Slide 1 Aid Coordination In Afghanistan Ministry of Finance Kabul, Afghanistan Attaullah Asim,...

Aid Coordination In Afghanistan

Ministry of Finance

Kabul, Afghanistan

Attaullah Asim, Pillar Manager, Development Budget & External Relations Unit, Ministry of Finance

Aidan Cox, UNDP

Introduction

• Afghanistan is a land-locked Country of central Asia

• It has 647.000 square kilometers territory

• Its population is 28.5 million (July 2004)

• Afghanistan was beginning to prosper in 1979, 26 years ago.

• 3- 3.5 million Afghans lost their lives

• 2- 2.5 million Afghans were injured and disabled

Aid Coordination In Afghanistan

• After the fall of Taliban, the international community committed significant resources to the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

• In January 2002 In Tokyo Conference more than 60 countries and 20 international organizations made public commitments.

• At the time of the Tokyo Conference, the Afghan Government lacked the capacity to manage and coordinate aid

• The Government additionally lacked mechanisms by which it could inform the public about aid and the reconstruction process.

• A central body was required to coordinate aid and represent Afghanistan in its external relations in the interim period.

Afghan Assistance Coordination Authority (AACA)

ObjectiveTo attract international assistance from all donor countries

and international organizations interested in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and to guide its effective usage.

• The Interim Administration of Afghanistan requested UNDP to assist it,

In developing a means for the management and tracking of aid

Disseminating information to the public.

AACA by Department

• Office of the Director• Aid Coordination and Public

Information Unit.

• Design and Feasibility Unit• Capacity Building Groups (CBGs)

• Procurement Unit• Information Technology Unit (ITU)

Role of Aid Coordination unit• Serves as bridge.

• Supports the Consultative Group (CG) process

• Manages the Government’s Donor Assistance Database (DAD)

• Enhance Partnership with Donors through a team of Coordination Officers. • Dissemmination of Information to Public

• Aid Coordination Unit from AACA Has been transferred to MoF in Sept.2003. The team has now new budget coordination functions.

• Aid Coordination unit was UNDP project supported by Governments of Italy, USA, Netherlands, Japan and EC.

CG & AG ProcessCG Objective:

Gathering of all partners (Ministries, Donors, UN Agencies and NGOs) active in reconstruction activities in a specific sector to discuss and

solve issues related to sector.

Role of the Consultative Group Assist the Chair Ministry to:

– Develop strategic policies and performance indicators;

– Tracking support to the National Development Budget, identifying gaps

– Public Investment Programmes, including resource mobilisation;

– Monitoring and evaluation of Programmes/projects

– Information sharing.

1.1 Refugees & IDPs 2.1 Transport 3.1 Trade & Investment A.1

1.2Education & Vocational Training

2.2Energy, Mining & Telecom

3.2Public Admin & Economic Management

A.2

1.3 Health & Nutrition 2.3Natural Resources Management

3.3 Justice A.3

1.4Livelihood & Social Protection

2.4 Urban Management 3.4National Police & Law Enforcement

A.4

1.5 Culture, Media & Sport 3.5 Afghan National Army A.5

3.6 Mine Action A.6

3.7Disarmament, Demobilization &

LEGEND

* Human Capital & Social Protection

** Physical Infrastructure

*** Enabling Environment for Development

National Security Programmes

Afghanistan Development Forum(National Budget)

Consultative Group Standing Committee

Pillar I * Pillar II ** Pillar III ***

Consultative Group

Human Rights

Monitoring & Evaluation

Counter Narcotics

Advisory Groups

Cross Cutting Issues

Gender

Environment

Humanitarian Affairs

CG Chair Ministry

TWG TWG TWG

Transitional Focal Point

Support

CG Standing Committee

CG Plenary

CG Plenary – 50 or so members

Tech Working Grps

Focal Point

CG Support Grp

Ministry Capacity:

Mechanisms to build Capacity include:•Planning Dep, Fin Dep, and/or GMU or GMCU•Chief Fin Officer (CFO)•Budget Advisers (DFID)•Design Feasibility Studies Unit (DFSU)•Focal Pt TA within Min

CG Sup Grp

(

Achievement of Consultative and Advisory Groups

• The CGs provide a platform for discussion on different issues related to relevant sector like policy issues, budget related issues etc

• Direct interaction between Govt. institutions, donors, and implementing agencies.

• Consultative Group succeeded to prepare their development budget for 1382 and 1383(2003-2004-2005).

CG’s and the Budget

• Support Ministries in revising Public Investment Programmes (PIPs)

• Support Ministries in developing project documents for projects.

• Assist in prioritization of allocations.

• Integration of projects/programmes previously outside of NDB

• Role of Advisory Groups

Aid Management – a tool to change the locus of decision-making

Post-conflict context:

• Jump in level of external resources

• High expectations of rapid visible benefits• Children back in school• Roads rebuilt• Police retrained and rule of law reestablished• Civil servants will be paid, & at higher levels

• Fledgling government is accountable for meeting people’s aspirations

• Yet national institutions are weak, not trusted by donors who want guaranteed results and no leaky pipes

Responsibility without Power- Who Gets to Take the Decisions?

