ALFALIT/Angola – Literacy
Evaluation
Angola
April - May 2004
 In
2002, USAID awarded a cooperative agreement to Alfalit International,
a faith based nonprofit, to implement adult literacy activities
in Bolivia and Angola. BEPS was asked to evaluate the Alfalit
Angola program, which was conducted in April/May of 2004. A
consultant team conducted a three-week mid-term evaluation
in Angola of Alfalit International’s adult literacy program.
The evaluation, which included over two weeks of fieldwork
in Luanda, addressed how the project is progressing and how
it can be improved during this phase and of the USAID cooperative
agreement and through FY2006. The research answered three questions
posed in the Statement of Work and, in so doing, focused on
performance objectives explicit in the Cooperative Agreement
and the subsequent Amendment between USAID and Alfalit International.
Alfalit
activity in Angola has attained impressive accomplishments
in mobilizing teachers and supervisors, in recruiting students
and gaining access to facilities, and in distributing books
and materials. Nonetheless, as currently implemented, it is
not sustainable programmatically, nor is it having development
impact on any scale beyond the individual. Nonetheless, given
the current deficits and constraints, the project is not achieving
the projected large-scale community impact and it is not sustainable
programmatically.
The means to strengthening
the program is not through expansion—either
numeric or geographical. Alfalit will only focus on quality
and create the conditions for impact and sustainability if
given the mandate required to rethink its goals and methods.
USAID can be of greatest help by insisting on performance and
programmatic accountability, and by sharing both its concerns
and its institutional know-how with Alfalit International.
Similarly, Alfalit should be given qualified external assistance,
Alfalit should develop a strategic plan, a detailed monitoring
plan, a revised organization chart, and job descriptions for
all professional employees. It must then retool its database
to serve as an instrument for management and accountability.
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