Studies of Selected Aspects of Foreign Assistance Programs

An overview was presented of the results obtained in GAO studies of various aspects in the management of foreign assistance programs, particularly by the Agency for International Development (AID). The major development assistance goals stressed by Congress were shown, and suggested improvements were presented. There appeared to be a great shortage of financial managers in many countries. Although training programs are the most effective way to help governments improve their financial capabilities, the emphasis and resources for training programs have been decreasing in both bilateral and multilateral development programs. GAO believes that AID should strengthen management control over its research, study, and evaluation activities. Progress has been made in procedures for operating expense budget requests submitted by overseas missions, but AID needs to develop new guidelines involving the management and control of non-expendable properties. Many travel advances that were recorded against AID personnel remain outstanding for unusually long periods. At certain overseas missions, U.S. and foreign national direct-hires were not within the ceilings established by the Office of Management and Budget. A major criticism was that AID has not been pursuing a GAO recommendation to request renegotiation of "soft" loan terms when changing conditions in a country would warrant this action.