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U.S. Foreign Assistance: Inventory of Strategies at Selected Agencies

GAO-17-563R Published: Jun 13, 2017. Publicly Released: Jun 13, 2017.
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Fast Facts

The U.S. government plans to spend approximately $35 billion on foreign assistance in 2017 to improve the lives and health of millions living in poverty, support democracy, and enhance global security.

We found that the six federal agencies that spent the most on foreign assistance from 2011 through 2015—DOD, HHS, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the State Department, USAID, and USDA—developed more than 60 strategy documents to guide their foreign assistance efforts.

 

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Highlights

What GAO Found

We identified 63 strategy documents that DOD, HHS, MCC, State, USAID, and USDA have developed to guide their foreign assistance efforts. A number of these documents involved more than one agency. Enclosure I presents our inventory of strategy documents, including the name of each document, the sector involved, and the agencies named in each document as a party to the strategy.

Why GAO Did This Study

The U.S. government plans to spend approximately $35 billion on foreign assistance in 2017 to improve the lives and health of millions living in poverty, support democracy, enhance global security, and achieve other foreign policy goals. U.S. agencies that provide this assistance have developed a number of strategy documents to guide their efforts.

We were asked to compile an inventory of U.S. foreign assistance strategies. We focused on the six agencies that administer the largest amounts of foreign assistance: the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Department of State (State), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). We identified these agencies by reviewing obligations data that the agencies reported to USAID's U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants database for fiscal years 2011 through 2015, which represent the most recent and complete data available for all six agencies.

For more information, contact Jessica Farb at (202) 512-6991 or farbj@gao.gov. 

 

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DocumentationForeign aid programsForeign assistanceInternational organizationsInternational relationsStrategic planningWebsitesPerformance auditsForeign assistance strategiesHealth care