Audit of REDSO/WCA"s PL 480 Title II non-emergency food aid program in Burkina Faso

480 Title II food aid program in Burkina Faso. For FYs 1994-96, a total of $26.79 million in food was received or authorized under the program, which is implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Food aid is generally targeted to the most needy by the Burkinabe Food-for-Work (FFW) and Welfare Programs, but not by the related School Feeding Program (SFP), which focuses on increasing primary school attendance rates rather than on feeding the most needy. Nevertheless, CRS conducted a study in FY 1995 to rank the provinces that would most benefit from such a program. However, the rankings of this study differed from those of a similar study made by the auditors. Therefore, CRS/Burkina Faso (BF) should reassess the study to determine if it contained errors and to make any necessary corrections. Also, graduation criteria (to identify those who no longer need food aid) have not been developed for the SFP; they should be included in any future grant agreement with CRS/BF. Food commodities and monetization funds are reaching intended beneficiaries, but some problems exist. (1) During the latter part of the 1994-95 school year, the Ministry of Basic Education and Literacy for the Masses (MEBAM) programmed 4-month allocations of commodities to primary schools even though there were not 4 months left in the school year. As a result, $378,242 in excess food commodities (6.9% of the total value of the SFP) was distributed to primary schools. The excess rations were given to students to take home over the summer. (2) CRS/BF could strengthen its commodity controls by receiving copies of final, signed dispatch notes, matching them to the original dispatch notes, and following up on any differences between the two notes. This would enable CRS to verify that food programmed for its school feeding activities has reached the targeted primary schools, and that delivery losses incurred during the transport of the food have been accounted for, timely claimed, and reimbursed. At the beneficiary level, there is evidence of inadequately maintained commodity log books, improperly stacked commodities, and a lack of separation of duties, since the commodity custodians also kept the commodity log books. CRS/BF should remind school feeding controllers to discuss the importance of accurate inventory records, proper food storage, and separate food aid inventory responsibilities with commodity custodians during visits to primary schools. A similar reminder should be sent to CRS/BF"s FFW and Welfare partners. USAID"s Regional Economic Development Services Office/West and Central Africa (REDSO/WCA), which took over the Burkinabe Title II Program upon the 9/95 closure of USAID/BF, has not yet determined how to integrate its food aid activities into its strategic objectives and so has not developed performance goals and indicators, or collected baseline data for measuring the progress of the Title II Program in Burkina Faso. Further, due to a combination of weaknesses involving CRS/BF"s goals and performance indicators, baseline data, and performance monitoring system, it is not clear what progress the program has made towards achieving the results intended in CRS/BF"s planning documents. Since REDSO/WCA is in the initial stages of developing a regional USAID strategy for West and Central Africa, it should work with CRS/BF to address these problems. Also, if USAID decides to continue supporting the SFP, it should conduct the originally proposed sustainability study of the program, which was canceled when USAID terminated the food aid program in Burkina Faso as of 9/96. Management decisions have not yet been made regarding the audit recommendation to assess the SFP study, condition future SFP programs in Burkina Faso on inclusion of a graduation strategy, remind cooperating partners of the need for commodity controls, and develop program goals and performance indicators for the SFP, FFW, and Welfare programs.