MEMORANDUM AUDIT REPORT NO. 80-19, REVIEW OF AID ACTIVITIES IN TOGO

team to advise the Government of Togo (GOT) in planning and implementing low-income urban housing. Evaluation covers the period 9/77-1/80 for project 212 and 8/78-1/80 for project 213 and is based on standard audit procedures. Implementation of both projects has been delayed for about two years, largely due to difficulties in recruiting qualified U.S. advisors and the inability or reluctance of the Government of Togo (GOT) to meet certain conditions precedent. Housing project advisors did not arrive until 8/79. It will be several months before the housing project makes measurable progress. The situation is even more grave for the health center project. A full-time medical advisor has still not been recruited; French-speaking physicians willing to work 3 years in Togo have proven hard to find. The GOT rejected A.I.D."s attempt to substitute a nurse for this position because it did not want the center"s director (which it has not yet appointed) working under supervision of a nurse. The health center has also been delayed by GOT"s failure -- due to its inexperience in procurement and to revisions in construction plans and design -- to meet conditions precedent to the disbursement of construction funds. These conditions stipulated that GOT provide A.I.D. with: (1) plans and specifications, bid documents, cost estimates, and time schedules for project implementation; and (2) an executed contract for construcion of other project services acceptable to USAID with a firm acceptable to USAID. Construction plans have now been approved and construction of the center could begin by the end of 1979. Given the central importance of the medical advisor to the project"s success, however, it is recommended that A.I.D. evaluate the project to determine whether it is feasible to continue it without a qualified and full-time medical advisor.