Audit of USAID Ecuador’s Northern Border Development Program

San Salvador/Rig

Description

Audit of USAID/Ecuador’s Northern Border Development Program Audit Report No. 1-518-04-010-P September 3, 2004 San Salvador, El Salvador September 3, 2004 MEMORANDUM FOR: USAID/Ecuador Director, Lars Klassen FROM: RIG/San Salvador, Steven H. Bernstein “/s/” SUBJECT: Audit of USAID/Ecuador’s Northern Border Development Program (Report No. 1-518-04-010-P) This memorandum transmits our final report on the subject audit. In finalizing this report, we considered your comments on our draft report and have included your response in Appendix II. The report includes one recommendation as follows: Establish procedures to ensure that beneficiaries are not double counted when reporting the overall number of beneficiaries of the Northern Border Development Program. Based on your comments and the documentation provided, final action has been taken, and the recommendation is closed upon issuance of this report. Once again, I appreciate the cooperation and courtesy extended to my staff during the audit. This page intentionally left blank. 4 Summary of Results 7 Table of Contents Background 8 Audit Objectives 9 Audit Findings 9 How have USAID/Ecuador funds been spent under the Northern Border Development Program? 9 Was USAID/Ecuador’s Northern Border Development Program on schedule to achieve ...

Informations

• Publié par: Mafor
• Nombre de lectures: 24
• Langue: English

Extrait

Audit of USAID/Ecuadors Northern Border Development Program   Audit Report No. 1-518-04-010-P   September 3, 2004  

San Salvador, El Salvador

 

   

 

 

        

 

      September 3, 2004   MEMORANDUM   FOR:USAID/Ecuador Director, Lars Klassen   FROM: Salvador, Steven H. Bernstein /s/ RIG/San   SUBJECT:Audit of USAID/Ecuadors Northern Border Development Program (Report No. 1-518-04-010-P)   This memorandum transmits our final report on the subject audit. In finalizing this report, we considered your comments on our draft report and have included your response in Appendix II.   The report includes one recommendation as follows: Establish procedures to ensure that beneficiaries are not double counted when reporting the overall number of beneficiaries of the Northern Border Development Program. Based on your comments and the documentation provided, final action has been taken, and the recommendation is closed upon issuance of this report.   Once again, I appreciate the cooperation and courtesy extended to my staff during the audit.                            

 

 

                                     

                 

   

   

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Table of Contents

 

 

   

    Summary of Results 7 Background 8   Audit Objectives 9   Audit Findings 9     How have USAID/Ecuador funds been spent under the Northern Border Development Program? 9   Was USAID/Ecuadors Northern Border Development Program on schedule to achieve planned, sustainable results? 13    Activities Not on Schedule 19    Double Counting of Beneficiaries 19   Did USAID/Ecuador implement a monitoring system for its Northern Border Development Program in accordance with USAID policies? 20 Evaluation of Management Comments 21 Appendix I - Scope and Methodology 23 Appendix II - Management Comments 27     

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Summary of Results

 

   

As part of its fiscal year 2004 audit plan, the Regional Inspector General/San Salvador performed this audit to answer the following questions:   •   How have USAID/Ecuador funds been spent under the Northern Border Development Program?   •   Was USAID/Ecuadors Northern Border Development Program on schedule to achieve planned, sustainable results?   •   Did USAID/Ecuador implement a monitoring system for its Northern Border Development Program in accordance with USAID policies? (Page 9)   As of March 31, 2004, approximately $21.6 million was spent under the Northern Border Development Program, including $9.1 million on water systems and sewer systems, $4.3 million on roads and bridges, $500,000 on irrigation canals and reservoirs, $1 million on alternative development projects, and approximately $1.7 million on land titling, drug education and prevention, strengthening government units, and assistance to Afro- Ecuadorian and indigenous communities. (Page 9)   As of December 31, 2003, eight of the ten activities of USAID/Ecuadors Northern Border Development Program were on schedule to achieve planned, sustainable results, having achieved 90 to 100 percent of the planned, sustainable results. The land titling and the drug education and prevention programs achieved less than 90 percent of their planned results. The land titling program achieved 89 percent of the planned results, and the drug education and prevention program achieved 79 percent of the planned results. (Page 13) Additionally, beneficiaries of two or more projects are double counted when USAID/Ecuador reports the total number of beneficiaries. (Page 19)   USAID/Ecuador implemented a monitoring system for its Northern Border Development Program in accordance with USAID policies. (Page 20)   We are making one recommendation that USAID/Ecuador establish procedures to ensure that beneficiaries are not double counted when reporting the overall number of beneficiaries of the program. (Page 20)  

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  Background

 

    USAID/Ecuador concurred with the findings and the recommendation presented in this report, and took appropriate corrective action. Accordingly, final action has been taken, and the recommendation is closed upon issuance of this report. (Page 21)     Ecuador faces a variety of development challenges. In 2003, unemployment was 9.8 percent, underemployment was an estimated 47 percent, and an estimated 65 percent of Ecuadors population lived in poverty. Confidence in democracy was dangerously low, and the coca/cocaine industry in Colombia was impinging upon Ecuadors northern border region.     USAID/Ecuadors Northern Border Development Program (NBDP) is intended to improve the lives of the population living along Ecuadors   northern border. The program includes projects in the areas of community infrastructure, strengthening of civil society as a means of improving health conditions, and generally promoting economic development in the northern provinces. The NBDP also seeks to mitigate the potential negative impact of Plan Colombia 1  program was designedactivities. The to help Ecuador show state presence and commitment in the north, and the program was closely coordinated with the Government of Ecuadors Northern Border Development Unit, a governmental unit that was created to coordinate all development efforts along the northern border. Specific projects include water, sewer, road, bridge, and land titling projects, micro-enterprise support, and protection of human rights.  

