Ex-post Evaluation

1. Background of the Project

The textile industry, and mainly apparel manufacturing, is a major industry in Sri Lanka and its export value has been the largest of all export industries. However, the textile industry has been dominated by subcontractors taking advantage of low-cost labor and depending mostly on imported raw materials. Therefore, it has been an important issue for the textile and apparel industry to gain competitiveness in exporting products by 2005 when the Multi Fiber Agreement (hereinafter referred to as MFA), which has been advantageous to Sri Lanka, will be discontinued. Given such circumstances, the Government of Sri Lanka requested a Project-type technical cooperation from Japan with the purpose of upgrading material production technology and inspection and testing skills in the existing Textile Training & Services Centre (hereinafter referred to as TT&SC). In response to the request, cooperation activities including establishment of apparel technology and quality certification system were conducted.

2. Project Overview

(1) Overall Goal

The quality of Sri Lankan fabrics & garments is improved.

(2) Project Purpose

Technical services extended by TT&SC and CITI are upgraded.

(3) Outputs

• The project operation unit is enhanced.
• The necessary machinery and equipment are properly provided, operated and maintained.
• The skills and ability of the counterpart are improved.
• Training courses and seminars are implemented systematically
• Testing services are implemented systematically
• Consultancy services are implemented systematically as a trial.

(4) Inputs

Japanese side:

Sri Lankan side:

3-1 Summary of Evaluation Results

(1) Impact

Export values of fabrics and garments have been increasing continuously. This implies that the quality of Sri Lankan fabrics and garments are being improved.

Export values of fabrics and garments (Rupees Million)

Results of the questionnaires show that the programs conducted by both institutes are highly commended by the clients with respect to effectiveness and quality of the programs.

It has also been revealed that the motivation of the participants has improved after attending the programs – training, seminars and workshops. This would undoubtedly improve the productivity of their organizations.

The feedback of the current students indicates that the courses they follow would be very helpful to find jobs in the market (80%).

(2) Sustainability

Institutional

TT&SC and CITI were under the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and Industrial Development until 2001 and since then TT&SC is under Ministry of Industrial Development and CITI is under Ministry of Tertiary Education and Vocational Training. This situation has created numerous administrative problems which may create serious impact on sustainability of the two institutes in future.
The number of counterparts trained in Japan and under Japanese experts was 19 in both institutes. Present number has reduced to 7 persons. It has been evident that the 12 C/Ps trained both in Japan and under Japanese experts in Sri Lanka have left the institutes.
It learned that the 80% of the senior positions are kept vacant at the time of ex-post evaluation. This situation should be well addressed in order to avoid possible managerial problems.
The present structure of the payments to the resource persons is highly attractive and as a result they are able to obtain a comparatively high remuneration package equivalent to private sector employees.

Financial

The year 2002 has been remarkable one for CITI as the institute was able to achieve self-financing level with a marginal operational profit of Rs. 123,000 and has operated without any capital or recurrent grants from the Government.
Testing and other income of TT&SC has been steadily increasing from 1998 to 2002. A dramatic decrease is observed in year 2003. This may be due to the setting up of other testing houses which are accredited by the buyers and also the in house facilities for testing which is being developed within the companies. On the other hand the TT&SC laboratories also have accreditation from overseas buyers but do not have the ability to beat the other similar testing laboratories. The decline of testing income by approximately 53% from 2002 to 2003 is not a healthy situation.

Technological

After the termination of project contents of training courses have been revised and several new ones have also been added.
There is a negative trend with respect to consulting activities after Japanese experts left the country.
TT&SC and CITI have been able to obtain various accreditations from both national and international organization for its Diploma Course in Textile Technology, Textile Laboratory, and Testing Laboratory. The testing Lab is the first fabric testing laboratory in Sri Lanka to obtain the ISO 9002: 1994 Certification and subsequently updated the equal quality testing process in 2001 to obtain ISO 9001: 2000 series. Laboratory has also obtained the prestigious ISO 17025 accreditation for important tests in 2002.
Technical sustainability of the institutes basically depends on the proper maintenance and timely replacement of the machines and equipment. The present maintenance level has been acceptable. Since two institutes fully government owned ventures, the government procurement procedure should be followed. The Director and high officials are of the view that the advance request from the government has not delayed the procurement process.

3-2. Factors that have promoted project

The apparel export industry brings in 50% foreign exchange earnings to the Country. This industry employs approximately 350,000 persons directly and the indirect employment is as much as one Million. This situation will provide a huge market for training, testing services and consulting as well as input requirements such as human resources, capital, etc. of the institutes.

3-3. Factors that have inhibited project

TT&SC and CITI were earmarked for privatization in the year 2003 and the process has not been taken place till the time of evaluation. This proposal has negatively affected the on-going activities at both institutes.

3-4. Conclusion

The conditions and activities at TT&SC and CITI have been evolved since its inception for the betterment of textile and clothing industry of the country. These two institutes have contributed positively to the improvement of quality and quantity with respect to training, testing services, consulting etc. of the textile and clothing industry, which has become the flagship industry of the country within a reasonably short period. The government patronage, private sector enthusiasm and commitment and the support and cooperation extended by international agencies such as JICA, UNDP, and UNIDO have been commendable in achieving the set objectives of the two institutes in particular and the industry in general.

3-5. Recommendations

It is recommended to introduce self-autonomy for both institutions in order to achieve disseminating of the quality of training, testing and consulting activities in order to achieve competitiveness in following. 1. Implement new courses and upgrades the contents of the present courses. 2. Invite qualified and experienced external experts and lecturers and consultants. 3. To obtain the highest utilization of the machines and equipment. 4. Finally a dynamic marketing campaign is very much essential locally and abroad.

3-6. Lessons Learned

The C/Ps training is the core concept with respect to sustainability of the any project. If those personnel trained in Japan or under Japanese experts leave the TT&SC and CITI, it may affect negatively. Some of them as mentioned above have left already. This situation should be thoroughly studied and remedial action should taken when and where necessary.

3-7. Follow-up Situation

-Expert "Apparel Technology" (JFY2002-2003)
-Senior Volunteer "Apparel Technology"(JFY2003)
-Senior Volunteer "Coordinator"(JFY2003)