Refugees:

U.S. Assistance to Bulgarian Ethnic Turks in Turkey

NSIAD-92-59: Published: Dec 18, 1991. Publicly Released: Dec 18, 1991.

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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of State's and the United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) $10-million project to assist Turkey with the resettlement and assimilation of ethnic Turkish refugees fleeing Bulgaria, focusing on: (1) project development; (2) project management and progress; and (3) the amount of project funds distributed.

GAO found that: (1) State's Bureau of Refugee Programs agreed with UNDP to carry out the project, and UNDP and the government of Turkey agreed to implement the $9,957,000 U.S.-funded project on June 15, 1990; (2) the project was to provide training for 10,500 unskilled refugees, job placement assistance for 25,000 other refugees, and Turkish orientation classes for all 35,500 refugees; (3) although State, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, and UNDP initially reported successful progress, only about 37 percent of projected funds had been expended as of July 1991, and the project was not likely to meet its objectives by its scheduled June 1992 end; (4) the Bureau of Refugee Programs and the U.S. Embassy at Ankara were not adequately monitoring project progress and expenditures; (5) a review indicated that at least $285,000 had been improperly expended for vocational training classes that were not held; and (6) after the review, UNDP reported that it recovered those funds.

Recommendations for Executive Action

  1. Status: Closed - Implemented

    Comments: Monitoring of the project has been increased and UNDP is more carefully managing the project.

    Recommendation: The Secretary of State should require the Bureau for Refugee Programs and the U.S. Embassy in Ankara to fulfill their monitoring and oversight responsibilities by actively monitoring the project's progress to ensure that remaining funds are appropriately expended.

    Agency Affected: Department of State

  2. Status: Closed - Implemented

    Comments: The State Department's Refugee Program Bureau and the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, strengthened oversight of the project and recouped $231,910 in funds expended on cancelled or uncompleted training courses.

    Recommendation: The Secretary of State should require the Bureau for Refugee Programs and the U.S. Embassy in Ankara to fulfill their monitoring and oversight responsibilities by ensuring that UNDP verify the correctness of all payments to the Turkish Employment Organization and that UNDP recoup erroneous payments.

    Agency Affected: Department of State

  3. Status: Closed - Implemented

    Comments: The State Department and project managers agreed to discontinue orientation classes: $375,220 in budgeted project training funds were diverted for other training projects as a result.

    Recommendation: The Secretary of State should require the Bureau for Refugee Programs and the U.S. Embassy in Ankara to fulfill their monitoring and oversight responsibilities by ascertaining whether the orientation classes are still relevant or if the classes can be terminated and the funds used for other purposes.

    Agency Affected: Department of State

 

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