (a) those just surviving in the informal sector from (b) those who are operating as successful individual contractors from (c) those in the formal sector with fixed places of business, significant invested assets, and employees or apprentices.
The 1992 evaluation recommended that OIC International revise its standard MIS to include a standardized system for recording and categorizing self-employed graduates. If this has been
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done, it does not seem to have been shared with the Cameroon OIC.
Small Enterprise Development Training
COIC has recently initiated the special one month intensive course to prepare a small select group of its past graduates to start their own enterprises. This course is a prerequisite for their application for a loan from the COIC-funded revolving credit fund.
The course led the 32 students through all aspects of starting and operating a small enterprise in the context of Cameroon. To complete the course, each student prepared a thorough business start-up plan for his or her new enterprise. This document then serves as the main part of the application for credit. The business plans reviewed by the evaluators are exceptionally strong. They contain detailed and sound financial analyses, relevant background material on the proposed enterprise's principal or, in some instances, principals, plans for capital purchases, location, design and renovation of premises when relevant, marketing strategies based on surveysof potential clientele and competing enterprises. The business plans are also attractively and professionally typed and presented with excellent drawings and maps as appropriate.
Of the 32 students who took the course, 24 prepared the business plans. A number of the others stated that the course had persuaded them that the enterprise they had in mind was not as viable as they had thought. In all respects, the course appears to have had precisely the impactanticipated. It has prepared a small group of COIC graduates to embark on significant although modest enterprises. Equally important, it greatly reduces the risk of future defaults on the COIC-funded loan program.
Revolving Loan Program
COIC plans to make a number of loans to selected course participants within the next two months. Arrangements have been concluded with a local commercial bank, the COIC loan committee has been set up and detailed guidelines for the process and criteria for loan selection have been completed. The guidelines stress that these are to be relatively small and short term loans. The largest loans will be for approximately 5 million cfa ($8,600) for a term of three years at commercial rates of interest. These larger long-term loans are intended for those few instances that merit them, especially instances where two or more graduates have joined together to form an enterprise and where there is strong potential for additional employment creation for other COIC trainees. Other loans are planned to be smaller with shorter repayment periods.
It does not seem, however, that COIC plans to make many loans for as small amounts and for as short P term as was recommended by the last evaluation team, and as would be prudent giventhe uncertainty of future interest rates. COIC should not lead its trainees into long-term interest rates commitments (3 to 5 years) that could turn out to be considerably above market during a long deflationary period. (Some analysts expect rates to fall and level off as low as 10%, due to the lack of inflation; others expect them to rise due to the increasing risk.)
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Having devoted the training resources in the intensive course, the natural pressure on COIC is now strong to provide the larger loans with longer terms to the strongest of these trainees who have invested their time and resources in the course and in the preparation of their business plans. COIC needs to emphasize short-term loans or negotiate longer term rates that float with an accepted indicator.
The current arrangement with the bank is perhaps less than ideal, since COIC will be doing the selection of borrowers as well as providing the monitoring and business advice. Since it is COIC's money that is providing a 100% guarantee for the loans, the bank is taking no risk and providing minimal service in return for receiving the interest on the loans and keeping the borrowers' money in non-interest paying current accounts. It is hoped that with a strong repayment record, COIC may be able to negotiate a larger lending pool in the future with COIC's money guaranteeing some percentage of the total lending. Similarly, one would like to see the bank be responsible for the selection process in the future. It is their job. These concerns not withstanding, it is important that COIC finally go forward quickly with the program and help some of its graduates get started.
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Rural Women's Training Unit
The goal of the rural women training unit is to "improve the lives of women and children through improved knowledge and eventually increased income through the formation of cooperatives or marketing societies." Women in nine villages receive training in mother and child care, various health topics, good farming methods etc. Since 1993, extension agents from the Government and trainers from the SED/MBD unit of COIC have accompanied the rural women's training instructor to the villages and have provided supplemental training in good farming practices and entrepreneurial development. Women are provided with ideas on how to turn their current farming practices into money making ventures. Follow-up is provided to ensure that new training practices learnt are being implemented by the women.
Several proposals developed by the unit have been submitted to donors such as UNDP. No response has been received as of yet. One of the proposals submitted, aims at developing a Rural Development Council, which would be comprised of the leaders of all the villages who have received training from COIC. The existence of the Council would facilitate the exchange of ideas among women in different villages and would also serve as a market for their products. COIC would then function merely as a clearinghouse for funding received.
