There are charitable Trust and Foundation in the Western Countries that fund NGO’S in Africa mostly targeting most venerable members in the societies i.e. women and children especially those in semi-arid and arid areas, marginalized communities and those affected by conflicts due to prolong civil wars, drought etl.
The main objectives for the donor to fund these projects undertaken by local NGO’S to benefit the intended members in our societies but sometimes the objectives are not achieved as expected. These creates concern to Donors to continue or fund new projects.
Donors major concerns are;
- Assurance that donor funds are utilized for intended purpose. This is usually the case
where a single project is funded by multiple donors without the knowledge of the donors. - Lack of or inadequate capacity building
Most projects cease after the implementation period come to an end. Hence the interventions
made by the project are not sustained. There are no proper monitoring and evaluation of the
projects after end of the projects. - Lack of proper procurement policies
Most projects do not have robust procurement policies when sourcing for goods and services
hence the value for money is not achieved. - Delay in disbursement of funds especially where a project is funded by more than one donor.
Some projects have experienced delayed disbursement of funds which has affected the
implementation of the activities in the workplans which resorts to organizations asking for no-
cost extensions to the projects.
In recent times Donors are engaging auditors directly to do project audits and report to them directly. This has improved the independence and objectivity of auditors since the threats of being fired are minimized.
Donors are also ensuring that TORs are set in a way that auditors go for field visits to assess whether donor funds are utilized in intended projects and assess the success of projects implemented. This forms part of the audit report and the donors are able to counter check against narrative reports sent by project implementation partners.
Therefore, the future of successful donor funded projects is pegged on the following;
a) A robust treasury management system that ensures donor funds are spent on intended
projects.
b) A clear cost allocation policy for multiple- donor funded projects to curb misappropriation of
donor funds usually where part of the pooled funds are undesignated.
c) Maintaining separate donor funds in different bank accounts where you can monitor
spending.
d) Appointing Auditors who are directly contracted by the donors and reporting to them directly.
Evaluation can be done by an independent consultant and should cover substantial samples
enough to minimize biases.
Why engaged an Auditor in monitoring and evaluation of projects?
1. An independent consultant will be able to report facts on the project and would not like
to jeopardize their reputation
2. When the local NGO’S are aware of an independent person will review and report their
work, there are minimum chance that funds would be misappropriated.
3. The progress of long-term project would be monitored as they progress
4. Capacity of the local NGO’s to absorb the fund requested would be assessed before
disbursement is done to avoid funding those organization which has no capacity to
undertake certain projects.
5. The donors have peace of mind when they know a reputable audit firm is monitoring
the progress of those projects.
6. The intended beneficially will benefit.