From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Jul 01 2010 - 09:26:05 EDT
"USAID's Ethiopia portfolio is one of the largest in Africa" USAID
$533 million of US aid allocated for Ethiopia for year 2010 and $585 Million
is the requested allocation for year 2011
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aEVQAd1dqi0/S-sJUNhb3sI/AAAAAAAABGU/cD-qGTSD0BE/s1600/TOP+US+recipients+of+AID+in+FY10+FY11+RQ.png
>From year 2000 - 2008 Ethiopia has received cumulative US aid worth of $4.6
Billion placing it amongst the top 10 US aid recipients.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/04/~/media/Images/Reports/2010/b2395_chart2_1/b2395_chart2_2.ashx
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http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/60725/2010/06/1-090455-1.htm
U.S. aid needs to be more transparent to be effective - Oxfam
01 Jul 2010 09:04:00 GMT
Written by: Olesya Dmitracova
Haitians sit in a street next to a logo of USAID (United States Agency
International Development) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 13, 2010.
REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
LONDON (TrustLaw) - Countries that receive U.S. development aid do not
always have enough information about it to plan ahead and make the most of
the assistance, Oxfam said in a report.
It said the United States was often seen as less transparent than other
major donors meaning the aid data it provided was not always available or
timely, or comparable and comprehensive enough.
"Without transparency from donors, recipients can't hold their governments
accountable and those governments cant plan, prioritise, or explain to their
populations what they are doing; manage their fiscal and monetary policy; or
strengthen the investment climate," said the report called "Information: Let
Countries Know What Donors Are Doing".
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/files/information-let-countries-know-what-donors-are-doing.pdf
Moreover, lack of transparency often fuels misperceptions about the intent
of the U.S., it added.
These are the conclusions Oxfam drew from interviews with 200
representatives of governments, civil society and U.S. aid agencies,
contractors and non-governmental organisations that run aid programmes in
Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia and Rwanda.
For example, because of insufficient communication with the Afghan
government, the United States has funded many schools and health clinics
that ended up being used as barns and storage facilities because the Afghan
government hadn't planned to support schools and clinics in those locations,
the report said.
And in Cambodia, the lack of information on U.S. aid is causing confusion,
with civil society groups worrying about what they see as closer ties
between the United States and Cambodia's government and some in the
government thinking that U.S. aid officials are too close to other
organisations.
RIGHT INFORMATION, ON TIME
At a minimum, donors must tell recipient governments how much aid they plan
to provide; the purpose of the funds; how, where and when those funds will
be delivered; and how the donors will decide whether the money has been put
to good use or not, Oxfam said.
The United States does not provide such information systematically, the
organisation found.
One reason for this is the fact that U.S. government aid agencies do not
have a clear obligation to translate the data they have on aid into
information that is useful to recipient countries.
The report recommends expanding relevant U.S. laws to require U.S.
government aid agencies to provide the detailed aid information beneficiary
nations need.
Moreover, no single U.S. agency has complete knowledge of what the country's
many government agencies and programmes, as well as the military, provide in
foreign aid.
To improve the exchange of information, U.S. agencies could become more
involved in discussions on the ground in poor nations.
In addition to improving its own transparency, the United States should
support recipient government's efforts to become more open or give them the
incentive to do so, the report says.
For example, Ecuador's government, which is receiving aid for education, has
joined up with a coalition of civil society organisations who act as
watchdogs for investments in schools.
Although the Oxfam report does not mention the link between transparency and
corruption in aid, researchers and aid officials agree the link exists.
Greater transparency will reduce opportunities for the misuse of aid funds
and so make the money go a lot further, they say.
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