The mid-term evaluation of 1992 recommended mapping out a stronger program for rural enterprise development focusing on women in order to secure adequate grant funding from multilateral donors. The recommendation is still valid at the time of this evaluation. After the mid-term evaluation, the instructor for women's training was temporarily reassigned, for a short period of time to the Hotel Catering Unit, before assuming sole responsibility for this unit. Also as a result of other recommendations made in the mid-term evaluation report, the rural women's training unit is under the supervision of the Training Manager and is at the same hierarchal level as other vocational training programs. However, inadequate administrative support and lack of access to transportation have restricted the program's progress. The recent arrival of the IFESH intern, Robin Odom, who assisted in the development of proposals, was of great help to the unit. The evaluation team recommends COIC management focus on a stronger strategy for this unit in order to make a significant impact in the lives of village women.
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4. IMPACT OF THE COIC PROJECT
Impact on Beneficiaries
Numbers. The 1992 evaluation found that the employment placement rate for OC graduates was"unacceptably low" (about 50%), with, according to OIC records, only half of the graduates being placed in jobs upon completion of their training. The miserable state of the economy was cited as the main cause of this job placement failure. USAID had questioned whether the premises of the original employment needs survey (1986) were still valid, and requested COIC to perform an update to see if vocational areas other than those taught at the center might be more appropriate.
The present evaluation finds that the situation is much better than previously thought, despite the economic picture, and that COIC may be surprisingly close to meeting its target of having 80% of its graduates employed or self-employed in the areas for which they were trained. We estimate that at least 70% of COIC graduates are employed or self-employed using their OIC skills. Partially the improved picture is a result of the improved documentation of the increasing number of graduates who choose to be self-employed, and partially a result of improvements in the job placement activities. And partially the improved picture relates ironically to the continued economic slide, as people take what few assets they have and put them into house structures for protection against deflation of the value of money and inflation of land assets. Jobs and contracts for COIC's building construction trainees are up considerably.
We base this surprisingly optimistic assessment on a number of imperfect sets of information.
One source is the information from the survey carried out through the process of forming the alumni associations in half a dozen key locations. This has provided data on about half of all graduates of COIC. This survey is not yet complete and the results are not fully analyzed, but among this sample of 300 graduates, 45% are self-employed, 21% are employed, and 34% report themselves to be unemployed. In summary, this survey found a total 65 %employed or self-employed. The job developers reasonably speculate that this survey under represents to some extent those who are gainfully employed, since they have less freedom to attend the meeting that was called and less to gain than the unemployed who still look to the OIC jobdevelopers to flnd them a position.
Another source of information are the statistics cited earlier for FY 1993 job placement. Duringthis period, 108 trainees completed their program. Of these 108 trainees, 53 %were placed in jobs during the course of FY 1993 (October 1992 - September 1993). Another 10% have successfully started up their own enterprises. These numbers do not include the job placementsof trainees from the previous year(s) that took place during this year. Also, the total completions number of 108 includes 38 hotel/catering graduates who completed their course close to the end of the year and understandably, 18 of them had not yet been placed or set upin business when the annual statistics were compiled shortly thereafter. Assuming that the high(90%) placement rate for hotel/catering graduates continues, and based on placements of them
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during recent months, we are confident that about 75 %of the class of FY 93 are employed or self-employed within six months of completion.
The third set of data is comprised of adding the recently acquired information on self-employed graduates to the information on vocational job placements since COIC's inception. According to the MIS records of COIC, of the total of 612 completions through FY 93, 362 (59%) have been placed in a job at least once by the job developers. Additionally, the job developers, as a result of their alumni surveys, know of an additional 107 (17%) of the graduates through FY 93 who are self-employed. What they do not have good records on is the number of those job placed graduates who retained that or another job one year later. Nor have they cross checked the names of the self-employed list to see how many of them were at one point job placed. Finally, it is not clear how many of the "self-employed" are simply surviving much as anyone might under the circumstances, or how many are truly investing their time and resources in a personal enterprise no matter how small it may start. Our interviews with self-employed graduates indicated that iey are using what they learned at COIC to very good advantage, planning, networking and mobilizing often meager resources in their enterprises, rather than just surviving in the swelling informal sector.
Quality of Life. One hears it so often when interviewing OIC graduates that it is too easy to lose sight of what an extraordinary statement it is: "OIC changed my life."
Whatever they were when they entered, OIC trainees fimd themselves profoundly different when they graduate and they recognize what it was that caused the change. What does one find when 70 some graduates are interviewed?
E A woman who is the shop foreman (forewoman) of a furniture factory that exports to Europe.
