Summary: In 1969, Congress created the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) as an experimental program to provide new direction and emphasis for U.S. aid to Latin America. IAF assistance is characterized by: (1) independence from U.S. and host governments' short-term foreign policy objectives; (2) responsiveness to the initiatives of Latin Americans; and (3) nonintervention in the affairs of groups supported. In the spirit of the present administration's scrutinization of foreign assistance programs, GAO undertook an extensive review of IAF.
IAF monitoring policy consists primarily of visits by IAF representatives to grantees of active projects at least once a year. GAO found that: (1) IAF staff members engage in many activities in relatively short periods of time during country visits; (2) most grantees were visited to some extent by IAF, but visits for purposes of monitoring appeared to follow no discernible pattern to ensure full, timely coverage of projects; and (3) reports required from grantees were often delinquent. GAO believes that monitoring activities could be more effective and supportive of grantee efforts if visits were more timely and if IAF played a more active, constructive role in helping grantees facing bottlenecks to identify possible options and sources of help. IAF, its grantees, and organizations supporting development efforts could benefit from more active coordination and dissemination efforts by IAF.
