Since fiscal 2002, the US Agency for International Development has awarded over $11.5 billion in support of development assistance programs in Afghanistan, but the "high-threat" working environment, the difficulties in preserving institutional knowledge due to the lack of a formal mechanism for retaining and sharing information during staff turnover, and the Afghan government ministries’ lack of capacity and corruption continue to dog the mission, GAO has said.
However, it told a Senate appropriations panel recently that USAID has taken some steps to assess and begin addressing the limited capacity and corruption challenges associated with Afghan ministries.
It also said the agency has established performance management and evaluation procedures for managing and overseeing its assistance programs such as the development of a “mission performance management plan” and the establishment and approval of implementing partner performance indicators and targets.
To enhance the performance management of USAID’s development assistance programs in Afghanistan, GAO recommended, among other things, that the administrator of USAID take steps to ensure programs have performance indicators and targets, fully assess and use program data and evaluations to shape current programs and inform future programs, address preservation of institutional knowledge, and, improve guidance for the use and management of USAID contractors.
