This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-13-141R entitled 'International Food Assistance: U.S. Nonemergency Food Aid Programs Have Similar Objectives but Some Planning Helps Limit Overlap' which was released on December 12, 2012. This text file was formatted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to be accessible to users with visual impairments, as part of a longer term project to improve GAO products' accessibility. Every attempt has been made to maintain the structural and data integrity of the original printed product. Accessibility features, such as text descriptions of tables, consecutively numbered footnotes placed at the end of the file, and the text of agency comment letters, are provided but may not exactly duplicate the presentation or format of the printed version. The portable document format (PDF) file is an exact electronic replica of the printed version. We welcome your feedback. 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GAO-13-141R: United States Government Accountability Office: Washington, DC 20548: December 12, 2012: The Honorable Daniel Akaka: Chairman: The Honorable Ron Johnson: Ranking Member: Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: United States Senate: The Honorable Tom Coburn: United States Senate: The Honorable Howard Berman: United States House of Representatives: Subject: International Food Assistance: U.S. Nonemergency Food Aid Programs Have Similar Objectives but Some Planning Helps Limit Overlap: In fiscal years 2008 through 2011, U.S. agencies obligated about $3 billion toward nonemergency food aid programs.[Footnote 1] The primary goal of these programs is to increase agricultural capacity and reduce malnutrition. Nonemergency food aid programs are primarily development assistance programs that address long-term chronic hunger (food insecurity). The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administer these programs.[Footnote 2] In 2008, we identified factors that contribute to food insecurity--such as low agricultural productivity, limited rural development, government policy disincentives, and poor health among agricultural workers. We previously reported that efforts to mitigate these factors have been fragmented and uncoordinated across the U.S. government.[Footnote 3] In response to your concerns about fragmentation, overlap, and duplication in USAID and USDA nonemergency food aid programs, we examined the extent to which these agencies' nonemergency food aid programs pursue similar objectives.[Footnote 4] To identify USAID and USDA objectives for their nonemergency food aid programs, we analyzed program legislation and agency documents and interviewed agency officials and implementing partners in Washington, D.C. To determine how these objectives were operationalized, we reviewed program funding, geographic focus, country-level activities, and agency planning processes. To capture annual funding amounts toward nonemergency food aid programs, we examined data from USAID and USDA on the amounts they obligated for these programs from fiscal years 2008 through 2011. We interviewed cognizant officials about agency definitions for nonemergency food aid obligations, costs included in the data (i.e., commodity, freight, transport costs), and if the process for capturing the data has changed during fiscal years 2008 through 2011. We determined that the data we used were sufficiently reliable for our purposes. To determine whether USAID and USDA were conducting nonemergency food aid programs in the same countries, we analyzed the U.S. International Food Assistance Report 2011.[Footnote 5] To illustrate whether USAID and USDA had planned similar project-level activities in the same countries, we selected two countries, Guatemala and Uganda, where (1) three nonemergency food aid programs were active in fiscal year 2011 and (2) recent GAO food aid audit work had been completed. These project-level activities are not generalizable for all nonemergency food aid programs. We also collected information on headquarters and field coordination (i.e., e- mails, guidance, budgets) in planning nonemergency food aid programs. Our review did not address internal controls or field-level implementation of project activities (i.e., program management, costs, results, and monitoring and evaluation). For a broader discussion on coordination mechanisms to limit overlap and duplication in food aid programs, we plan to issue a report on Feed the Future, the government- wide global food security initiative, in 2013. (See enclosure I for more details on scope and methodology.) We conducted this performance audit from July 2012 to December 2012 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. Results in Brief: USAID and USDA share broad objectives for nonemergency food aid programs; however, the agencies have established some planning processes to limit overlap in these programs. For example, both USAID and USDA have objectives that address financial services, infrastructure, agricultural productivity, agribusiness development, and child and maternal nutrition needs in food insecure countries. Some of these shared objectives are the result of authorizing legislation, through which Congress outlines nonemergency food aid objectives, while others are included in presidential initiatives and agency strategies. We also found that USAID and USDA nonemergency food aid programs shared common geographic focus areas in which they implemented similar activities. For example, in fiscal year 2011, both USAID and USDA had nonemergency food aid programs in Guatemala and Uganda and both programs were providing agricultural training. Furthermore, implementing partners in Guatemala and Uganda administering programs for both agencies told us that USAID and USDA have parallel administrative structures in the field and distinct requirements for performance management. However, we found that these agencies have established some processes to plan and coordinate country activities in efforts to limit overlap. For example, to improve coordination in nonemergency food aid programs, USAID and USDA officials told us that they exchange information on program proposals during the solicitation phase and seek comments from one another. In addition, both agencies share country program information that includes organization, beneficiary, commodities, and total costs for programs in an effort to better coordinate activities. Background: Nonemergency food aid programs generally monetize[Footnote 6] U.S. agricultural commodities to generate cash for development projects. [Footnote 7] The commodities are purchased by USDA with funds appropriated for that purpose.