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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.
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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
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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
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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
8 1111
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