Changes Needed To Forge an Effective Relationship Between AID and Voluntary Agencies

Gao ID: ID-82-25 May 27, 1982

Congress has repeatedly expressed concern over the Agency for International Development's (AID) implementation of congressional policy to expand cooperation with Private and Voluntary Organizations (PVO). GAO undertook a review of the role of PVO in the development of international assistance programs, focusing on: (1) the function and effectiveness of PVO; (2) what the proper structure of the relations between PVO and AID should be; and (3) how much emphasis should be placed on PVO.

PVO strategy emphasizes the strengthening of local organizations, such as church, private, and government institutions operating at the village or regional level. PVO are distinctive from AID in the level and scale on which they operate; that is, they undertake small projects at the local level while AID generally works through national or regional governments on considerably larger projects. The dual approach of AID funding to PVO programs consists primarily of grants from the overseas missions responsible for administering the AID programs in individual developing countries and grants from the Washington-based bureau responsible for coordinating relations with PVO. However, procedures for mission funding of PVO programs should be simplified, and criteria for awarding Washington-funded grants should be defined. Further, information on grant awards and performance on grants needs to be disseminated to program managers. GAO believes that, for PVO to gain the freedom to focus on the small, locally based projects of developing areas, without an undermining influence from the broader goals of AID, efforts should be made to grant them a greater independence from AID supervision.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Joseph E. Kelley Team: General Accounting Office: International Division Phone: (202) 512-4128


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