[Footnote 8] While USDA manages the purchase and delivery of all international food aid commodities, both USAID and USDA administer nonemergency food aid programs by using U.S. commodities to implement development programs. The objectives of currently active nonemergency food aid programs are outlined in these four program authorities: * USAID Title II Development Assistance. Authorized by Title II of the Food for Peace Act,[Footnote 9] these programs include the donation of commodities to meet emergency and nonemergency needs as well as the sale of commodities in-country to obtain funds for development purposes, including food security goals. * USDA Food for Progress. Authorized by the Food for Progress Act of 1985,[Footnote 10] this program provides for the donation or credit sale of U.S. commodities to developing countries and emerging democracies committed to introducing and expanding free enterprise in the agricultural sector. In most cases, commodities are sold in- country to support agricultural projects to increase rural incomes and enhance food security by improving agricultural productivity, supporting agribusiness development, and expanding availability of financial services. * USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education). Authorized by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002[Footnote 11] to support education, child development, and food security for some of the world's poorest children, this program provides for donations of U.S. agricultural commodities, as well as financial and technical assistance, for school feeding and maternal and child nutrition projects in low-income, food-insecure countries that are committed to universal education. * USDA Local and Regional Procurement Pilot. USDA established this pilot program--also authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008[Footnote 12]--to purchase local and regional food products to help with emergency and nonemergency food needs in developing countries during fiscal years 2008 through 2012. One of the program's objectives is to provide a basis for determining the efficacy and impact of local and regional procurement of food aid. As shown in table 1, from fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2011, USAID and USDA obligated about $3 billion toward nonemergency food aid programs. Total funding during this period grew by 11 percent. USAID Title II Development Assistance programs represented the largest funding amount (58 percent), followed by USDA's Food for Progress (22 percent), Food for Education (19 percent), and Local and Regional Procurement Pilot (1 percent) programs. Table 1: Total Obligations for Nonemergency Food Aid, Fiscal Years 2008 through 2011: Nonemergency Food Aid[A]: USAID Title II Development Assistance Programs; 2008: $476 million; 2009: $422 million; 2010: $422 million; 2011: $414 million; Total (2008-2011): $1.734 billion; Percentage: 58%. Nonemergency Food Aid[A]: USDA Food for Progress; 2008: $137 million; 2009: $204 million; 2010: $151 million; 2011: $164 million; Total (2008-2011): $655 million; Percentage: 22%. Nonemergency Food Aid[A]: USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education); 2008: $96 million; 2009: $85 million; 2010: $178 million; 2011: $207 million; Total (2008-2011): $566 million; Percentage: 19%. Nonemergency Food Aid[A]: USDA Local and Regional Procurement Pilot; 2008: 0; 2009: $5 million; 2010: $11 million; 2011: $4 million; Total (2008-2011): $20 million; Percentage: 1%. Nonemergency Food Aid[A]: Total; 2008: $709 million; 2009: $715 million; 2010: $762 million; 2011: $789 million; Total (2008-2011): $2.975 billion; Percentage: 100%. Source: USAID and USDA budget documents. Note: Total obligations include U.S. value of the commodity, shipping, inland transportation, and freight charges. Local and Regional Procurement Pilot obligations include the cash amount provided to the implementing partner based on the partner's budget to procure and transport commodities as well as the estimated program administration costs. [A] Nonemergency food aid obligations data may not be comparable to the funding amounts reported in the annual U.S. International Food Assistance Report. [End of table] USAID and USDA Have Common Objectives, Geographic Focus Areas, and Activities for Nonemergency Food Aid Programs but Have Established Some Planning Processes to Limit Overlap: Agencies' Programs Share Broad Economic, Agricultural, and Health- Related Objectives: Based on a legislative review, we found that USAID's and USDA's nonemergency food aid programs share broad economic, agricultural, and health-related objectives. Congress through authorizing legislation outlines nonemergency food aid program objectives (see table 2). For example, the legislation for both USAID's Title II Development Assistance programs and USDA's McGovern-Dole (Food for Education) program stipulate that combating malnutrition among women and children is a program objective. Table 2: Nonemergency Food Aid Objectives by Program Authority: Program and program authority[A]: USAID Food for Peace Act Title II Development Assistance[B]; Food for Peace Act, Title II; Objectives in program authority: Economic: * Promote economic