saved link:

http://dsh.cs.washington.edu:8000/Projects/StudyHall_Discuss/upload/091001-132818.pak_usaid_fraud/

original link:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1927018,00.html

Quote:

Pakistan can expect to receive $1.5 billion of non-military (or civilian) aid for each of the next five years,

That job principally falls to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and many critics say its performance isn't very encouraging.

One early effort in education already appears to be a cautionary tale. Improving schooling in the country has been a key focus of U.S. development efforts,

In long, jargon-filled reports, the principal USAID contractor on an $83 million, five-year education-sector reform project, North Carolina–headquartered RTI (also known as Research Triangle Institute), claims to have "positively impacted" more than 400,000 students.

But when USAID's inspector general sent a team over in August 2007 to check on the progress, it could not validate the claims 

Well-informed Pakistanis say this dismal performance is all too typical. Worse, they insist, it hints at the structural problems that are plaguing America's aid programs.

Currently the dependence on highly paid consultants means at least half of every development dollar stays in the U.S. 

said Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in a July 15 speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Too much of the money has never reached its intended target but stayed here in America to pay salaries or fund overhead in contracts."



Randy

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