Year:         1997
Client:      Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS)
Country:   Southern Africa, The Netherlands
Value TA:  ?76,100

PSO is an association of Dutch development oriented NGOs. Under the umbrella of PSO they provide technical assistance to organisations in many developing countries, notably in the medical and educational sector in Africa. This support is largely financed by the Dutch development assistance. The objectives of the evaluation were twofold

• First, an assessment was made of the effectiveness and efficiency of the Technical Assistance to various developing countries as provided by PSO in the period 1994-1996.
• Second, an assessment was made of the degree in which PSO has been operating within the limits as indicated by the agreement on policy and procedures concluded between PSO and DGIS.

The evaluation comprised a desk study to screen the procedures as applied by the member NGOs and PSO itself mainly to assess if selection criteria were correctly applied. Then field visits to some twenty recipient organisations in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe active in health and education were conducted, mainly geared to assess effectiveness and organisational sustainability. This last aspect proved problematic as, especially in the medical sector, the shortage of qualified medical staff in the rural areas was so large that, given existing conditions, no replacement by local doctors could be reasonably expected on short term.