and community development; * Promote economic security by increasing educational, training, and other productive activities; Agriculture: * Promote food security and support sound environmental practices; * Carry out feeding programs; Health: * Combat malnutrition, especially in children and mothers; * Carry out activities that attempt to alleviate the causes of hunger, mortality, and morbidity; * Promote nutritional security by increasing educational, training, and other productive activities. Program and program authority[A]: USDA Food for Progress Program; Food for Progress Act of 1985 as amended; Objectives in program authority: Economic: * Economic freedom; * Establishment of market-determined foreign exchange rates; Agriculture: * Private, domestic production of eligible commodities for domestic consumption; * Creation and expansion of efficient domestic markets for the purchase and sale of eligible commodities; * Access, on the part of farmers in the country, to private, competitive markets for their product; * Market pricing of eligible commodities to foster adequate private sector incentives to farmers; * Timely availability of production inputs (such as seed, fertilizer, or pesticides) to farmers; * Access to technologies appropriate to the level of agricultural development in the country; * Construction of facilities and distribution systems necessary to handle perishable products; Health: NA. Program and program authority[A]: USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education); Sec. 3107 of Pub. L. No. 107-171, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, as amended; Objectives in program authority: Economic: * Improve literacy and primary education, particularly for girls[C]; Objectives in program authority: Agriculture: * Improve food security; * Reduce the incidence of hunger; Health: * Maternal, infant, and child nutrition programs for pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants, and children who are five years of age or younger. Program and program authority[A]: USDA Local and Regional Procurement Pilot[B]; Sec. 3206 of Pub. L. No. 110-26: Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill); Objectives in program authority: Economic: * Local and regional purchase of food commodities; Agriculture: NA; Health: NA. Legend: NA = not applicable. Source: GAO analysis of authorizing legislation for the various programs and agency program documents. Notes: The types of activities implemented through nonemergency food aid programs include direct feeding, food for work, agricultural and market access training, road rehabilitation, health and nutrition education, school gardens, and infrastructure projects to improve sanitation facilities. [A] U.S. nonemergency food assistance programs are authorized by three major laws: Food for Peace Act, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 1736o (Food for Progress), 7 U.S.C. 1736o-1 (McGovern-Dole), and 7 U.S.C. 1726c (Local and Regional Procurement Pilot). [B] Program legislation governs both emergency and nonemergency food aid. In this report, we included nonemergency food aid. USAID also implements Local and Regional Procurement Pilot projects ($300 million in fiscal year 2011); however, those projects are exclusively for emergency needs. [C] Since one of the primary goals for improving literacy and primary education attendance is to increase economic opportunities for girls, we categorized this intervention as an economic objective. [End of table] USAID and USDA planning documents also outline common objectives among the four nonemergency food aid programs. As shown in table 3, USAID and USDA have both focused on common sectors to achieve programmatic goals and objectives: financial services, infrastructure, agricultural productivity, agribusiness development, and child and maternal nutrition. USAID officials told us that due to the broad objectives outlined in legislation, they have flexibility in country, sector, and project selection. Table 3: USAID and USDA Nonemergency Food Aid Programs, by Sector: Program: USAID; Title II Development Assistance Programs; Location: Countries vulnerable to or with existing food insecurity; Target group: Vulnerable populations; Agency objectives by sector: Economic: Financial services: [Check]; Economic: Infrastructure: [Check]; Agriculture: Agricultural productivity: [Check]; Agriculture: Agribusiness development: [Check]; Health: Child and maternal nutrition: [Check]. Program: USDA; Food for Progress Program; Location: Developing countries and emerging democracies; Target group: Rural populations; Agency objectives by sector: Economic: Financial services: [Check]; Economic: Infrastructure: [Check]; Agriculture: Agricultural productivity: [Check]; Agriculture: Agribusiness development: [Check]; Health: Child and maternal nutrition: [Empty]. Program: USDA; McGovern-Dole (Food for Education)[A]; Location: Low-income, food-deficit countries; Target group: Children and mothers; Agency objectives by sector: Economic: Financial services: [Check]; Economic: Infrastructure: [Check]; Agriculture: Agricultural productivity: [Empty]; Agriculture: Agribusiness development: [Empty]; Health: Child and maternal nutrition: [Check]. Program: USDA; Local and Regional Procurement Pilot; Location: Developing countries experiencing a disaster or food crisis; Target group: Not specified; Agency objectives by sector: Economic: Financial services: [Empty]; Economic: Infrastructure: [Check]; Agriculture: Agricultural productivity: [Empty]; Agriculture: Agribusiness development: [Empty]; Health: Child and maternal nutrition: [Empty]. Legend: [Check] refers to program that has objectives within the sector; an empty cell signifies a program without objectives in the sector. Source: GAO analysis of USAID and USDA documents. [A] USDA's McGovern-Dole (Food for Education) program also has education-related objectives to improve literacy and primary education. [End