0 A refugee from Nigeria who couldn't find work as a photographer and decided he'd rather be a cook anyway who is now the head cook in a restaurant that serves "American" food in Douala.
N Several self-employed furniture makers who typically started with a few hand tools and slowly built a small business.
N A group of construction program graduates who couldn't find employment so they now bid on small construction jobs. When they need help they contact other graduates and they work together on bigger jobs. One CIOC graduate hiring another or forming informal associations to help each other iscommon. A sort of CIOC construction mafia.
* A young woman who started a restaurant in a remote rural town, and made the establishment into an oasis sparkling white cleanliness in the center of a town famous for its dust. The restaurant is prospering and she has just added a small hotel to the business.
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Three COIC graduates of the recently completed intensive course in entrepreneurshipwho have joined together and prepared a first rate loan application/business development plan to open a new restaurant in Limbe.
Employers who say they will hire more CIOC graduates as soon as the economyimproves. The most often cited reason is the superior general attitude and work habits of COIC graduates.
These graduates' lives have changed in very concrete ways, they have jobs, are self employed, are independent and are often earning more than a college graduate working for the government.One can argue that the concrete changes are not only the result of learning a saleable skill but the result of changes in attitude, the development of self confidence, an appreciation for the benefits of work, and a better understanding of themselves, what they want out of life and what they must do to get it.
Impact on the Community. It is difficult to define what are the limits of COIC's community.Certainly in the town of Buea and its immediate surroundings, COIC has an impact. For one thing it is presently the largest local employer that is regularly paying its staff their full salaries. As for the graduates, more than one third of COIC's employed and self-employed graduates are working or operating in the area demarcated by Limbe at one end and Buea at the other. Buea is a very small place, despite being the provincial capital, and the presence of in internationallyfunded and nationally known institution is important to its leading citizens, most of whom serve on the interest group, the board of directors, or the technical advisory committee for COIC.
Impact on Government Policy. There is no evidence that the government, in the form of the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance, has any plans to adopt OIC training methods and approaches for its system of vocational training institutes. Ministry officials speak well of COIC and seem to genuinely admire its successful approach to training, especially its emphasis on self respect, comportment, world of work, and attitudinal development. What they hope for is that foreign donors will fund more OICs in other locations in Cameroon, not that their own institutes might emulate aspects of the OIC approach.
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S. INSTITUTIONAL SUSTAINABILITY
Managerial and Professional Capability
The Cameroon OIC poescsses the managerial and technicaliskills to function effectively without the presence of international advisors. It also has developed stable community roots and increasingly effective national networks. By all criteria save one, COIC is fully prepared to carry on effectively once the A.I.D. grant ends on March 31st.
Internal Relations. The 1992 evaluation reported that the institution had weathered two storms, a tough period of factional infighting and a major dispute between management and staff, and seemed to be settling into a pattern of institutional normalcy. After fifteen months, the picturecontinues to improve regarding relations between staff and management, and between management and the board of directors. The evaluators are particularly impressed with the professionalism of the senior training staff, training manager, the unit coordinators, accounting department, and job developers and student service counsellor. In a land where one finds the employees of most institutions currently in a state of suspended animation, OIC staff are working long, hard, and effectively, at every level. Last year, COIC contracted a local management specialist to carry out a series staff development seminars with the OIC professional staff, where they reviewed all aspects of their own individual and collective efforts and performance. The seminars were held half during the week and half on Saturdays, splitting the time contribution evenly between staff and institution. The exercise is reported by the participants to have been helpful in improving operations and understanding.
External Relations. Although COIC decided not to invest in the major media public relations/fund raising campaign recommended by the last evaluation, it seems to have made progress in overcoming its previous isolation in Buea. (The Board of Directors determined that under the current economic conditions, the campaign was not likely to yield donations in excess of the cost of the campaign.) The continuing performance of the business management seminars in key locations, the careful promotion of OIC week and the graduation ceremony, the implementation of the NEF grant, the award of the Bread for the World grant, and the on-going negotiations regarding the debt for development grant have all helped raise COIC's profile on the national level. The most serious on-going problem in this regard is the lack of a ffirm commitment from the government to provide a base of firm support. Since the government is not paying its own teachers' salaries, perhaps COIC is well off not being dependent on this support for the time being. It does seem that the government is generally supportive of the OIC effort. For example, the Prime Minister is reported to be supporting the transfer of some government farms in Buea to OIC, and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance is supportive. In the long run, however, it is hard to imagine COIC operating effectively without more tangible and secure government support and involvement.
