Friday, March 23, 2012
UK to Pay Closer Attention to Aid Dollars for Afghanistan
The United Kingdom is striving to pay closer attention to where the aid dollars to Afghanistan end up. Corruption is a huge problem in Afghanistan and corrupt Afghan officials divert a lot of aid money to their bank accounts in Dubai. Afghanistan is one of the UK's top foreign policy priorities and see a lot of money coming its way from the UK; but many in the UK question where that money ends up. Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) is being urged to send more personnel with financial and contracting experience in order to ensure the money goes to the intended purpose. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact, a UK government entity, says that the UKs aid program is not performing well and needs significant improvements. Read more in "UK must tighten grip on Afghan aid programme - watchdog", Reuters, March 22, 2012.
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Development work is inherently risky, and working in deteriorating governance environments is even more so. This is, after all, simply common sense. Spending money in Kabul is of course riskier than spending it in New York or Paris or London. So a sensible approach to risk is necessary -- which doesn’t mean being tolerant of corruption, but it does mean that DFID staff and their implementing partners need to know that they will not be ‘punished’ if fraud is found, assuming they’ve done their job to the best of their ability in the circumstances with diligence. DFID is hardly alone in grappling with how to protect taxpayers’ funds in some of the most difficult environments in the world, and it will need to figure out how to both protect staff who report fraud as well as how to deliver a politically viable message to the UK public on the real risks corruption poses in difficult governance environments. It also seems a bit unfair to shine the spotlight on DFID alone; after all, the same challenges apply to the MOD, the FCO and the DTI – all of whom spend taxpayers’ money in Afghanistan, but without independent watchdogs producing highly publicised reports.
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