In 2009, Peace Corps Volunteer Kate Puzey was murdered while serving in Benin, just after reporting concerns that a seasonal Peace Corps contractor was sexually abusing students. Her tragic death raised serious concerns with the agency’s handling of Volunteer safety, security, and the confidentiality of Volunteer complaints.

Our report contains 13 recommendations focused on improving programming, training, and Volunteer support at the post.

We found that the post’s financial and administrative operations required improvement to comply with agency policies and applicable federal laws and regulations. Our report contains 14 recommendations directed to both the post and headquarters. At the post, our recommendations included strengthening controls over security certifications, leases, and imprest fund verifications; safeguarding controlled substances; and improving management of Volunteer allowances and purchase card transactions.

This semiannual report informs Congress of the Peace Corps Office of Inspector General's work for October 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017.

Our report made 27 recommendations focused on improving programming, training, and Volunteer support at the post.

This audit found that the post’s financial and administrative operations required improvement to comply with agency policies and applicable federal laws and regulations. Our report contains 10 recommendations directed to the post, including that it properly record payee names when disbursing funds and enhance controls over Volunteer allowances, ticketing for air travel, and interim advances.

Inspector General Kathy A. Buller's statement before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform concerning Inspector General empowerment.

This audit found that Peace Corps/China's financial and administrative operations were effective and complied with agency policies and applicable federal laws and regulations. However, there were a few areas in need of improvement. Our report makes five recommendations directed to both the post and headquarters on these areas.

This semiannual report informs Congress of the Peace Corps Office of Inspector General's work for April 1, 2016 - September 30, 2016

The Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011 required the Peace Corps to undertake reforms related to sexual assault risk reduction and response training and policy. This report contains OIG’s evaluation of the effectiveness and implementation of the training and policy, in addition to a review of a statistically significant number of sexual assault cases. The Peace Corps generally complied with the Act’s requirements. However, we identified several aspects of the agency’s sexual assault risk reduction and response program that needed improvement to better train Volunteers and enhance the Peace Corps’ response to sexual assault victims.

The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) requires that annually each Office of Inspector General review its agency’s information security program and report results to the Office of Management and Budget. Based on the results of this review, we are concerned about the quality of the IT security program, especially considering the sensitive data that the Peace Corps maintains, such as health records and sexual assault incident information about Peace Corps Volunteers.

These challenges illustrate the most significant areas the Office of Inspector General believes need improvement for the Peace Corps to effectively manage its resources and minimize the potential for fraud, waste, and abuse occurring in its operations.

The Office of Inspector General's annual plan outlines the work planned for the year ahead, including agency wide audits or evaluations, mandated reviews, and which posts may receive audits or evaluations.

Our report contains five recommendations directed to the post, including: strengthening controls over the process for collecting Volunteer overpayments and closing grant projects, complying with policies for issuing BOCs, and obtaining approval from the Office of Global Accounts Payable to designate a sub-cashier to assist with any weekend emergencies that require cash transactions.

The report summarizes the most frequently recurring issues and recommendations from post audits, evaluations, and investigations between fiscal years 2012 and 2015.The purpose of this report is to help Peace Corps management identify the most commonly recurring issues across posts that require management attention to remediate.