USAID's Kabul Community Development Program Largely Met the Agreement's Terms, But Progress Toward Long-Term Goals Needs to be Better Tracked

Abstract

Due to concerns about the possibility of riots over food shortages, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded a cooperative agreement to CARE International in March 2009 to provide cash-for-work to qualified beneficiaries in the Kabul area through a number of small scale projects. The first phase of the Community Development Program-Kabul (CDP-K) was scheduled to last until March 2010, reach a target beneficiary population of 50,000, and cost a total of $25 million. USAID modified the cooperative agreement in March 2010 to extend the performance for a second phase until September 2011, expand the number of target beneficiaries to 78,000, and increase total funding to $60 million. USAID also expanded the program's goals to, in part, fund long-term projects aimed at improving living and working conditions for target communities. This report assesses (1) the processes and procedures USAID followed to award this cooperative agreement; (2) whether it is being implemented within the cost, schedule, and outcome terms of the agreement; and (3) the implementation of internal controls over cash disbursements. To accomplish these objectives, we reviewed the cooperative agreement, associated implementation and monitoring documents, and internal controls documentation relating to the cash disbursement process. We interviewed officials from USAID, USAID's third-party oversight support contractor and CARE. We also visited two project sites to observe the cash distribution process and reviewed related project files covering a 3-month performance period. We conducted our work in Kabul, Afghanistan, from August 2010 to May 2011, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 29, 2011
Accession Number
ADA549502

Entities

Organizations

  • Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Agreements
  • Business Administration
  • Communities
  • Construction
  • Contracts
  • Economic Impact
  • Governments
  • Identification
  • Law
  • Lessons Learned
  • Money
  • Organizational Structure
  • Procurement
  • Standards
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Urban Areas

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Defense Financial Management and Audit.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.