Training Missions
Background
At the conclusion of World War II, European and other economies were significantly behind the United States in terms of productivity of their business, agriculture, and government services. As a result, the standard of living of the population needed to be improved rapidly to meet the expectations of the population. The Marshall Plan was undertaken to meet this need.
Training missions were an important component of the original Marshall Plan program. Over 24,000 industry leaders came to the U.S. on 5,000 training programs. The objective was to increase the productivity of industry, agriculture, and government by exposing leaders to modern methods, practices, and procedures. The result was an increase in national productivity of 4-5% in the participating countries. The current CEI program is closely modeled after the original Marshall Plan technical assistance program and has the same objective.
How can the CEI program help?
Each CEI program is targeted at a specific industry or government activity. As a result, high-level industry executives and government officials are able to see for themselves what works and what does not. Best practices can be observed and discussed, not only with the U.S. host organizations, but among themselves. Participants are then in a position to implement new ideas at home, often without expensive investment.
A CEI program is an alternative to sending highly paid consultants to the developing country. They:
Are more economical
Do not require in-country training of the consultants
Offer a variety of solutions in a variety of locations – both large and small government agencies and states, businesses, farms, etc.
Provide greater exposure to solutions and greater understanding than can be offered by a single consultant visiting the developing country.
How does the CEI program work?
There are 4 phases to a CEI training mission:
Industry selection
Participant selection and preparation
Training mission
Post-program follow-up
These phases are described in more detail on the program brief entitled “How a Training Mission Works”.
Where will a group travel?
Programs visit U.S. enterprises in their own field of activity, within industry, agriculture, or government. These enterprises will often be located in the Midwestern states. Visits to Eastern and Southern states are made wherever appropriate.
Expected Benefits
Programs are designed to expose participants to new and modern ideas and technology. In some cases, participants on missions from Ukraine have reported a benefit to cost ratio of 18:1 in a single year. Substantial benefits are expected for all future missions.