1. Types of Abuses

· Multiple registration of family members at one center
· Registration of family members at more than one center
· Inflation of family size
· Registration of non-eligible individuals
· Registration of non-existent or “phantom” families
· Sale of beneficiary documents.

2. Detecting Abuses

· Random checks of households of registered project participants (inspection of dwelling and possessions)

· Random cross-checks of other records, such as medical records or birth certificates

· Interviews with people suspected of being registered more than once

· Comparison with records from other areas to check for duplicate registrations.

3. Preventing Abuses

· In small operations, eligible and ineligible individuals may be identified by sight.

· Roll calls and/or card validation before distributions.

· The beneficiary must leave some sort of receipt at the distribution site after the ration is received, such as a coupon or token. This way the distribution staff can also check who has not yet received the ration, from unpunched cards, tokens or tickets. Fingerprints and signatures are sometimes used for verification of receipt.

· The total amounts of food given out should be compared with the total recorded number of eligible persons collecting the rations.

· If the registration is computerized, cards reported to be stolen must be entered into the system to identify if, when, where and by whom the stolen cards are being used.

· Distributions must also be verified through end-use interviews of a sample of the target population and review of distribution site records by CARE monitors (See Monitoring Project Sites).

Internal Control