Malfeasance in Foreign Aid

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Malfeasance in Foreign Aid is serious wrongdoing by an officer or agent of an organisation, public or private, not-for-profit or commercial, engaged in the administration and arrangement of funds and assets given for the relief and development of people in need usually in a "developing" or "least developed country". Malfeasance also occurs in Humanitarian Aid.

Malfeasance in Foreign Aid has existed for many years, reported as far back as 2002. and before, but more well-known after 2017 because of serious cases rapidly receiving widespread attention in mainstream and social media. As a result the phrase “Malfeasance in Foreign Aid” is more prevalent in development literature and the Foreign Aid Community Network DEVEX It has emerged in response to the perceived increase in scale and diversity of wrong-doing being reported and recognized around the world but not hitherto covered by a generic phrase. Wherever one type of misconduct is unearthed, often there are others, combined with weak governance; supervisory and inspection regimes within those organizations and external regulatory bodies.

Financial impropriety is malfeasance through fraud and other measures that prevent money and resources being used for the exact purpose for which the funds were raised. A leading work. on this was published in 2014 is by Oliver B. May entitled: “Fighting Fraud and Corruption in the Humanitarian and Global Development Sector”.

More malfeasance emerged in 2017 in the form of insidious criminal behavior of serious sexual abuse and exploitation within development NGOs receiving widespread attention after revelations of abuse by Oxfam leaders in Haiti.

Although the incident was concerned with a British organisation, the phenomenon spread quickly to others, serving as a springboard for more revelations and allegations. The United Kingdom’s charity regulator the Charities Commission invoked investigations as did Overseas Aid Minister Penny Mordaunt . and the International Development Committee of the UK Parliament. Its report issued on 31 July 2018 gained rapid widespread attention in the media and foreign aid sector around the world highlighting “Complacency verging on complicity...more concern for [their own] reputations than for victims”.

Misrepresentation can also be a serious form of Malfeasance in Foreign Aid. One form “suitcase NGOs” were first mentioned in Graham Hancock’s 1994 book on Foreign Aid "Lords of Poverty that turn up during disasters and crises, portending to offer aid alongside legitimate NGOs but instead are there for easy funding opportunities. See also Maryan L Tuppy.

Another dishonest form of misrepresentation in Foreign Aid is where an organisation or individual deliberately fabricates stories or exaggerates "facts" to raise funds. Celebrity philanthropist and NGO founder Somaly Mam was exposed in 2014 making false claims about her human rights victims.

Misrepresentation in Foreign Aid also appears in forms that vary in acceptability due to the nature of modern fundraising. Donors invite NGOs to submit proposals to tackle pre-identified “targets” of where and how to work in specified sectoral or geographical areas and/or vulnerable client groups. Some NGOs “chase the money”, parting from their stated mission, reinventing their core expertise. If not eliminated as part of due diligence checks it can amount to a serious misuse of funds while depriving legitimate NGOs of money to provide proper services and benefits.

Other forms of malfeasance or misconduct include but are not limited to misuse of resources such as vehicles for personal/unauthorised purposes; not adhering to contracts of employment; conditions of service, as well as expected rules and ethics. Such behavior is easier to carry out and get away with because Foreign Aid people are in privileged jobs and high-status social positions in capitals of developing countries. There lower standards of accountability may exist than in their home country. Their behavior can be emulated by domestic employees perpetuating problems.

Malfeasance in Foreign Aid can takes place in the lucrative areas of consultancy contracts. This has led to larger donors like USAID strengthening controls.

Failure to declare interests for consultancies and evaluation contracts can amount to malfeasance. For example, a person connected with an organisation presently or in the recent past should not be engaged to conduct an "independent" evaluation of it or its close peers. A light-hearted article does make leading points to avoid malfeasance.

Malfeasance occurs in employment policies in Foreign Aid, through favoritism towards family members (nepotism) and friends (cronyism). In Asia such practices can be regarded as legitimate “Asian Values”. Self-serving patron-dependency networks operate within organisations. True connections may be concealed especially where family names differ or can be changed. References might not come from official authorized sources. Employment histories may also been doctored to conceal past misconduct.

Malfeasance in Foreign Aid runs counter to global efforts to promote Foreign Aid effectiveness – better use of aid money and resources, as advocated by several initiatives, of which the most prominent began in Paris . with Accra and Busan.

