ABSTRACT
Expanding the scope of participation in international donor agency projects and programs has been discussed from a variety of perspectives. Most analyses have focused upon beneficiary involvement in rural development projects designed and funded by donor agencies. This chapter describes the Joint assessment, providing background on its beginnings, the activities involved, the participants, and its mode of operations; and the results achieved. It offers an analysis of the case, focusing upon the links between participation and the achievements of the Joint assessment. The chapter looks at the lessons learned, and examines the assessment in terms of the characteristics of successful organizational innovation. The impetus behind the US Agency for International Development (USAID)/Government of Senegal (GOS) joint assessment was the desire of the USAID mission director, new to Senegal in 1979, to obtain an objective analytical appraisal of the Agency for International Development program and of the GOS situation.
