Summary: Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Agency for International Development's (AID) administration and expenditure of $17.7 million to aid children in Nicaragua under the Children's Survival Assistance Program.
GAO found that: (1) one organization provided assistance as planned, but five organizations encountered problems in implementing their activities; (2) two organizations had difficulty obtaining project approval, and as a result, experienced delays in project implementation; (3) two organizations experienced problems in implementing their programs after transferring from Nicaragua; (4) a factory constructed to produce items for braces and artificial limbs was not fully productive until the program's latter stages; (5) AID complied with legislative and other requirements and established adequate controls to administer program funds and distribute of goods and services; (6) although organizations generally provided assistance to the target population, about 5,000 of eligible persons received benefits; (7) one organization lacked adequate documentation for some authorized expenses, and another organization had an inadequate financial management system; and (8) one organization did not adequately analyze medical needs before procuring medicines, and as a result, it had to destroy excess quantities of medicine valued at about $13,000.
