Abstract
USAID/Serbia's Preparedness, Planning and Economic Security (PPES) Project is a five-year $25 million project implemented by Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI). It consists of two distinct but related components: preparedness planning (PP) and economic security (ES). It began in May 2006 and was originally scheduled to end in 2011, and the preparedness planning component ended then. The contract was amended to add eighteen months for the economic security component. The objective of this performance evaluation was to conduct a full, evidence-based and independent review of USAID-financed activities under PPES. The purpose of the evaluation was: (1) to examine the effectiveness of project activities to date; (2) to determine whether the project has achieved planned results; (3) to identify gaps in performance against targets; and (4) in the case of activities under economic security component, to provide recommendations on closing these gaps in the final year of the project. At the request of the mission, further consideration was given to identifying lessons learned and recommendations for consideration in future funding. The evaluation's overall findings are: (1) PPES has met or exceeded requirements of the project; (2) DAI's reports are consistent with the findings of this evaluation, with one minor exception; (3) the failure to have any progress in government-to-government dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is having a broad negative impact on PPES' ability to help business expand across borders and it also limits linkages in youth activities; and (4) the economic downturn has limited export markets and slowed business growth throughout Serbia, including those firms included in the performance evaluation. Some overall recommendations at the program level were made as well: (1) migrate some of the best, ongoing work in Youth and Business Support to other ongoing or planned initiatives; (2) the PPES Grants program had a high level of impact, but is understated; (3) USAID/Serbia should initiate new designs or interventions now so as not to lose the momentum that PPES has been providing; (4) six changes in Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR), now titled COR, occurred during the life of PPES; given the caliber of the technical national staff within USAID/Serbia, that such authorities and responsibilities be vested in a permanent national staff; and (5) having locally identified staff work in region-specific positions is highly recommended as it facilitates all aspects of program implementation. (Excerpt, modified)