Financial Sustainability
The financial condition and prospects of COIC are much improved since the last evaluation,
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although the situation is precarious. The program has funds from Bread for the Worldand NEF to continue operations for approximately six months following the end of the USAID grant on March 31. There are several strong possibilities for significant funding that should materialize during the interim.
Projected COIC Recurrent Expenditures. COIC now has a recurrent annual budget of about 180 million cfa, which is likely to feel some upward pressure as a result of increased cost of some materials as a result of devaluation. (This is a reduction from 200 million originally budgeted for the current year.) Although there a some small savings and improvements in resource utilization efficiency that can be made if necessary, the evaluators find the present level of recurrent costs to be reasonable and effective in support of the training program.
Projected COIC Revenues. The USAID grant provides for operating expenditures through March 31. It also provides about 100 million cfa to complete the construction of the hotel training unit and other equipment purchases, all of which must be completed by March 31.
The most important source of revenue is the recent grant received from the German NGO, Bread for the World. This grant has paid its first of three payments, which, due to the devaluation, amounts to 100 million cfa. COIC estimates that this unrestricted amount should allow them to continue current operations through September 30, 1994. COIC can expect to have approximately 100 million cfa per year for each of the following two years as well. In other words the Bread for the World grant assures roughly half of the COIC operating expenses for the three year period 1994-97.
The NEF/World Bank grant paid its first installment of 156 million cfa. These funds support the designated NEF activities, such as MBD/SED seminars, special three-month business courses for retrenched civil servants, training in diesel mechanics, and the construction and refurbishing of NEF training sites. These activities are continuing beyond the one year period covered by this first installment. The next installment of the grant is due sometime after March 31. (Although not all the funds from the fist installment will have been expended by then.) The grant is denominated in US$, and is paid out at prevailing exchange rates. There are some doubts as to whether the remaining installments will be paid. (It took some considerable effort to receive the first installment, even after the grant agreement had been signed.)
OICI and IFESH have worked hard to put together a Debt for Development scheme that could provide as much as 3.6 billion cfa for COIC programs, including starting OIC centers in Bamenda, Yaounde, and Douala, as well as funding for the existing Buea program. The proposed budget also includes utilizing some of the funds for the revolving loan fund, and putting some of the funds in an endowment type fund. The main constraint to concluding the arrangement may be the Government of Cameroon's inability to come up with the required amount of local currency, in spite of the favorable debt swap terms.
Proposals have also been sent to a variety of other European and American donor agencies, requesting support to keep the center from closing its doors. These proposals tend to be more
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on the order of solicitations for help, than proposals for actual activities of special interest to the specific donor agency. The Chairman of the Board of Directors is at present in Europe along with some key OIC fund raisers. The aim of 'this visit'is to develop a better idea of donors' present interests so that future proposals can be more precisely tailored to be responsive to donor interests.
The payments still owed by the Government of Cameroon are not expected to be paid in the imaginable future due to the ongoing fiscal crisis. No significant amount of funds are expected to be raised from local private sources, especially in the wake of the recent 50% devaluation of the cfa.
Income Generation Activities. COIC has successfully reorganized its restaurant economic venture unit, continues to recover costs and generate some income through taking on contracts in its furniture making and automotive units. These activities currently contribute approximately 6 million cfa per year to COIC. It is planned that the completion of the new Hotel/Catering senior training unit, with its expanded restaurant facility and small number of guest rooms will add to the revenues provided by COIC's income generation activities.
There are discussions regarding two other income generation activities for the future. One is to open the former petrol station that is part of the COIC complex to start selling petrol and providing other auto services in conjunction with the body shop and other existing automobile related COIC activities. This venture had been discussed but not implemented in the past because the high CFA exchange rate resulted in a flood of cheap Nigerian petrol being sold in the area. With devaluation, the activity looks promising and appropriate. A feasibility study and business development plan needs to be done as a first step.
The second income generation idea that is receiving serious consideration at COIC is the take over from the government of the Buea Upper Farms. This would be done in conjunction with the initiation of a small agricultural training unit under the proposed Debt for Development Grant. The evaluation team did not review these plans in detail. In general, the evaluation team's reaction is that thze Buea center should probably not diversify into agriculture. As a subject/training/business area it is too far removed from the rest of the center's successful programs. COIC has requested OICI to provide someone to do a feasibility study for the proposed agricultural training programs in Buea and Bamenda. Such a feasibility study should also examine the reasonableness of having an income generation unit related to these programs and facilities.
