Church World Service, Lutheran World Relief, PL-480 Title II program in India

480, Title II food distribution program in India. Audit report covers the period l0/77-12/79 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with A.I.D. and CASA officials. CASA"s program planning, management, and monitoring remain deficient and warrant program termination. However, since CASA has initiated reforms (e.g., reduced FY81 program levels 30%), USAID/I and the auditors agreed to postpone termination pending a review 1 year hence. Administration of the Food for Work (FFW) program (representing 93% of distributed commodities) remains unsatisfactory. FFW projects appear relevant, but benefits are accruing to individuals not communities; project approval is indiscriminate; commodity allocation is deficient; and labor need estimates, beneficiary lists, and project evaluations are lacking. In the Maternal/Child Health (MCH) program, commodities are not issued continually or promptly; nutrition education and health care activities are not included; records are incomplete; commodity allocation is deficient; and it is unclear if fees have been collected from recipients. In addition, CASA has: conducted inadequate internal reviews; not enforced surveillance; filed no claims for improperly used or lost commodities; not publicized the program; and containers have not been disposed of properly. USAID/I program monitoring has also been deficient. It is recommended that USAID/India require CASA to: (1) address all deficiencies herein noted and issue a report in 60 days on measures taken to improve the FFW program; (2) fully justify its 1981 commodity request; (3) regulate collection of MCH recipient fees and integrate nutrition education and health care into the MCH program; (4) develop internal review and program surveillance guidelines; (5) recover commodities from terminated programs; (6) elaborate on commodity losses and follow-up claims and make refunds for losses attributed to inadequate claiming; and (7) comply with container fund accountability, obliteration of container markings, and with commodity source publicity regulations.