Democracy Assistance Lessons Learned from Egypt Should Inform Future U.S. Plans

For over 30 years, Egypt has been a key strategic partner of the United States and the recipient of billions of dollars of U.S. assistance. Starting with its revolution in January 2011, Egypt has undergone a series of political transitions. Shortly after the revolution, the U.S. government allocated $65 million in assistance for a range of activities to support Egypt's progress toward democracy. However, the Egyptian government objected to the U.S. government providing this assistance directly to NGOs, including to some that it viewed not to be registered under Egyptian law. In June 2013, the Egyptian government convicted employees of four U.S. NGOs. This report examines (1) the extent to which the U.S. government identified and managed potential risks of providing U.S. democracy and governance assistance in Egypt; (2) what support, if any, the U.S. government provided to the NGOs prosecuted by the Egyptian government; and (3) the extent to which U.S. democracy and governance assistance in Egypt has been affected, if at all, by the prosecution of NGO workers. GAO analyzed U.S. government and NGO documents and interviewed U.S., Egyptian, and NGO officials in Washington, D.C., and Egypt.