of table] USAID and USDA also align their food aid activities in response to presidential initiatives and with government-wide objectives to enhance global food security. For example, in 2009 the U.S. government's global hunger and food security initiative (Feed the Future) and its international health program (Global Health Initiative) raised concerns about malnutrition and stunting in food- insecure countries. As a result, U.S. agencies have increased their focus on reducing malnutrition in food aid programs. Agencies' Programs Share Geographic Focus Areas Where They Implement Similar Activities: As shown in table 4, our review of nonemergency food aid programs in fiscal year 2011 found that USAID and USDA were implementing some nonemergency food aid programs in the same countries. For example, of the 34 countries that received nonemergency food aid in fiscal year 2011, 11 countries benefited from both USAID and USDA nonemergency food aid programs. Table 4: Countries with Multiple Nonemergency Food Aid Programs, Fiscal Year 2011: Country[A]: Democratic Republic of Congo; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Empty]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Check]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Empty]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 2. Country[A]: Mozambique; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Empty]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Empty]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Check]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 2. Country[A]: Mali; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Empty]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Check]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Empty]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 2. Country[A]: Niger; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Empty]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Empty]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Check]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 2. Country[A]: Bangladesh; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Check]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Check]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Empty]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 3. Country[A]: Burkina Faso; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Check]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Check]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Empty]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 3. Country[A]: Guatemala[B]; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Check]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Check]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Empty]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 3. Country[A]: Haiti; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Check]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Check]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Empty]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 3. Country[A]: Malawi; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Check]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Check]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Empty]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 3. Country[A]: Liberia; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Check]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Check]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Empty]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 3. Country[A]: Uganda[B]; USAID Title II Development Assistance: [Check]; USDA Food for Progress: [Check]; USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education): [Empty]; USDA Local Regional Procurement Pilot: [Check]; Number of programs in fiscal year 2011: 3. Legend: [Check] signifies that a program was active in the country in fiscal year 2011; an empty cell signifies a program was not active in the country in fiscal year 2011. Source: USAID and USDA International Food Assistance Report 2011. [A] In addition to the countries listed here, 2 countries benefited from multiple USDA nonemergency food aid programs and 21 other countries had one active nonemergency food aid program in fiscal year 2011. [B] To illustrate whether USAID and USDA had planned similar project- level activities in the same countries, we selected two countries, Guatemala and Uganda, where (1) three nonemergency food aid programs were active in fiscal year 2011 and (2) recent GAO food aid audit work had been completed. [End of table] Both USAID and USDA were implementing nonemergency food aid programs in Guatemala and Uganda in fiscal year 2011, and we found that these programs shared common geographic focus areas, activities, and implementing partners (see enclosure 2 for a more detailed discussion). In Guatemala and Uganda, we found the following: * Geographic Focus: Some USAID and USDA nonemergency food aid programs were delivered in the same geographic areas. For example, in Guatemala, USAID's Title II Development Assistance Programs and USDA's McGovern-Dole (Food for Education) were both operating in the same geographic region, Baja Verapaz. In Uganda, USAID's Title II Development Assistance programs and USDA's Local and Regional Procurement Pilot programs were both operating in the same districts, Kitgum and Pader. * Similar Activities: Some USAID and USDA nonemergency food aid programs carried out similar activities; however, in these cases the activities were either delivered to different participant groups or different locations, or implementation time lines varied. For example, in Guatemala, USDA's Food for Education and USAID's Title II Development Assistance programs both provided sanitary infrastructure (i.e., constructing latrines) and agricultural training. In Uganda, USDA's Local and Regional Procurement Pilot and USAID's Title II