Accomplishments:

• A Program Executive Council was formed to oversee the management and evaluation of the program. It is comprised of representatives from USDA, USAID, the Dominican Ministry of Agriculture, and the Dominican Technical Secretariat of the Presidency.

• All aspects of the application process, including grant approval and funds disbursement, were transparent (i.e., all parties were dealt with in a similar way). This ensured that the public image of this program was positive and that it was not viewed as a pre-selected government-to-government program.

• A "Program Applicant Instruction Manual" was developed and publicly distributed to potential grantees to assist in the development of grant proposals.

• All 100,000 metric tons of wheat were sold during CY 1999, in accordance with the 416(b) Agreement. Note: the approximate amount of funds generated from the sale of the donated wheat was approximately US$16 million (DR$255 million pesos).

• A total of 151 proposals were received. The program was well received by both the public and private agricultural sectors. Due to an overwhelming response, it was necessary to shorten the proposal cut-off date by three months.

• All 151 proposals were reviewed and evaluated using mutually agreed upon criteria.

• The Program Executive Council approved funding for 33 projects from both the public and private sector. These proposals total approximately US$16.0 million.

• A Program Monitoring system was developed and agreed upon by all members of the Program Executive Council.

Analysis:

The 33 approved projects will rehabilitate many of the country’s cocoa, coffee, and sugar cane producing areas. They will replant damaged forest lands; provide access to technical information regarding sustainable agriculture; replace livestock such as chickens, dairy cows, and hogs; rebuild roads to assure transportation of agricultural products to market sources; and help reduce the effects and control the spread of a agriculturally-related diseases.

• It is estimated that these 33 projects will benefit approximately 60,000 small and medium-scale farmers in the Dominican Republic.

• Of the 33 approved projects, 21 (64%) are from the private sector and 12 (36%) are from the pubic sector.

• The cost of these 33 projects total approximately US$16.0 million or 100% of the available 416(b) Program funds. About 56% of these funds have been awarded to non-governmental organizations in the private sector and 43% have been awarded to the public sector.

• This Program has leveraged more than US$8.0 million from public and private agencies in the Dominican Republic. In other words, the 416(b) Program has approved agricultural reconstruction projects that total US$24.0 million dollars of which US$8.0 million is provided by Dominican agencies and the remaining US$16.0 million is provided for by 416(b) Program funds.

Future Plans:

• Both the Dominican Ministry of Agriculture and the Technical Secretariat of the Presidency have made formal their intent to solicit more commodities (wheat) to fund the 78% of proposals that could not be funded due to limited program funding.

• In conjunction with U.S. Embassy staff, the 416(b) Program will hold a series of promotional events that involve local media and successful projects.

U.S. Department of Agriculture
Foreign Agricultural Service
Ave. Pedro Henriquez Ureña #133
Edificio Reyna I , 4to. Piso, La Esperilla
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Tel: (809) 227-0112
Fax: (809) 732-9454
eMail: amemb.fasicd@codetel.net.do