Ex-post Evaluation

1-1 Background of the Project

Technical cooperation(19 April 1980~18 April 1990) toward Jomo Kenyatta College of Agriculture and Technology aimed at the training of technicians of the agriculture and industry. Both field of training the Kenyan were completed successfully. For diploma course, it was confirmed that it could be managed by the Kenyan side without the support of Japanese Government.

After that, Kenyan government advanced the expansion to the higher education in consideration of university entrance age, population's increasing in 1990 when the influence of the education reform reached its peak. It was promoted to the same status as Nairobi university, Moi university, Kenyatta university, Egerton university in the university which ward bachelor and diploma. Moreover, Kenyan Government requested Japanese Government grant aid for expansion of JKUAT and Project Type Technical Cooperation to establish the technological bachelor courses, i.e., the department of agriculture, the department of Engineering of the advanced technician training.

1-2 Project Overview

(1) Overall Goal:

The graduates of the JKUAT contribute to the development of agriculture and industry in Kenya.

(2) Project Purpose:

Students from the targeted seven departments of JKUAT acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to work in the fields of agriculture and industry.

(3) Outputs:

1) The management system of JKUAT is improved.

2) Both theoretical and practical education is provided to the students enrolled in bachelor's courses.

3) The quality of teachers is improved.

4) Facilities and equipment necessary for the course work and research activities are improved.

5) Research activities are conducted.

(4) Inputs

Japanese side:

Kenyan side:

3-1 Summary of Evaluation Results

(1) Relevance

One of the development strategies of the Kenyan government is to become industrialized by 2020, while agriculture is the backbone of the economy. The JKUAT project was both in line with the countries industrialization strategy as well as relevant with Kenyas main economic activity (agriculture). The undergraduate programme at JKUAT was tailored towards producing university graduates who were technically oriented, a good proportion of whom were destined to work in agriculture. The country's agricultural performance has been declining over the years. In an effort to reverse this trend the Government has pledged to encourage and support the development of appropriate technology, which is responsive to variations in agro-ecological zones as well as providing demand-driven extension services. Research non-traditional crops which have been carried out by JKUAT and disseminated, the development of the livestock and crops tolerant to drought and the control of harmful insects are relevant to the countries agricultural policy.
Furthermore, industrial development also contributes to the promotion of the employment as stated in the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERSWEC) 2003-2007. The implementation of the project is relevant to the objectives specified in the (ERSWEC).

(2)Effectiveness

The project objective was achieved as expected, described in above-mentioned outputs 1- 2 (3). Specially, for training of high level staff, over 60% of the Academic staff hold Doctorate degree, and as for development of a degree programme has grown from initial 10 to 94. Moreover, as for the machines, materials, modern and latest equipment were supplied, as compared with other universities. As a result, JKUAT was able to provide high quality of education.
JKUAT graduates are excellent in communication skills and problem solving abilities, cross-disciplinary approaches, technical skills competence and teamwork. These evaluation information was provided by the graduate's employers. Therefore, the validity of this project execution is high.

(3)Efficiency

Counter part training and equipment provision was generally done on schedule. And, as for the specialist as well, the talented people who had enough knowledge were sent on schedule. However, due to language problem (English and Kiswahili), technical skills transfer may have been limited.

(4)Impact

The demand for the employment of the JKUAT graduates is high in comparison with the graduate of other universities in agriculture and the industrial fields. This shows that evaluation toward the employers of graduates is high, and moreover a graduate makes use of the research result learnt at the university and contributes greatly in agriculture and the industrial fields.
The research of JKUAT has produced high yielding as well as disease resistant crops that have enabled rural households increase their income generation abilities and thus contribute towards the government strategy of poverty reduction. Moreover, research results were introduced to farmers of the wide domestic range through the extension program, and introduction at the actual farm level.
Farmer training in the research, production and extension service has spread out more directly resulting in profitable farming. This is an encouraging input from a Kenyan university. Various kinds of crop were developed, especially tissue culture bananas, which was readily accepted by many farmers, and this has greatly contributed to food security and poverty reduction directly in the country. The income earned through the sale of seedlings and other farm products is set to play an increasing role in the Universities financial sustainability in addition to the direct impact of raising farm yields across the country.
Practical training, particularly in the fields of engineering has made it possible for some appropriate equipment to be developed e. g. the walking tractor. However there has been limited commercialization of machinery/equipment developed through research and consequently, the projects impact in this regard has been quite low.
The existence of the university gave it an opportunity to get income by the offer of accommodation facilities and the bicycle transportation in the surrounding community. Besides this, the university supply water to the surrounding community, and makes a profit. But, the wastewater and sewerage disposal system of the university has a negatively affected the lives of the community around the campus. A positive impact was realized due to provision of medical services by the university hospital to the community living around the university.

