Audit of USAID/Caucasus management of activities conducted by Save the Children Federation and its sub-grantees in the Transcaucasia, project no. 110-0001

The original cooperative agreement between USAID and SCF was signed in 8/93 for approximately $7.1 million. By 7/94, after 5 amendments, authorized funding had reached $50 million. As of 6/94, 25 subgrants had been signed with U.S. PVOs; subgrant obligations totaled $20.6 million and were geographically dispersed, with about 44% dedicated to Azerbaijan, 34% to Armenia, 18% to Georgia, and 4% to regional activities. Eight of these subgrants were reviewed by the auditors: (1) CARE (Georgia -- emergency food supplies); (2) United Methodist Committee on Relief (Georgia -- medical supplies and systems); (3) Rescue International (Azerbaijan -- medical assistance to refugees); (4) American Red Cross (Azerbaijan -- food); (5,6) Armenian Technical Group (TA for farmers and seed for winter wheat crop); (7,8) Armenia Assembly of America (procuring seed for the spring wheat crop and swapping diesel fuel for wheat from farmers). The audit confirmed that the assistance was provided to alleviate hardships, and included food supplements for thousands of Georgians and medical care for thousands of Azeri refugees and displaced persons. The program was generally well-managed, subgrants were executed expeditiously, and most PVOs arrived on site promptly. However, certain management plans and reports were not rendered on time or did not meet all criteria. SCF"s implementation plan was delivered 3 weeks late and did not contain measurable performance indicators. Also, 6 of the 8 subgrants examined by this audit did not meet the planned time frame or serve the beneficiaries targeted. In response to the audit"s findings, USAID/Caucasus noted the extremely difficult conditions under which the program was implemented, including civil war and lawlessness in Georgia and a major territorial conflict affecting Azerbaijan.