Second Vocational Training
  Report No: ; Type: Report/Evaluation Memorandum ; Country: Pakistan; Region: South Asia; Sector: Vocational/Technical Education & Training;
                                                Major Sector: Education; ProjectID: P010252


         The Pakistan Second Vocational Training Project, supported by Credit 1670-PAK for US$40.2 million
equivalent, was approved in FY86. The credit was restructured in 1992–93. It closed on December 1996 after two
extensions. An undisbursed balance of US$7.58 million was canceled. The United Nations Development Programme,
the European Community (EC), and aid agencies from Canada and Germany provided co-financing. The
Implementation Completion Report (ICR) was prepared by the South Asia Regional Office. The borrower’s assessment
of the project is included as an annex to the ICR; comments from the EC were integrated into the text. Other co-
financiers did not comment.

         The project objectives were to improve the quality and expand the capacity of the vocational
training system in Pakistan to meet the requirements for skilled and semi-skilled manpower in the industrial and rural
sectors. Project components included setting up 31 new vocational training centers, expanding and improving 20
existing centers (these two components accounted for 74 percent of project costs), developing institutional capacity for
instructor training, and reforming the apprenticeship program. For its time, the project included innovative features: a
pilot program of women’s technical training centers and measures to improve the full range of monitoring and
evaluation functions from program implementation to impact assessments. Studies and technical assistance were
included to support the implementation process.

          Difficulties arose from the start, with delays in all components. By 1993, the project was restructured to cut
down on construction of new centers and to make the various training programs more responsive to labor market
conditions. Overall, the ICR estimates that the project achieved about 70 percent of its physical objectives and 60
percent of its quality improvement objectives. While only two of the expected five women’s training centers were
completed, they are operating successfully. The ICR reports that about 40–50 percent of trainees found jobs, but this
result is difficult to interpret without comparable information from other programs. The achievement of institutional
objectives was modest, hampered by a shortage of funds for operations and maintenance.

         The ICR rates project outcome as unsatisfactory, sustainability as unlikely, institutional development as modest,
and Bank performance as satisfactory (although appraisal was judged deficient). The Operations Evaluation Department
(OED) agrees with the ICR ratings except for Bank performance, which OED rates as unsatisfactory because the project
restructuring did not take place until the sixth year of implementation although delays and problems occurred in all
components from the start. The restructuring became operative too late for the resulting improvements to develop fully.

         The ICR identifies a broad range of lessons, but some are statements of current thinking on vocational training
unrelated to the project experience. On the other hand, the ICR does not derive lessons from two innovative features: the
relative success of the women’s training program, an early, innovative attempt at providing meaningful vocational
training for women in a difficult context, and the positive effects of transferring responsibility for project supervision to
the Bank’s resident mission.

       Overall, the ICR is satisfactory. It provides a detailed review of the project’s achievements and a clear
assessment of its difficulties. No audit is planned.