Strengthening grants program : need for better AID direction to participating universities

universities to participate in A.I.D. food aid programs. Audit report covers the period 1979-1984 and is based on document review and interviews with personnel from AID/W and 7 of 56 participating universities. Due to vagueness in OPG agreements and in Memoranda of Understanding, only 39% of the $5.1 million allocated to the 7 universities were used for purposes directly related to Title XII objectives. Even then, the benefits to A.I.D. were often questionable. For example, OPG funds were used for: (1) language training, including a 2-week visit costing $48,000 by 16 faculty and staff to the Caribbean ostensibly to learn French, but without meaningful results; (2) assistantships or thesis research yielding no benefit to A.I.D.; and (3) international travel to non-AID countries such as Japan, Mexico, and China, with very little travel to Africa. The remaining 61% of the funds were used for general academic or administrative activities of no direct benefit to A.I.D. Only one of the seven grantees reviewed increased its AID-related work. A.I.D."s monitoring of grantee performance has been negligible. Annual reports were not reviewed in depth, and in at least two cases were not submitted. Not a single site visit was made in 5 years. Three evaluations were conducted by A.I.D. and the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), but were based on annual reports, A.I.D. files, and telephone communications with grantees. A.I.D."s financial management of the project has also been poor. Matching contributions have been used for tangential purposes such as faculty and staff salaries. About half of the $500,000 one university reported as a matching contribution was either not project-related or was not supported by the grantee"s records. A.I.D. did not review financial information, nor approve vouchers and supporting documentation submitted by the grantees. This, together with the fact that the OPG agreements lacked budgets, made it difficult to ensure that funds were used for project purposes. Despite S&T Bureau and BIFAD disagreements with the audit"s findings, seven recommendations are made.