Foreign Assistance Programs

An evaluation of foreign assistance programs was based on recent reviews and studies of the Agency for International Development's (AID) food, population, housing assistance, Sahel development, and security supporting assistance programs, and U.S. participation in international programs. Substantial improvements are possible in the planning, direction, and implementation of these programs and projects. In the area of population, the AID strategy of concentration on a contraception program needs to be changed so that a greater impact can be made on the willingness of potential parents to desire small families. In the area of food and nutrition, far more effort needs to be applied to overcoming disincentives to increasing agricultural production in developing countries. In the housing assistance area, the lowest income levels are not being reached, and host country institutions need more encouragement to continue low income housing. Far greater efforts need to be directed toward interrelating the many individual programs sponsored under the foreign assistance program. The proposed International Development Cooperative Act of 1978 should bring the foreign assistance program up to date organizationally and in terms of policy. Concern has been expressed over AID operating costs, personnel management activities, and procurement practices.