Development Assistance programs both included rehabilitation of rural roads, but USAID's program in Guatemala benefited households, while USDA's program benefited school children. Additionally, though agricultural training was a common activity for both USAID and USDA programs, the project time lines varied, so that, for example, one program was initiating its activities while the other was in the closeout phase. In Guatemala, both McGovern-Dole (Food for Education) and USAID's Title II Development Assistance had capacity-building efforts such as training to improve agricultural productivity; however, both programs were not active in the same geographic area. In some cases, where the geographic focus and project activities were similar, agency program agreements had stipulations to avoid program participant overlap. For example, in Uganda, USAID's Title II Development Assistance programs and USDA's Local and Regional Procurement Pilot were both rehabilitating feeder roads through food- for-work programs in the Kitgum and Pader districts. However, to avoid program participant overlap, the USDA's Local and Regional Procurement Pilot program agreement included a stipulation that participants in the program could not be receiving similar support from any other program. * Common Partners: Some USAID and USDA nonemergency food aid programs used common implementing partners to administer the programs. In Guatemala, out of six nonemergency food aid programs active in 2011, two programs (one USAID and one USDA) had the same implementing partner. Similarly in Uganda, out of five nonemergency food aid programs active in 2011, two programs (one USAID and one USDA) had the same implementing partner. According to these implementing partners, Mercy Corps and Share Guatemala, though program goals and objectives between these two agencies may overlap, the program participants do not. For example, Mercy Corps officials in Uganda told us that while the focus of both USAID Title II and USDA Food for Progress programs were smallholder farmers, the program participants varied because they lived in different geographic focus areas. Similarly, a Share Guatemala official told us that while the focus of USDA's McGovern- Dole (Food for Education) program and USAID's Title II was to improve chronic malnutrition through food rations, the target populations were different (i.e., school-age children versus households). Additionally, these implementing partners, Mercy Corps and Share Guatemala, also told us that while some program management aspects of USAID and USDA nonemergency food aid programs may overlap, most are addressed separately. For example, in some cases implementing partners' monitoring and evaluation systems and country offices are centralized, while the staff and resources used to implement the programs are separate. These implementing partners also noted that USAID and USDA have different administrative structures in the field and distinct requirements for performance management. For example, Mercy Corps officials in Uganda told us that there was no USDA Foreign Agricultural Service representative in Uganda, and as a result their interaction was primarily with officials in USDA's Washington headquarters, while their interaction with USAID was primarily with field representatives in Uganda. Agencies Have Established Some Planning Processes to Limit Overlap: Since 2010, to improve coordination in nonemergency food aid programs, USAID and USDA have shared program proposals and annual program information and conducted periodic joint meetings. USAID and USDA officials both told us that they have shared information on program proposals during the solicitation phase and have sought comments from one another. For example, in 2010 USAID field staff raised concerns about costs, timelines, and potential for duplicative procurement and activities in a proposal for USDA's Local and Regional Procurement Pilot in Mozambique. USDA decided to reject the proposal and to move forward with another program in the country. Additionally, since 2010, USDA has provided annual program information that included country, organization, beneficiary, commodities, and total costs for all Food for Education and Food for Progress programs to USAID Title II officials in an effort to coordinate activities. USDA officials told us that the main objectives for sharing such information is to know about the projects that each agency is funding and to discuss ways to complement each other's activities to guard against funding overlapping activities. Similarly, since 2011, USAID has shared similar information with USDA and sought feedback and review. Furthermore, according to USDA officials, they conducted country meetings with USAID officials to discuss country activities relating to food aid, agriculture development, and education and sought recommendations or concerns on the initial priority list or suggestions for changes that should be made. Agency Comments: We provided a draft of this report to USAID and USDA for review and comment. Neither agency provided formal written comments, but both agencies provided technical comments that were incorporated, as appropriate. If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-9601 or melitot@gao.gov. