Why EU is in dilemma over payment of funds for regional development

Besides the lack of synergy between the EDF programmes and priority areas by the respective governments, the audit further pointed out that most of the regional organisations lacked the capacity to effectively absorb funds disbursed under the programme.

“The doubling of the financial allocation to regional programmes under the 10th EDF does not take into account the limited absorption capacity of the regional organisations.” the audit says.

It instead recommends that such disbursements be subject to strict follow-ups to lock out any potential forms of wastage that may occur.

“The Commission should, from the 2010 mid-term review of the 10th EDF strategies onwards, improve the coherence between its regional strategy and national strategies, by ‘main streaming’ regional integration in all its support activities at national level and by seeking more systematic complementarity between its support activities at the two different levels,” it further says.

The EU, however, does not escape blemish in the East African EDF dilemma with the audit revealing massive disjointedness in the way it managed and coordinated programmes under the fund.

“The Commission’s management of its regional programmes has lacked specific management and co-ordination instruments to adequately deal with the preparation, implementation, reporting and co-ordination of regional activities : the roles and responsibilities of the different delegations in the region are not clearly established, nor has a coordination mechanism between these delegations been set up,” it pointed out.

Tall order

It further says at the level of the regional organisations, co-ordination is also inadequate and a monitoring system to track the overall progress of the regional integration process in the individual countries is lacking.

“In relation to its management of regional programmes the Commission should clearly define the responsibilities of the different delegations in the regions concerned, establish an appropriate coordination mechanism between delegations in a region, review the resources allocated to delegations for the programming and implementation of its regional programmes,” it says.

The auditors also want the commission to use contribution agreement with regional organisations only where the financial management is found to comply with international standards.

Overall the audit says it has had to endure a tall order in trying to find specific results for most programmes initiated in the region under the EDF kitty.

“It has been difficult for the Court, and in some cases impossible, to assess the effectiveness of individual interventions, because their objectives are often not well defined and the necessary information is frequently lacking due to inadequate quality and frequency of project reporting, monitoring and evaluation,” it admits.

The auditors say recent, ongoing projects mostly have a wide scope and ambitious objectives; however, their implementation has so far been slow.

“Overall, for the 18 regional projects examined, the results, or likely results, are, at best, only partially satisfactory” they said and recommend that the Commission increases its efforts aimed at helping regional organisations improved coordination between themselves as well as between them and their member states besides establishing monitoring systems which will support implementation of programmes and provide comprehensive information on the progress of the overall regional integration process, including progress in individual countries.

“The Commission should formulate project objectives which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and subject to a realistic time frame, pay more attention to regular, good —quality progress reporting, and systematic monitoring and evaluation of project results,” the auditors recommend.