Agency Hoping for Better Bridge to Blast Victims

The U.S. Agency for International Development is seeking a new partner to distribute American aid to victims of a 1998 terrorist bombing here, after the failure of the current manager to adequately perform the task.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies will return most of a $3.5-million USAID grant that had been earmarked to provide counseling and educational support for Kenyans in the wake of the August 1998 attack on the U.S. Embassy.

Many blast survivors have complained that although they were identified as eligible for assistance, the money has been slow in coming. In several cases, survivors and others have received no aid.

“The Federation of the Red Cross, working through the Kenya Red Cross, simply didn’t have the capacity to successfully implement this program,” said Shannon Lovgren, social services coordinator for the Bomb Response Unit at USAID.

Lovgren said four international accounting firms with offices here have bid to take over management of the program, called “Bridge to Hope.” Selection of the new agent will be made within the next few weeks. The Red Cross has three months to phase out of the project.

Nearly simultaneous bombings of the U.S. embassies here and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, left 224 people dead and more than 5,000 injured. A dozen Americans were among the dead; the majority of the victims were Kenyans.

According to Lovgren, the main problems with the assistance efforts here were tied to the school fees program. Under the aid effort, money was allocated to cover educational costs over three years for 800 children who had a parent or guardian responsible for educating them killed or injured in the attack.

“The complaints we have are that school fees weren’t getting paid in a timely fashion,” said Lovgren. “Not enough children were identified. And the children who were identified as eligible--their schools were not receiving the school fee payments.”

When the program was launched in May, only a third of eligible recipients benefited during the first school semester. By the second term, 770 needy children had been identified, but only 500 were being assisted. Today, the number of assisted children is up to 700, but U.S. officials say that’s not enough.

Lovgren attributed the delays to complications associated with setting up an office and identifying eligible children. Problems also arose when officials tried to verify the amount needed for educational fees, which typically cover tuition, uniforms, books, transportation and a contribution to school development funds. The costs often were inflated. It was up to the Red Cross to verify the numbers before it could distribute funds.

The USAID office was inundated with complaints from parents whose children had been or were about to be kicked out of school because fees had not been paid. Many parents received letters confirming their children’s eligibility and still did not get assistance. Most complained that they had to fill out the same forms more than once.

“I think that the Kenya Red Cross probably underestimated the logistics involved in implementing this program,” Lovgren said. She dismissed allegations that the agency misused some funds.

The counseling service also failed to reach the number of people envisioned for the program, Lovgren said. Many people became demoralized and stopped attending the sessions.

“If they don’t have faith in the Kenya Red Cross to perform one service, why would they have faith in [the agency] to perform another service?” Lovgren asked.

Officials at the international Red Cross federation acknowledged that they were disappointed at having to return the aid money and abandon their role.

“The federation saw this as a great opportunity for the Kenya Red Cross to be at the forefront of assistance to the survivors, and saw that this was a wonderful project to take on,” said Caroline Hurford, a Nairobi-based spokeswoman for the federation. “But I think it was genuinely a case of biting off more than it could chew.”

Still, Hurford defended the Kenya Red Cross, noting that it deserves some credit for counseling about 1,000 people during the past six months and training 150 teachers and guidance counselors for the mental health program.