Foreign Assistance: AID Strategic Direction and Continued Management Improvements Needed
NSIAD-93-106
Published: Jun 11, 1993. Publicly Released: Jun 11, 1993.
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Highlights
GAO discussed management problems at the Agency for International Development (AID) and whether it is adequately meeting its foreign economic assistance responsibilities.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | AID should play a leadership role in achieving strategic direction of the U.S. foreign assistance program by working with others in the executive branch and in Congress. As part of this process, the Administrator, AID, should develop agency objectives in support of the new strategic direction for the foreign program. |
Closed – Implemented
AID issued in January 1994 its "Strategies for Sustainable Development" that (1) present an integrated approach, (2) define long-term objectives, (3) specify their relevance to American interests, (4) describe the ways in which these objectives will be pursued and (5) identify mechanisms to implement the plan and establish standards to measure success. The strategies have been bolstered by AID's design of a new operational system that includes comprehensive country-level strategic planning, which is viewed as a management contract between headquarters and the missions, and that integrates the agency's planning, design and implementation processes.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should determine the most appropriate organizational structure to implement the agreed-upon agency objectives. In making these determinations, the Administrator, AID, should investigate the costs and benefits of various approaches, such as the traditional mission structure, regional offices, and the experimental headquarters-based model for Central and Eastern Europe. |
Closed – Implemented
AID's recent reorganization established a central direction over its regional bureaus and missions. The Administration has announced the closure of 21 missions and plans to study alternative organizational approaches, such as regional offices, for its overseas operations.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | Regardless of the organizational structure, the Administrator, AID, should establish central oversight to ensure that: (1) AID officials are effectively pursuing agency program objectives; and (2) program and project plans for each recipient country are developed within the context of the agency's strategic direction. |
Closed – Implemented
Under the reorganization, the Office of Policy and Program Coordination will integrate strategy and policy. It will also develop and coordinate new proposals for implementing the Administrator's strategic direction. To ensure policy compliance, this Office is developing a performance measurement system. AID has also designed a new operational system that includes central approval of country strategies and proposed results, but that will not focus on the activities to be undertaken.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should ensure that the various AID bureaus in Washington, D.C. (AID/W) institutionalize the agency's strategic management framework, thus helping to ensure that it will continue beyond the tenure of one AID Administrator. |
Closed – Implemented
The Administrator has included implementation of this recommendation as a part of his reinvention exercise undertaken in support of the National Performance Review.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should use the strategic management framework to bring AID management systems into balance with its decentralized organizational structure by establishing agencywide policy and procedures defining agency programming goals. |
Closed – Implemented
AID is designing a new operational system that should strengthen coordination and oversight of agencywide policies and procedures while retaining the agency's decentralized structure.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should use the strategic management framework to bring AID management systems into balance with its decentralized organizational structure by clearly identifying who has the responsibility and authority for implementing specific agency goals. |
Closed – Implemented
The recent reorganization and the proposed agencywide operational system addresses the need for clear responsibility and authority for implementing agency goals.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should use the strategic management framework to bring AID management systems into balance with its decentralized organizational structure by developing measurable goals and objectives and tying program and project results to those goals and objectives. |
Closed – Implemented
The Office of Policy and Program Coordination is developing measurable goals and will tie program and project results to these goals as part of its oversight function. AID's "results-oriented operations system" is designed to provide the means to tie program results to agencywide strategies and objectives.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should use the strategic management framework to bring AID management systems into balance with its decentralized organizational structure by developing standardized management information systems to provide accurate, meaningful, and timely data across the agency to serve as a basis for measuring performance. |
Closed – Implemented
The Administrator is working toward establishing a strategic management framework for the agency. AID is developing a single integrated accounting system, structured around objectives and results. Using this system, AID anticipates that most reporting on activities, finances and results will be replaced by access to data.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should use the strategic management framework to bring AID management systems into balance with its decentralized organizational structure by monitoring implementation of programs and projects and holding bureau and mission staff accountable for results. |
Closed – Implemented
The Administrator is in the process of implementing a results-oriented monitoring system.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should develop and implement a comprehensive work-force planning process and management capability as a systematic, agencywide effort. This planning should develop human resource planning guidance and ensure integration with the proposed AID strategic planning process. |
Closed – Implemented
AID has made significant progress in improving its personnel management. AID's new automated work force information system allows AID to track various categories of employees and provide a better picture of changes in its work force size and skills over time. This information will be used in deliberations on the fiscal year 1996 budget during AID's annual budget submission process.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should develop and implement a comprehensive work-force planning process and management capability as a systematic, agencywide effort. This planning process should ensure that accurate, standard, and comprehensive data, which are needed for work-force planning, are available in AID/W, including: (1) work-load assessments; and (2) projections of optimum levels of staffing and skill mixes for all types of employees. |
Closed – Implemented
A permanent office has been established to implement a workforce planning system. This office has, among other things, developed an automated workforce information system that provides a better picture of changes in the size and skills of its workforce for planning and budgeting purposes.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should develop and implement a comprehensive work-force planning process and management capability as a systematic, agencywide effort. This planning process should assign, recruit, and train direct- and nondirect-hire staff to meet the staff and skill requirements and projections identified in the mission work-load and staff assessments. |
Closed – Implemented
AID has made progress in personnel management. The agency has developed a proposal to overhaul its personnel system by combining U.S. foreign service and civil service staff into a "Development Corps." In March 1994, AID issued a plan to better achieve and manage work force diversity. AID will establish a separate recruitment office and is also developing a training plan to better ensure that current and future staff have the program and technical skills needed.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should institutionalize work-force planning and management capability to ensure its continuation by successive administrators by ensuring that staff qualified in human resource management fill key positions in the Human Resource Development and Management Division. |
Closed – Implemented
The Administrator is working to create a professional personnel management team through better training and reorganization of personnel functions.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should institutionalize work-force planning and management capacity to ensure its continuation by successive administrators by training appropriate line managers and human resource staff in work-force planning. |
Closed – Implemented
AID is developing new training programs, including certification programs, to ensure that staff have the skills needed to manage agency operations as they progress through their career.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should institutionalize work-force planning and management capability to ensure its continuation by successive administrators by systematically budgeting for training and related travel costs and ensuring that funds remain available for this purpose. |
Closed – Implemented
Training and education requirements figure large in AID's transition to its new operations system. In addition to developing certification programs and new training courses, the Office of Human Resources has a training budget that includes travel funds.
|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Administrator, AID, should institutionalize work-force planning and management capability to ensure its continuation by successive administrators by assigning responsibility for preparing bureau-specific workforce plans that support AID strategic vision to the heads of each bureau to ensure line-manager support and involvement in work-force planning. |
Closed – Implemented
The new operations system will integrate mission and bureau work force planning with the agency's budget process.
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Agency missionsDeveloping countriesEconomic developmentEconomic stabilizationForeign aid programsForeign financial assistanceFunds managementGeneral management reviewsInternational relationsMission budgeting