Audit of USAID’s Haiti recovery initiative activities managed by Office of Transition Initiatives
Attachments
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
In January 2010 Haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake that leveled extensive portions of Port-au-Prince, killing or displacing hundreds of thousands of people. According to USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), the Haitian Government was largely incapacitated because significant numbers of government officials were killed and many buildings and records were destroyed.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, OTI began implementing the Haiti Recovery Initiative (HRI). The initial focus was on supporting short- and medium-term activities aimed at stabilizing the Caribbean nation through assistance with community revitalization, improved governance, and economic strengthening.
In March 2011 OTI awarded Chemonics International Inc. a $53-million, 18-month contract to continue its work under the second phase of HRI (called HRI-II). HRI-II was designed to support the January 2011 Post-Earthquake U.S. Government Haiti Strategy; according to that, the United States would help Haiti strengthen its economy and public institutions in the three strategic development corridors of Port-au-Prince, Saint-Marc, and Cap-Haitien. As of May 3, 2012, OTI obligated $46.5 million and disbursed $23 million.
The Regional Inspector General/San Salvador (RIG/San Salvador) conducted this audit to determine whether HRI-II activities are achieving their main goals of stabilizing Haiti through community revitalization, increased citizen engagement, and improved governance.
The audit found that many OTI activities are providing benefits, such as:
OTI worked with the International Organization for Migration to relocate about 1,250 internally displaced families that were living in two camps in Petionville. The camps were cleared in December 2011.
OTI provided the Haitian Parliament with temporary offices and meeting space. Parliament’s headquarters partially collapsed during the earthquake.
However, while individual activities had positive impacts locally, OTI was not using a structured system for measuring and reporting whether HRI-II as a whole was meeting its broader national objectives, and the lack of such a system made it difficult to measure the program’s impact.
Furthermore, HRI-II was not on track to complete all activities before the scheduled end date of September 2012. Budget line items in the contract provided for grants under contract ($37.3 million) and “non-grant under contract” activities, such as direct procurement of goods and services ($3.3 million) for a total of $40.6 million. As of February 2012, 141 activities worth about $22.9 million had been developed and approved, leaving $17.7 million available for new activities to be approved, implemented, completed, and closed in the 7 months left.