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report are Phillip Thomas, Assistant Director; Farahnaaz Khakoo-Mausel, Analyst-in-Charge; David Dayton; Martin De Alteris; Mark Dowling; Mark Needham, Erin Preston, and Emily Gupta. Signed by: Thomas Melito, Director: International Affairs and Trade: Enclosures - 2: [End of section] Enclosure I: Scope and Methodology: To identify USAID and USDA objectives for their nonemergency food aid programs, we analyzed program legislation and categorized similar objectives by three main areas-economic, agriculture, and health. To identify if agencies were active in similar sectors, we reviewed USAID and USDA agency documents and similarly categorized those sectors by these same three areas. We also interviewed agency officials in Washington, D.C., and conducted conference calls with implementing partners in Guatemala and Uganda. To determine how these objectives were operationalized, we reviewed program funding, geographic focus, country-level activities, and agency planning processes. Our review did not address internal controls or field-level implementation of project activities (i.e., program management, results, and monitoring and evaluation). To capture annual funding amounts toward nonemergency food aid programs, we examined data from USAID and USDA on the amounts they obligated for these programs for fiscal years 2008 through 2011. We interviewed cognizant officials about agency definitions for nonemergency food aid obligations, costs included in the data (i.e., commodity, freight, transport costs), and whether the process for capturing the data had changed during fiscal years 2008 through 2011. We determined that the data we used were sufficiently reliable for our purposes. To determine whether USAID and USDA were conducting nonemergency food aid programs in the same countries, we reviewed the U.S. International Food Aid Report 2011. We tracked the number of nonemergency food aid programs by country for fiscal year 2011. To illustrate whether USAID and USDA had planned similar project-level activities in the same countries, we selected two countries, Guatemala and Uganda, where (1) three nonemergency food aid programs were active in fiscal year 2011 and (2) recent GAO food aid audit work had been completed. These project-level activities are not generalizable for all nonemergency food aid programs. For these two countries, we gathered grant and cooperative contract agreements for all nonemergency food aid programs active in fiscal year 2011. We collected information on the implementing partner, implementation timeline, program value, estimated monetization amount, commodities, goals and objectives, project activities, and geographic focus areas. To determine if similar activities existed, we compared project activities across programs, by country. To determine if there were common program participant groups and if overlap existed when project activities were similar across programs, we analyzed the timelines, geographic focus areas, and agreement stipulations. In addition, we spoke with two implementing partners (namely, Mercy Corps and Share Guatemala) who were implementing both USAID and USDA programs. We also collected headquarters and field coordination exchanges (i.e., e-mails, guidance, budgets) in planning nonemergency food aid programs. For a broader discussion of coordination mechanisms to limit overlap and duplication in food aid programs, we plan to issue a report on Feed the Future, the government-wide global food security initiative, in 2013. We conducted this performance audit from July 2012 to December 2012 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. [End of section] Enclosure II: Nonemergency Food Aid Programs Active in Fiscal Year 2011 in Guatemala and Uganda: Program: Guatemala - USAID Title II Development Assistance; Project start-end dates: October 2006-July 2012; Partner: Catholic Relief Services; Project value in millions: $26.6; Project goals and objectives: 1. Improved agricultural productivity and sustainable use of natural resources; 2. Increased resilience of family livelihood capacities; 3. Improved health and nutritional status of children 0-36 months and pregnant/lactating women; 4. Improved community capacity to ensure its own food security; Examples of project activities: food for work, agricultural training for farmers, education for mothers on child growth, construction of water systems and latrines, training for local and municipal ministry of health officials; Geographic focus: Departments of San Marcos and Baja Verapaz. Program: Guatemala - USAID Title II Development Assistance; Project start-end dates: July 2009-June 2015; Partner: Mercy Corps; Project value in millions: $47.3; Project goals and objectives: 1. Improve nutritional status and health of women and children vulnerable to food insecurity in northern Guatemala; 2. Prevent malnutrition in children under the age of two; 3. Improve service quality and delivery of health care service providers at community through municipal levels; food rations for pregnant/lactating women, consultation with government and civil society leaders; Examples of project activities: build local community leadership capacity/ministry of health capacity; establish emergency funds for transportation to health services; Geographic focus: Departments of Alta Verapaz and Quiché. Program: Guatemala - USAID Title II Development Assistance; Project start-end dates: October 2006-August 2012; Partner: Save the Children Federation, Inc.; Project value in millions: $23.8; Project goals and objectives: 1. Improve maternal and child health and nutrition; 2. Strengthen livelihoods management; 3. Build community resilience; Examples of project activities: maternal and child health and nutrition services; training of subsistence farmer groups, entrepreneurial groups, ministry of agriculture, and women's income groups; seed distribution, road rehabilitation, reforestation, and water shed activities; Geographic focus: Department of Quiché. Program: Guatemala - USAID Title II Development Assistance; Project start-end dates: August 2006-June 2012; Partner: Share de Guatemala; Project value in millions: $30.9; Project goals and objectives: 1. Improve nutrition and health of lactating mothers, children under three, and pregnant women; 2. Improve family food production, incomes, and the management of resources; 3. Strengthen the capacity of communities to manage their own development; 4. Improve basic community infrastructure; Examples of project activities: food for work, sanitary infrastructure, food rations to families, home gardens, local development, post