Foreign Aid

Actions Taken to Improve Food Aid Management Gao ID: NSIAD-95-74 March 23, 1995

A July 1993 GAO report (GAO/NSIAD-93-168) identified several problems with the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) management of its food aid programs. These problems included USAID's lack of criteria and guidance for implementing the programs, USAID's inability to show the impact of food aid on food security, and USAID's failure to account for food aid resources. Among the recommendations GAO made was for USAID to establish criteria and guidance on how food aid should be programmed, managed, and accounted for; assess the efficiency of food aid in achieving food security; and evaluate the impact of food aid on food security. USAID has fully or partially implemented 11 of the 13 recommendations made in GAO's 1993 report. USAID has yet to (1) establish criteria as to when U.S. procurement and shipping regulations may be waived and (2) report to Congress on the efficiency of food aid in achieving food security.

GAO found that: (1) AID has fully or partially implemented 11 of 13 recommendations that GAO made regarding problems it had in complying with the 1990 Agricultural Development and Trade Act; (2) a major impediment to greater AID action on the recommendations was the absence of a clear policy as to how title II and III food aid is to be used to enhance food security; and (3) the two recommendations AID has not implemented relate to establishing criteria for waiving U.S. procurement and shipping regulations, and reporting to Congress on the efficiency of food aid for achieving food security.



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