Education Capacity Building: the Consequence of Multi-lateral Involvement

The problem is a substantial intervention program in the Windward Islands (WI) has gone unevaluated. Aid programs such as Technical and Vocational Education Teacher Training (TVETT) go unevaluated because (a) aid agencies' personnel policies preclude hiring local people with experience and expertise to evaluate programs, and (b) projects are often abandoned because (i) another project came on stream, (ii) funds and materials were lacking and (c) project data arrived too late to conduct an evaluation. The Commonwealth of Learning-supported TVETT project is a distance education program developed and implemented in the WI from October 1996 to June 1997. The study found that only St. Lucia participated in all phases of the project. Dominica, Grenada and St. Vincent were involved solely in the planning and development of the technical and vocational teacher training core curriculum. The study concluded that the WI should (a) control the education project cycle (b) procure education services in markets of choice, (b) build the capacity to conduct research including project and policy evaluation, and (c) be transparent in the manner the education ministry interfaces with aid agencies.