harvest storage, micro-credit and savings groups; build capacity of local nongovernmental organizations; education activities on child and mother health; Geographic focus: Departments of Chimaltenango and Huehuetenango. Program: Guatemala - USDA McGovern-Dole (Food for Education); Project start-end dates: September 2011-December 2015; Partner: Share de Guatemala; Project value in millions: $25.0; Project goals and objectives: 1. Improve school enrollment and attendance; 2. Reduce the incidence of school desertion for higher-risk students through the provision or a take-home ration; 3. Improve the quality of education; 4. Strengthening capacity of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) and local indigenous organizations; Examples of project activities: direct feeding, take-home rations, teacher training, sanitary infrastructure, health and nutrition education, school gardens, training on commodities for community; Geographic focus: Departments of ChimaItenango, Huehuetcllango, Baja Verapaz, and Quiché. Program: Guatemala - USDA Food for Progress; Project start-end dates: September 2010-December 2015; Partner: Universidad Del Valle De Guatemala; Project value in millions: $4.0; Project goals and objectives: 1. Develop food products and produce bio-fuel for small, medium, and large scale farmers; 2. Provide education, training and technical assistance to farmers and community groups; 3. Create and strengthen small agribusinesses; Examples of project activities: agriculture demonstrations and training, greenhouses, education on high quality food products, irrigation systems improvements; Geographic focus: Departments of Escuintla, Suchitepequez, Solola, and Quiché. Program: Uganda - USAID Title II Development Assistance; Project start-end dates: August 2008-July 2013; Partner: Mercy Corps; Project value in millions: $21.7; Project goals and objectives: 1. Improved food production, consumption, and sales among smallholder farming households; 2. Improved health and nutrition for pregnant/lactating women and children under five; 3. Sustainable safe water access and improved water, sanitation, and hygiene practices; Examples of project activities: expand production and sales of field crops, education on sound agricultural practices, sanitation facilities, child and mother nutrition activities; Geographic focus: Acholi Sub-Region (Kitgum and Pader districts). Program: Uganda - USAID Title II Development Assistance; Project start-end dates: October 2006-August 2012; Partner: ACDI/VOCA; Project value in millions: $76.2; Project goals and objectives: 1. Smallholder Agriculture: Reduced food insecurity and increased nutrition status for 170,600 farmers; 2. Reduced food insecurity and improved nutrition for 53,100 vulnerable people; Examples of project activities: agricultural training for local nongovernmental organizations, training in nutrition and hygiene to rural households, improved seeds, technical assistance to agro producers, rehabilitation of rural roads, training on financial services; Geographic focus: Lango (Apac, Lira), Acholi (Gulu, Kitgum, Pader),Teso (Amuria, Kaberamaido, Katakwi, Kumi, Pallisa, Soroti). Program: Uganda - USDA LRP; Project start-end dates: December 2010-September 2011; Partner: World Vision, Inc; Project value in millions: $4.0; Project goals and objectives: 1. Reduce food insecurity and vulnerability of extremely vulnerable individuals in Kitgum and Pader Districts; 2. Reduce food insecurity and vulnerability of moderately food insecure individuals in those districts; 3. Strengthen local market linkages and increase communities' access to local markets; Examples of project activities: food for work, rehabilitate rural roads, training on agronomic practices, food rations, home gardens; Geographic focus: Acholi Sub-Region (Kitgum and Pader districts). Program: Uganda - USDA Food for Progress; Project start-end dates: September 2011-September 2014; Partner: National Cooperative Business Association; Project value in millions: $9.9; Project goals and objectives: 1. Improve maize and bean production; 2. Improve maize and bean marketing; 3.Improve manufacturing links and tools for conservation farming; Examples of project activities: agricultural training for ministry officials, agro-business training, grants for tool manufacturers; Geographic focus: Regions of Lango, Pallisa, Elgon, Western, and Mubende. Program: Uganda - USDA Food for Progress; Project start-end dates: September 2011-September 2014; Partner: Mercy Corps; Project value in millions: $9.5; Project goals and objectives: 1. Enhance smallholder farmer production and profitability; 2. Improve agri-business and trade performance in key inputs and output markets; 3. Expand access to rural financial services; 4. Improve financial institutions to provide credit services to both smallholder fanners and agri-businesses; Examples of project activities: agricultural training for farmers in business, training for local government, rehabilitation of rural roads, financial technical assistance, training on savings and loans; Geographic focus: Acholi Sub region (Lamwo district). Source: USAID and USDA documents. Notes: Totals are rounded to one decimal point. Total value of the agreement includes U.S. value of the commodity, inland transportation, freight charges, storage, handing, and monetization if any. The amount of funding available for development programs depends on the purchase price of the commodity in the country in a given time. For example, in 2011, 52.1 percent of the USAID Title II Development Assistance was monetized. [End of table] [End of section] Related GAO Reports: International Food Assistance: Improved Targeting Would Help Enable USAID to Reach Vulnerable Groups. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-862]. Washington, D.C.: September 24, 2012. International Food Assistance: World Food Program Stronger Control Needed in High Risk Areas. