Famine in Africa: Improving U.S. Response Time for Emergency Relief
NSIAD-86-56
Published: Apr 03, 1986. Publicly Released: Apr 03, 1986.
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Highlights
GAO commented on the time it took federal agencies to approve emergency food requests, obtain the commodities, and start loading them for shipment to African countries during the 1985 emergency.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | The Assistant Administrator, AID, should ensure that appropriate attention continues to be given to finding ways to shorten the timeframe for procuring and shipping emergency food commodities to famine-stricken countries. One way to accomplish this may be the assignment of specific responsibility to an agency official at a sufficiently high level to generate the necessary cooperation and support. This official could obtain the views of government, private organization, and industry officials and monitor the testing and implementation of measures to shorten the time required to provide emergency commodities. |
Closed – Implemented
The Food for Peace Coordinator, AID, will work with USDA to continue to seek ways to ensure that emergency food shipments arrive promptly overseas to disaster areas and famine stricken countries. It will continue to review potential changes in the procurement and shipping process in order to effect shortened delivery time at reasonable costs.
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Topics
Disaster relief aidDroughtsFederal aid to foreign countriesForeign aid programsInternational food programsProgram managementFamineAgricultural commoditiesProcurementCommodities