Evaluates project to increase the quantity and quality of primary 
school teachers in rural Liberia as part of A.I.D.'s Rural Schools 
Program.  Impact evaluation covers the period 1958-1971.  No methodology 
is indicated.
	Although having a positive impact, the project was only a partial 
success due to flaws in design, implementation, and follow-up. Three 
Rural Teacher Training Institutes (RTTI) were constructed and equipped 
and two -- in Zorzor (opened in 1965) and in Kakata (opened in 1968) -- 
became and are still operational; 2,956 primary school teachers and 35 
administrators were trained; an RTTI curriculum was developed; teacher 
certification standards were established; rural women were afforded 
opportunity for advancement; and a large number of rural children were 
able to attend primary schools. Nevertheless, the project was hastily and 
poorly prepared by A.I.D. which is faulted for: concentrating on making 
Liberia a foreign aid showplace; insisting its own views prevail; 
overestimating local absorptive capacity; attempting to use teachers as 
rural development workers when teachers could not -- because their low 
salaries often necessitated second jobs -- afford to direct such efforts; 
developing an RTTI curriculum based on U.S. models and not coordinated 
with the primary school curriculum; allowing inadequate time to 
institutionalize the RTTI's; and failing to maintain contact with 
involved institutions or individuals after project termination.
	Except for the party chief, personnel assigned by the contractor, 
Tuskeegee Institute, were of fair to poor quality.  After project 
termination, the Government of Liberia was unable to sustain prior RTTI 
funding levels (e.g., the Webbo RTTI remained unused until an access road 
was built years after the project).  Most RTTI graduates remained at 
their rural posts for the required 1-2 years, but afterward many moved to 
other, often urban, areas and jobs.
	Thus, the project taught that A.I.D. must: (1) be realistic in 
designing and planning projects and allow for an adequate gestation 
period; (2) select a contractor capable of providing all needed services; 
(3) conduct regular evaluations and assessments and not rely solely on 
contractor reports; (4) be prepared for mid-course correction or even 
major revision or termination of a project; and (5) above all, develop 
projects with, not for, a host country.