With the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development racing toward direct assistance as a way to disperse billions of foreign assistance funding, the government’s top watchdog is waiving the caution flag.
In March 3 congressional testimony, the Government Accountability Office warned that Afghanistan and Pakistan are so unstable that State and USAID plans to give cash to them would cause ”the vulnerability of U.S.-funded programs to waste, mismanagement, and corruption…to increase given the weak internal controls of some of the Afghan and Pakistani entities involved in implementing them.”
While putting money directly in the hands of foreign leaders will surely build some temporary good will, it doesn’t necessarily build local capacity, prevent money from going to the enemy or otherwise ensure work actually gets done. Well-designed programs that strategically deploy the expertise of U.S. development firms, however, build lasting good will by nurturing sustainable local capacity and leaving tangible improvements behind.
