Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday – Americans Lead Moroccan Pottery Classes

Topline: The U.S. Agency for International Development’s pottery classes in Morocco seemed like an irresponsible use of money before they even began, but somehow the execution was even worse than the idea.

Morocco pottery classes – with American teachers and media

The classes ran throughout 2011, and an inspector general report later found that the teacher did not speak Arabic and used American clay not available in Morocco. 

“Clays and dyes used by the trainer were unavailable for local purchase,” the audit found. “Therefore, the techniques demonstrated during the training could not be replicated in Morocco.”

Many participants stopped attending — except those who showed up just for the free lunch.

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses. 

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.   

Coburn’s Wastebook 2012 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $18 billion, including Africa’s art enrichment. The classes cost $2.2 million, or $3.2 million in today’s money.

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Key facts: The $27 million Morocco Economic Competitiveness Program aimed to help Moroccans gain business skills, and some of the money was used to teach pottery skills.

In a classic example of mismanagement, USAID hired an American pottery teacher who only spoke English. The most common language in Morocco is Arabic.

The translator couldn’t understand the teacher

USAID later hired a translator, but he did not speak English and could not understand the teacher. Program officials told the inspector general that hiring a translator fluent in English “would have significantly increased the training costs.”

The translator and the teacher “became frustrated” that the students were not understanding the pottery lessons, causing students to leave the class, the inspector general reported. One woman said that, in her class, most of the students signed the attendance list just to qualify for the free lunch offered by the program but left before the actual class began. 

Even if the language barrier was not an issue, it’s unlikely the pottery classes would have been helpful since the supplies were unavailable locally.

As Coburn noted, it makes little sense for Americans to teach Moroccans about pottery. Moroccan pottery dates back to 500 B.C. and is known around the world for its excellent craftsmanship. 

Summary: All of the officials involved in developing USAID’s budget in 2011 presumably spoke English, so it’s anyone’s guess why fiscal sanity was lost in translation.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.