Form Submission: IFCD Recommendation form

This project presents a program to build community development through the cultural entrepreneurship of 300 selected beneficiaries to take place mainly in the Cuban city of Cienfuegos, with links to several other important national and international projects, in line with the Cuban government’s wish to develop new creative business models. The objective to train 300 people in the creative industries corresponds to IFCD outcomes, but it is the planned methodology that posed a problem to the evaluators. First, the project’s objectives are too general and thus difficult to measure. Secondly, the applicant is not clear enough in the description of the creative industry development program, or the selection in terms of professional skills of the beneficiaries for the capacity building program. Furthermore, the budget needs to be revised as it makes no allowance for staff salaries and raises the question of the dispersion of the activities and expenditures (‘test cities’) rather than concentrating for this project on one ‘pilot city’. Furthermore, the contractors are included in the overhead section, and the communications budget is somewhat overestimated. Indeed, if the applicant wishes to reapply for IFCD funding, there are detailed comments in the two evaluations on how to amend and improve the budget presentation.