Study : conditionality in the Agency for International Development"s economic assistance programs in six countries

sometimes places on host governments by way of covenants, conditions precedent, or self-help measures as a condition for A.I.D. assistance. This report studies the forms of policy conditionality and the extent of host government compliance with them in A.I.D. projects and programs in six countries - Costa Rica, Honduras, Egypt, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Sudan. Of the 19 Development Assistance (DA) projects surveyed, only 6 were tied to policy conditionality; 3 of these were in Bangladesh, where policy dialogue is not affected by overriding U.S. security concerns. In countries in which policy conditionality was not used extensively in DA projects, A.I.D. has significant Economic Support Fund programs in which conditionality plays an integral part; in Egypt, however, this part is limited by the political nature of the Egypt program. Policy conditionality in the eight P.L. 480 programs reviewed focused on the self-help measures required by U.S. law to improve the agricultural sector. Tables summarizing the findings are included for all countries except the Philippines, where conditionality is not a major program element.