Income generation activities should be closely related in subject matter to the training program of the center. Judging from past experience at COIC and from the experience of other OIC affiliates in Africa, these activities are not likely to provide more than 10% to 15% of COIC's total annual budget. Nor should they. Even with the new schemes that are being considered, COIC is a long way from generating 10% of its budget this way.
Summary. COIC is almost entirely dependent upon overseas grants for its future operations.
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It is doubly vulnerable in this regard since it has yet to develop its own networks and grantsmanship capabilities to the requisite level to assure its continued ability to tap into the changing priorities of donor organizations. It has not attained the sine qua non of financial sustainability, a truly diversified portfolio of support, not just support from different donors, but different types of commitment (long term, short term, restricted, unrestricted, in cash, in kind, etc.). The currently held ,rants and possibilities will probably get them through the next few years, but keeping COIC going remains an on-going and uphill battle for the board of directors.
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6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
General Conclusions
Although the financial future of the Cameroon OIC is precarious, the institution fully prepared to "graduate" from its direct dependence on OICI and on the original A.I.D. grant arrangement. COIC provides quality training the results of which are evident in the numbers of its graduates who find employment or meaningful self-employment in these times of economic stagnation. The process is well underway of reorienting the program so that job creation (entrepreneurship training and small business management seminars) is given equal or greater weight to job placement. This is proving effective for preparing trainees for the tough employment situation in Cameroon, and attractive to donors.
General Recommendation
The evaluators strongly recommend that Cameroon OIC's Buea training center largely continue operating as it is, avoiding radical changes in its program content. It would be a mistake to close down completely a program in auto mechanics or building construction because of the present lack of employment or OJT opportunities.
As the economy changes, more opportunities will open up for COIC graduates. For instance, two years ago, there was little construction work to be had. Now it has picked up as people invest what little resources they have in the relatively safe haven of real estate. One might expect that the recent devaluation of the franc could have a positive effect on the auto repair business, as new cars and parts will cost double. It is the evaluators' view that COIC graduates are as prepared as can be to find their employment and self-employment niches in a changing economic situation.
Technical Recommendations for COIC
The following are specific suggestions for improving different aspects of COIC's training program.
stuaent counsewng. Counselling is a rare practice in Cameroon and students have had no prior experience with the practice. Nonetheless, it is one of the major factors contributing to the transformation of the student at CIOC. It would be even more effective if the counselors had a separate room in which to meet students. At present counselling is done in the offices of one of the four counselors. There is the inevitable visitor, phone call and passer-by who must look in to see what is happening. A separate room especially devoted to counseling would eliminate these distractions and intrusions on the privacy of the counselor and the student. The room need not be large but should be comfortable and in an inconsvicuous location.
At present, one file is kept on each student. This primary file contains admission materials, grades and the like; the material that is relatively public and should be available to faculty. If
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counselling documents are kept in the primary file, that file is not available to other staff. At present, some counseling records are kept by the counselors chronologically. This makes it awkward to find all the records of a student's counseling if they are scattered in a series of monthly files. A separate file should be kept by the student's guidance counselor that is strictly confidential and available only to the counselor.
Teaching Aids. More use could be made of inexpensive teacher produced teaching aids. These should be designed to meet the specific needs of the students and the specific CIOC curriculum. It is not suggested that large amounts be spent on purchasing sophisticated aids off-shore. Few would be relevant to the training received at CIOC anyway. There are many aids, however, that would help the teacher explain concepts in a concrete form that could be easily made. More use of posters, charts, diagrams in the classroom would also be appropriate.
Two instances, where teaching aids are present, they are not being used to their full potential. There is an overhead projector, now found in the auto mechanics department, and the television/VCR found in the hotel/catering section. Appropriate instructional tapes should be purchased to take full advantage of the investment already made in the TV equipment and materials purchased so that simple transparencies could be produced for the overhead projector. Materials for transparencies should be those that allow the teacher to make his own transparencies. It is not suggested that large amounts be spent to purchase commercially prepared overhead transparencies
A set of instructional modules has been purchased from ILO. There is no indication that they are being used. A recent in-service training workshop had as one of its topics, "Training Module Development". It is fecommended that, taking the appropriate ILO units as a starting point and applying the learning from the workshop, two or three self instruction/self paced training modules be prepared that meet the specific needs of one of the CIOC classes. The suggested choice of topics would be those that would allow the more gifted student to progress as a faster pace, without making undue demands on the instructor who could continue devote his full time to the regular students while the faster student advances on his own. On the basis of the initial trial the CIOC could make a more informed decision as to how, if at all, it should proceed to d