                                                           1 Recognizing the severity of illicit drug activities and the links between drug trafficking and illicit crop cultivation, and the violence affecting Colombia, the Government of Colombia announced a $7.5 billion plan in October 1999, known as Plan Colombia. The plan, among other things, proposed to reduce the cultivation, processing, and distribution of illegal narcotics by 50 percent over six years. To assist the Government of Colombia, the United States substantially increased funding and material support to Colombia beginning in 2000.  

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Audit Objectives  

  Audit Findings

 

    In October 2000, USAID approved an $8 million, 24-month Special Objective. The Special Objective was extended one year with an additional $10 million in funding. The program was revised and expanded in FY 2003 in a new Strategic Objective designed to support the Andean Counterdrug Initiative and to support the Government of Ecuadors five- year Northern Border Development Plan. The Strategic Objective was approved in February 2003, and it extended the program through FY 2006 providing an additional $60 million in funding. As of March 31, 2004, obligations under both the Special Objective and the Strategic Objective totaled approximately $34 million, and total expenditures were approximately $21.5 million.   In December 2000, USAID/Ecuador entered into a two-year cooperative agreement with the International Organization for Migration 2  to (IOM) implement its NBDP. This cooperative agreement has been extended three times, most recently through October 2006. In September 2003, USAID/Ecuador contracted with Associates in Rural Development, Inc. to design and implement the alternative development program that began in the fall of 2003 as part of the new Strategic Objective.     As part of its fiscal year 2004 audit plan, the Regional Inspector General/San Salvador performed this audit to answer the following questions:   •   How have USAID/Ecuador funds been spent under the Northern Border Development Program?   •   Was USAID/Ecuadors Northern Border Development Program on schedule to achieve planned, sustainable results?   •   Did USAID/Ecuador implement a monitoring system for its Northern Border Development Program in accordance with USAID policies?     How have USAID/Ecuador funds been spent under the Northern Border Development Program?  

                                                           2  The International Organization for Migration is an international inter-governmental organization headquartered in Geneva.

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    USAID/Ecuador funds were used to build and improve water and sewer systems, roads, bridges, and irrigation systems. Funds were also used for land titling, drug education and prevention, and alternative development programs as shown in Table 1 on the following page.   Table 1: USAID/Ecuador Northern Border Development Program Expenditures as of March 31, 2004   Program Expenditure Amount      Potable water systems and sewer systems $ 9,103,804 Roads and bridges 4,252,011 Irrigation canals and reservoirs 521,171 Land titling 275,080 Alternative development 966,204 Strengthening government units   739,575 Training and assistance to Afro-Ecuadorian and 433,049 indigenous communities Training and assistance to enhance sustainability 371,478 Drug education and prevention 218,909 Assistance to displaced Colombians 72,512 Democratic values survey 30,000 Human rights training and assistance to public defenders 20,570 office Public diplomacy 6,450 International Organization for Migration (IOM) field 1,095,457 offices IOM administration charges 2,980,731 USAID program management 468,174   Total $21,555,175   Note: Amounts were not audited.   The following paragraphs discuss all programs in which more than $100,000 was expended.   Potable water systems and sewer systems USAID/Ecuador spent  approximately $9.1 million building and/or rehabilitating water and sewer systems, mainly in small, rural communities. As of December 31, 2003, 38 water systems and five sewer systems had been built or rehabilitated. One water system begun in 2003 was completed in early 2004. As of March 31, 2004, contracts had been issued for work on an additional nine water systems and one additional sewer system.     10

 

 

   

Roads and bridges USAID/Ecuador spent approximately $4.3 million  building and rehabilitating roads and bridges in the northern provinces of Ecuador. Most of the road funds were spent rehabilitating a 52.2 mile unpaved road between Trufiño and Quinshull near the Colombian border in the Province of Carchi. Eight vehicular bridges and 13 pedestrian bridges were constructed through the end of 2003. As of March 31, 2004, contracts had been issued for work on an additional seven bridges.  

  Photograph of Chota River pedestrian bridge in the Province of Carchi taken in June 2004.     Irrigation canals and reservoirs USAID/Ecuador spent approximately $521,000 on irrigation canals and reservoirs in the northern provinces of Ecuador. Concrete irrigation canals were constructed to replace dirt canals. In addition to conserving water by eliminating the loss of water into earthen walls, the concrete canals also substantially reduce the annual maintenance requirements because plants do not grow in concrete, and concrete walls do not wash out the way earthen walls do.  

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