Audit of AID"s participant training program in Senegal

The audit covers the period 10/87-3/91. In four of the five projects reviewed, USAID/S adequately monitored participants to ensure timely completion of training and return to Senegal; the return rate was 100% for the 12 participants under these projects. Resources Development III project, however, the Mission was lax, authorizing training extensions without valid justification for four of the nine participants and failing to take appropriate action to prevent high rate of non-return. In fact, three of the four trainees granted extensions did not return to Senegal and the fourth returned without completing his Master"s degree. None of the five project agreements included appropriate safeguards to ensure that participants return to Senegal after training completion. The Mission did not follow A.I.D. guidelines to ensure that candidates selected for U.S. training possessed adequate proficiency in English. Half of participants in the United States did not have adequate knowledge of English. Other participant selection criteria were also ignored. In most cases, the Mission and contractors merely approved any candidate selected by the Government of Senegal. The Mission also failed to maintain complete trainee files; academic enrollment and term reports and medical certificates were often missing. Little effort was made to follow up on returned trainees. As a result, the Mission is unable to determine whether trainees are utilizing their acquired skills. Furthermore, potentially valuable contacts with and feedback from influential trainee alumni in Senegal"s private and public sectors are lost.