(5)Sustainability

The deans of faculties, chairmen of department, lecturers, and technicians are making use of that technology and knowledge for most of the trained counter parts personnel. A good number of former counterparts are taking responsibility for the training on JICA sponsorship.
The counter-parts and equipment are now also being used in the Third-country training and the In-Country training programmes. These programmes are contributing significantly to capacity building both in Kenya and other several African countries. The Kenyan counterparts are able to undertake syllabus review and they have already produced new syllabuses for parallel programme courses in various faculties.
JKUAT has fully established itself as a university that is producing graduates who are in high demand due to their technical orientation. The university stands above the rest of the public universities due to its modern equipment, its well equipped laboratories and the fact that it has a small number of students, facilitating closer supervision.
The university has continued to train its staff locally and abroad in each field.
All departments have started graduate courses and staffs are encouraged to study for higher degrees. Technically, the JICA trained staff are able to carry out their duties as trained and are also able to train others without further reliance on JICA. Currently, there are more holders of PhDs and Masters as opposed to the time when the project was running. New programmes which weren't presumed during the project execution was started, too. In addition, for each faculty, common subjects were harmonized to reduce duplication and sharing of resources.
Although research activities slowed down when the project came to an end in the year 2000, the activities are gradually picking up, especially with funds from IGU, and there are now prospects of sourcing more research funds from AICAD.
The university is currently developing a corporate-wide computerized system. This will further enhance systematized planning and implementation.
Therefore, it can be said that sustainability is high generally, but, for further development, they are necessary to secure the budget for the book purchase and material maintenance in the library.

3-2 Factors promoting sustainability and impact

(1)Factors concerning planning

1) A Japanese expert contributed to project management technique and preventing corruption through increasing effectiveness.

2) Because the course program of JKUAT fitted for the national demands, the numbers of students are increased.

(2)Factors concerning the Implementation Process

1) The machines which were advanced to JKUAT by the project and a material were included, and more practical education than other universities and research were made.

3-3 Factors inhibiting sustainability and impact

(1) Factors concerning to planning

1) The inability of the Kenya Government to continue providing research funds at a level comparable to the project period, has slowed the tempo of research activities.

2) Although the increasing of students, sufficient classroom and student hostel has not been provided because of lack of the budgets.

3) This school has begun from the college, therefore there are a few books in the library.

4) The sewage disposal system is not in good condition, and has a bad influence on the environment.

(2)Factors concerning the Implementation Process

1) Some of the equipment came from Japan with operating manuals only in Japanese. This made it difficult for the technicians to utilize the equipment effectively. In most cases, maintenance manuals were not provided and this made it difficult to properly service and repair the equipment. There has also been a problem of spare parts for the equipment as they are not readily available in Kenyan market; and importation from Japan has been costly and time consuming.

2) Because most of the Japanese Experts were not proficient in either English or Kiswahili, communication was often difficult with the local counterparts, students and other University community members.

3) Some of the experts couldn't get used to the Kenyan custom. Therefore, the sharing of the ideas with the Kenyan person and interaction was limited.

3-4 Conclusion

On the whole this has been a very successful project and it has already helped JKUAT establish itself as a centre of excellence among Kenyan Universities. The momentum for the growth of the university has been set in motion and already the number of course programmes has grown from the initial seven to over ten; with some of Departments being elevated to institutes and fully-fledged schools of specialized learning.

3-5 Recommendations

(1)It is necessary to involve a beneficiary more in both stages of the design and the implementation of the project, especially in countries with cultures that are significantly different from Japan s; as sometimes this could lead to communication breakdowns.

(2)More caution should be taken on the specifications and sustainability of equipment/machines provided for use in the beneficiary s country.

(3)Whereas exposure to high-tech equipment and machinery is very beneficial to students from developing countries who go for further studies in Japan; greater emphasis should be put on process training rather than machine operation in order to enhance the adaptive skills of the beneficiaries.

(4)JKUAT must install a maintenance unit to adjust the service of the material.

(5)There is need to form stronger links with the industry with a view to developing more relevant training programmes.

(6)JKUAT should improve the marketing of the products (graduates, farm products, workshop services, consultancy services) to make a higher impact. Some marketing strategy needs to be developed.

(7)The start of the JKUAT certificate issue system gave the country an impact specially in the information technological programmes. This should be extended to other courses, as it is bound not only to spread the impact of the university but also increase revenue generation.

(8)The university should do work closely with Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) and the industry for enhanced development of commercialisable prototypes.

(9)Extension programmes to be extended to the rest of the country and to other departments.

(10)You should promote the publication of the journal to extend a research result. The design of the present JKUAT journal should improved to focus mainly on specialized areas.

(11)A walking tractor should be improved more. JKUAT should probably develop a new model in accordance with the soil and the conditions of the geographical features again. It also needs to be mass produced to cut unit costs and be marketed more aggressively throughout the East African region as it would be a substantial source of revenue for the University. Other innovations from within the university should be treated similarly. Where appropriate, the franchise should be given to a local industrial firm to manufacture and pay royalties to the University.

3-6 Lessons Learned

(1)When JICA completed its technical cooperation, JKUAT was not fully prepared to take over from JICA. Because some of the key staff did not fully understand the scope of the project. There is therefore need for better balance between expert and counterpart responsibilities.

(2)When JKUAT came to upgrade from college to the university, the physical condition of the material and others wasn't upgraded. It is stuck to the kind of a material to supply to solve these problems and the several prizes, and you must analyze it fully in advance.

(3)JKUAT should enforce the environment influence evaluation of the project fully.

(4)Though the beginnings were only agriculture and engineering, the diversification of departments of other subjects needs to be upgraded to accommodate the expansion of the university. It is high time a rethinking of the comprehensive development of the University facilities based on the increased scope of programmes was put in place.

(5)Formal links of industry and agriculture are necessary to deepen learning at the university and research.

(6)Whereas there has been substantial impact from the research activities in agriculture, the impact from other activities has been low due to the following limitations:

1) Technical design and diffusion arrangement for the process are promoted.
2) It is completely done that dissemination of information about the result of the research and the event in the university.
3) Adequate funding and other support for development of prototypes were carried out.

3-7 Follow-up Situation

AICAD were established, and JKUAT and both research of the east African area were promoted.