Malfeasance in Foreign Aid, despite amounting to crimes in judicial systems in both host and donor countries seldom results in formal reporting to law enforcement authorities, a failing acknowledged by OXFAM. Consensus is growing that impunity should not exist in Foreign Aid.

In 2018 there is no organized international inspectorate of Foreign Aid, not even within the United Nations system to carry out inspections or co-ordinate information about malfeasance to fulfill a similar cross-country functions to bodies like Interpol. . Most donor agencies have their own internal units as well as relying on regulators but very few if any deploy inspectors overseas as a routine to deter malfeasance. OECD estimates that worldwide US$ 146billion is spent on Foreign Aid.

There are local initiatives to inculcate more effective and ethical working such as the Cambodia Co-operation Committee’s NGO Governance Scheme. This originated in response to the concerns expressed in cases cited in the article above. This is a self-certification process by an umbrella group of NGOs of its fellow members in the absence of independent accreditation checks.

See also: Aid Development Aid Misfeasance or malfeasance Malfeasance in office Abuse of Power (I do not agree that the page should be merged with harassment, as latter can be done by anyone not just those in power.)

New page ends - suggestions in related pages:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuse_of_power

15 August 2018 - I suggest a new section:

Abuse of Power in Foreign Aid

Although fraud and misuse of Foreign Aid has been known to exist for many years (see ) only in 2017 did a more insidious form of malfeasance come to light. This was criminal behavior, serious sexual abuse and exploitation, within international development NGOs that first received widespread attention after revelations of abuse by Oxfam leaders in Haiti. This was blatant abuse of power by top officials exploiting the world's most vulnerable groups in the midst of a disaster.

Although the incident was concerned with a British organisation, the phenomenon spread quickly to many others, indeed serving as a springboard for more revelations and allegations to emerge. Not only did the United Kingdom’s charity regulator the Charities Commission invoke investigations. but so did relevant Government Ministers such as DfID Minister Penny Mordaunt and the International Development Committee of the UK Parliament. Its report issued on 31 July 2018 gained rapid attention in the media and Foreign Aid sector around the world highlighting within the sector “Complacency verging on complicity...more concern for [their own] reputations than for victims”.

International NGOs like Save the Children strengthened their policies with new safeguarding instructions.

The United Nations too has been rocked by more allegations of abuse by its official Peace-Keepers, military forces from member states around the world, deployed as Blue Helmets on its behalf, to keep peace and protect civilian populations in conflict situations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malfeasance_in_office

Below United States

Other Countries

The predominance in use of English around the world has meant that terms such as malfeasance now feature in official reports in other countries. For example in Cambodia it is used to describe where corruption extends beyond financial impropriety to include abuse of power. For example the Cambodia Daily in 2011 quoted “Finance Minister Keat Chhon wrote to Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng, saying a recent AntiCorruption Unit probe had revealed evidence of broad-based malfeasance”. Officials in all of the ministry’s provincial offices had made arbitrary deductions from pensions and illegally acquired the pension rights of pensioners collecting and retaining payments in their name.

Malfeasance has also extended beyond public service in to Foreign Aid. For example Professor Sophal Ear refers to “In June 2006 more financial malfeasance was uncovered with seven additional World Bank projects.” World Bank

Professor Sophal Ear is the author of “Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy”

A more recent example reached a wider world audience as one of the largest donors, the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tubercolosis and Malaria ”after an investigation in 2012 revealed serious financial malfeasance had been committed by the Cambodian Ministry of Health” as well as by MEDICAM the alliance of Health NGOs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_aid

In Section 5 Corruption A new paragraph at the end. Corruption and financial impropriety are not the only forms of serious misconduct or malfeasance that can afflict foreign aid. It extends to include abuse of power that harms not only the effective delivery of aid but also its impact for intended beneficiaries i.e. the world's poor people. One of the largest donors, the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tubercolosis and Malaria ”after an investigation in 2012 revealed serious financial malfeasance had been committed by the Cambodian Ministry of Health” and by "MEDICAM" the Health NGO Alliance. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malfeasance_in_office

One more suggestion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_aid I notice that in the section of Effectiveness, there is no mention of the international gatherings to promote foreign aid effectiveness that I had put in to my first suggestion to you. That is an omission. You could add at the end:

Global efforts have been made in recent years to promote Foreign Aid effectiveness of which the most prominent began in Paris followed by Accra and Busan.

If you add that I can work on some academic and aid sector professional commentaries.

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