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-790]. Washington, D.C.: September 13, 2012. International Assistance: Funding Development Projects through the Purchase, Shipment, and Sale of U.S. Commodities is Inefficient and Can Cause Adverse Market Impact. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-636]. Washington, D.C.: June 23, 2011. International Food Assistance: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-977SP]. Washington, D.C.: September 30, 2009. International Food Assistance: USAID Is Taking Actions to Improve Monitoring and Evaluation of Nonemergency Food Aid, but Weaknesses in Planning Could Impede Efforts. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-980]. Washington, D.C.: September 28, 2009. International Food Assistance: Local and Regional Procurement Provides Opportunities to Enhance U.S. Food Aid, but Challenges May Constrain Its Implementation. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-757T]. Washington, D.C.: June 4, 2009. International Food Assistance: Local and Regional Procurement Can Enhance the Efficiency of U.S. Food Aid, but Challenges May Constrain Its Implementation. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-570]. Washington, D.C.: May 29, 2009. International Food Security: Insufficient Efforts by Host Governments and Donors Threaten Progress to Halve Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2015. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-680]. Washington, D.C.: May 29, 2008. Foreign Assistance: Various Challenges Limit the Efficiency and Effectiveness of U.S. Food Aid. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-905T]. Washington, D.C.: May 24, 2007. Foreign Assistance: Various Challenges Impede the Efficiency and Effectiveness of U.S. Food Aid. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-560]. Washington, D.C.: April 13, 2007. Foreign Assistance: U.S. Agencies Face Challenges to Improving the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Food Aid. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-616T]. Washington, D.C.: March 21, 2007. Food Aid: Experience of U.S. Programs Suggest Opportunities for Improvement. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-801T]. Washington, D.C.: June 4, 2002. [End of section] Footnotes: [1] Though international food assistance includes both emergency and nonemergency food aid programs, this report focuses only on nonemergency food aid programs. [2] USAID previously referred to these development programs as nonemergency programs. Development programs typically include a range of objectives, such as agricultural development, health and nutrition, or community development. Emergency programs may have some of these same objectives, but they are generally focused on alleviating hunger and malnutrition in countries affected by disaster. In this report, our focus includes only Title II development in-kind food assistance programs authorized by Title II of the Food for Peace Act, as amended, 7 U.S.C. § 1721 et seq. [3] GAO, International Food Security: Insufficient Efforts by Host Governments and Donors Threaten Progress to Halve Hunger in Sub- Saharan Africa by 2015, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-680] (Washington, D.C.: May 29, 2008). [4] Fragmentation occurs when more than one federal agency (or more than one organization within an agency) is involved in the same broad area of national interest. Program overlap occurs when programs have similar goals, similar activities or strategies to achieve them, or similar target recipients. Fragmentation can lead to overlapping programs and can create the potential for inefficiencies such as duplication, which occurs when two or more agencies or programs are engaged in the same activities or provide the same services to the same beneficiaries. See GAO, 2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance Revenue, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-342SP] (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 28, 2012). [5] U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. International Food Assistance Report 2011 (Washington, D.C.: 2012). [6] Monetization is the sale of U.S. food aid commodities in developing countries to obtain local currency for use in U.S. development assistance programs. For further information on monetization, see GAO, International Food Assistance: Funding Development Projects through the Purchase, Shipment, and Sale of U.S Commodities Is Inefficient and Can Cause Adverse Market Impacts, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-636] (Washington D.C., June 23, 2011). [7] For some programs, funding and direct feeding at schools are also provided to implement education programs. Development programs also include food-for-work activities in which beneficiaries receive food commodities in exchange for their work supporting development projects. [8] The Farm Bill authorizes the purchase of U.S. commodities for nonemergency food aid programs. Congress has periodically passed farm bills in part to provide domestic and international food assistance, promote economic development in rural areas, and help advance alternatives to petroleum fuel, among other things. [9] Section 3001 of Pub. L. No. 110-246, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, changed the title of the underlying legislation from the Agricultural Trade Development Assistance Act of 1954, also known as P.L. No. 480, to the Food for Peace Act. Title II of the Food for Peace Act is codified at 7 U.S.C. 1721 et seq. Our review included only Title II development in-kind food assistance programs. [10] Pub. L. No. 99-198, § 1110, 7 U.S.C. 1736o. [11] Pub. L. No. 107-171, § 3107, 7 U.S.C. 1736o-1. [12] Pub. L. No. 110-246, § 3206, 7 U.S.C. 1726c. [End of section] GAO’s Mission: The Government Accountability Office, the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the American people. 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