VZCZCXYZ0011
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #2511 3111954
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071954Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6569

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 002511 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
INFO USAID EL SALVADOR 
INFO DCHA BONICELLI, HYMAN, SARLES 
INFO LAC FRANCO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID OTRA CS
SUBJECT: MICHAEL ERIC KITE/USAID TDY REPORTING CABLE 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  USAID/W Democracy Officer, Eric Kite, from the 
DCHA/DG/Strategic Planning and Research Division (SAR) completed a 
five-day TDY (November 2 to November 6) for USAID.  Mr. Kite worked 
with USAID grantees University of Costa Rica and Vanderbilt 
University and an associated multi-national team of Latin 
American/Caribbean survey researchers to assure USAID-funded 
democracy and governance surveys best serve USG foreign assistance 
programming and policy needs. End summary. 
 
¶2.  Purpose of TDY:  the purpose of this TDY was to help finalize 
the 2006 democracy survey for Costa Rica funded by USAID/DCHA and to 
check progress of the website at the University of Costa Rica which 
will house regional survey data commissioned by USAID over the last 
15 years.  Additionally, Mr. Kite assisted a multi-national team of 
survey researchers to tailor survey reports to best serve the needs 
of USAID technical officers and policymakers.  Specifically: 
 
¶A. Mr. Kite spent Friday (11/3) with the Centro Centroamericano de 
Poblacion (CCP) of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) reviewing the 
results of the USAID/DCHA-funded Costa Rica democracy survey, which 
forms the upper benchmark for democracy support and values for 
placing the other Latin American surveys in context.  Mr. Kite also 
reviewed progress in an effort to improve public opinion survey 
collection through the use of PDAS, and the development of a 
UCR-designed and hosted website to house, in a single location, all 
of the USAID-funded Latin America/Caribbean surveys funded to date. 
The meeting should result in greater utility of this website for 
both researchers and USG policymakers. 
 
¶B. Over the weekend, Mr. Kite attended a two-day conference of 
survey researchers from 14 countries in the region to review initial 
results of their USAID-funded country surveys.  The meetings 
resulted in the development of country and regional report formats 
and areas of analysis.  Themes of analysis will include support for 
democracy and democratic institutions, political tolerance and the 
impact of crime and corruption on these USG development goals.  The 
reports will emphasize potential policy implications of survey 
findings for the USG. 
 
¶C. Before departing Costa Rica on 11/6, Mr. Kite briefed Embassy San 
Jose Political, Economic and Public Affairs sections on the 
USAID-funded activities with UCR and briefed on the key findings of 
the Costa Rica country survey. 
 
¶3.  Observations:  the TDY was a success in achieving its 
objectives:  oversight of USAID-funded activities with the 
University of Costa Rica and improving the utility of USAID-funded 
democracy surveys throughout the region.  Additionally, these 
regional meetings of survey researchers continue to contribute to 
substantial improvements in the capacity of local institutions to 
conduct high quality public opinion surveys and a better 
understanding on their part of the needs of policymakers versus 
academic audiences.  The utility of the surveys for informing USAID 
programs is increasingly clear, as expressed by the other USAID 
mission officers reviewing the new survey results at the conference. 
 Concerning the Costa Rica survey, the University of Costa Rica team 
expressed interest in briefing Embassy San Jose in greater depth at 
any time in the future. 
 
¶4. Conclusions or recommendations:  a complete trip report will 
follow to outline next steps in the completion of country and 
regional reports resulting from the 2006 democracy survey and in the 
implementation of the UCR website.  This will include 
recommendations for report contents and suggested timeframes for 
Washington and regional dissemination events. 
LANGDALE