Internal Audit of WFP Operations in Benin - May 2023

As part of its annual workplan, the Office of Internal Audit conducted an audit of WFP operations in Benin that focused on beneficiary management, supply chain, monitoring, non-governmental organization management, finance, budget management and gender. Through its three strategic outcomes, the Country Strategic Plan 2019–2023 aims to enable WFP in Benin to reposition itself and transition from providing direct assistance to performing an advisory and enabling role, supporting the Government in the design and implementation of a national integrated home-grown school feeding programme. Following the Government’s commitment to scale up its coverage of the school feeding programme to reach 75 percent of all primary schools, in April 2022, WFP included an additional 1,729 schools in the programme to reach a total of more than 5,300 schools. Over the audit period, WFP expenses amounted to USD 25 million, and the country office reached over 1 million beneficiaries. The audit focused on implementation of activity #1 – Provide integrated, inclusive and gender-transformative school meals programmes in targeted communities in a way that relies on and
stimulates local production, under strategic outcome 1 of the country strategic plan, which accounted for 95 percent of total expenses during the audit period. Based on the results of the audit, the Office of Internal Audit reached an overall conclusion of major improvement needed.