Final Accounts for Haiti Aid Donations 2010-2014
The SHO has adapted it annual reports and improved the accounts it keeps of the aid the Netherlands donated to Haiti. We also found that the SHO and its members could keep their accounts more efficiently and transparently if they had used simpler allocation rules, uniform definitions and more open data. We present our findings in the fifth and final report in a series: Final Accounts for Haiti Aid Donations 2010-2014.
Conclusions
We drew the following conclusions from our audit.
- Significant results achieved but efficiency could be improved
The aid organisations cooperating in the SHO have achieved significant results in the past five years. Schools and houses have been built, businesses have received seed capital and people have been trained in disaster preparedness and been informed about cholera. We were able to confirm these results during our field visit in 2012. The SHO’s members have also applied the aid in accordance with the regulations. We found, though, that improvements could still be made in the implementation of aid projects. - Steady improvement in accounts continued to final report
The final report on the aid programme for Haiti published in June 2015 shows that the SHO improved its accounts from year to year. They have gradually become more complete and more transparent. In comparison with the final report on the tsunami aid programme in 2008, the SHO has made significant progress. It remains difficult, however, to prepare consistent reports on the results achieved. The SHO’s final report actually includes a series of lessons learned that can be used to improve the coordination of future programmes. - Roles of aid recipient and supervisor adequately fulfilled
The Minister of Foreign Affairs has audited the SHO’s use over the years of the €41.7 million grant it received. He found that the SHO had acted and reported in accordance with the grant conditions. We concluded that the minister had adequately fulfilled his role as supervisor of the grant.
Recommendations
The implementation of the aid programme could be improved if the participants continued with their professionalisation, strengthened their international cooperation and used open data. Their reports would then be more consistent as uniform standards would be applied for project management costs and results would be allocated proportionately.
Response of the Minister
In their response to our draft report, the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and the managers of the SHO were positive about our conclusions. They thought the efforts taken by all parties had had significant results and accountability for humanitarian aid had been improved. They would take our recommendations into account during the preparations for the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016.