• The risk:– International aid flows around the domestic institutions,

creating new power bases (donors, UN, NGOs)

– Each donor, UN agency, NGO develops its strategy• may individually be rational (sometimes), but sum of parts unlikely to

meet national needs

– Donors and UN design programmes/projects independently, prioritising sectors & locations, choosing implementing partners

– Further undermines the national institutions which are the only means by which political commitments can be translated into the actions upon which Government can be judged

• The very possibility that the state might deliver on a national vision is diminished

• Long term development of legitimacy and meaningful accountability of Government for actions is undermined

• Responsible ministries may not even know what is being done in their name, and cannot take credit for the impact – political risks

Changing the balance of power?

Expertise

$

Knowledge

Expertise

$

Knowledge

Accountability

Partnership is not a meaningful term if one partner has

all the resources, much of the expertise, most of the information

… and takes the decisions

Knowledge can help shift the balance

• Director of Afghan Assistance Coordination Authority recognised that a world class aid tracking system and team could:

– Help mobilise (and sustain) aid flows• proof of transparency and accountability• hold donors accountable for delivering on their pledges

– Promote integration of external resources within a National Development Framework and Budget

• enhance credibility of national institutions and domestic decision-making processes

• greater influence on allocative decisions previously taken independently by donors/UN – revitalising cabinet

• ensure external and domestic resources considered together – more rational overall allocation, greater chance of investments being sustained/maintained

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

UNDP’s package of support

• Secondment of international adviser to Government

• Merit-based recruitment and training of national team – Aid Coordination Unit

• Partnership with private sector– Contracted in aid tracking expertise – Synergy

International Systems, Donor Assistance Database (DAD)

• Establishing Government website

How does DAD weigh up?

• Proven, robust, rapid to operationalise• Adaptable to specific requirements of partner

country• Web-enabled

– Demonstrates transparency as donors can access it locally and at HQ

– Permits decentralisation of data entry – eg to responsible line ministry (or donor), securely

– Some GIS capabilities– Operates in Dari and English

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KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan·

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UzbekistanUzbekistan·

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GeorgiaGeorgia·

KazakstanKazakstan·

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TurkmenistanTurkmenistan

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ArmeniaArmenia·

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UkraineUkraine

The Donor Assistance Database (DAD) has been installed in thirteen countries around the world – UNDP partnership with private sector specialists – Synergy International Systems

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MacedoniaMacedonia·

Iraq

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Sierra Leone

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www.af

Overview of Donor Pledges

Overview by Sector

DemoTo change the chart format to 3D, select the option from the drop down list

DemoTo preview and print the current chart, click on Print Preview.

DemoThe amount of money spent on projects in the different regions

Combined DAD with Locally-developed database

• Most officials will not (& should not need to) access a database– they need clear reports, easily available – used the internet/CD-ROM

• DAD has a strong reporting function– but we used Access database to generate key reports in

desired format and posted them on the web (& distributed on CD-ROM)

• Afghan Access system lacked web enablement, but could be tailored rapidly to integrate with & support budget process– Draws on skills available locally; not require external support

• Easy Access to key reports through internet or CD-ROM

Alignment of donors with what?

• Commitment to simplification, harmonisation and alignment greater than ever

• But alignment agenda dependent for its success on governments providing donors with sensible structure against which they align

• “Ultimate aim is alignment of policies and investments, but foundation of process starts with alignment of donor procedures & practices with government systems”(Karin Christiansen – Research Fellow, ODI, London)

Clear, Credible Systems to Align With

• Often aid tracking is conducted separately from the budget process, with only partial coverage of projects, many months late

• Reinforces artificial separation between:• domestic and external resources; and• investment and recurrent expenditures

Credible & Sensible Structures against which donors can align

• Experience of Afghanistan provides an alternative perspective, suggesting perhaps– Inside every “bad” donor, a “good” donor is waiting to

get out

• Donors & UN have partnered in Afghanistan with a Government unusually clear about what it understands by terms such as ownership

• When confronted with strong & well-informed national leadership, donors & UN agencies have often responded positively – changing way in which they do business

From Aid Tracking to Budget Management

• In Afghanistan, adapted aid tracking system into tool to prepare the Development Budget – and tried to estimate future recurrent cost implications of investments

– Public Investment Programme for each sector, backed by data on ongoing and proposed investments

– Common financial summary and project document format for every project (whether designed by Government, donor, UN)

• Foundation for streamlined reporting of progress against outputs

• Promotes Government participation: responsible Ministry for every project. Sign off by Line Ministry and donor/UN; submission to MoF

Budget as Instrument of Policy

– Cabinet Budget Committee to review all PIPs, including spatial and intra-sectoral allocations (equity & effectiveness); some quality control process

• Government coordination of domestic and foreign resources through a budget – ensuring decisions over resource allocation domestically led and owned

• Only through the budget that decision-makers are forced to choose between competing demands for resources – budget is central tool of policy making

• Avoids decisions being taken (by Government, donor UN) in ad hoc or random fashion – reflecting exigencies of the moment rather than overall priorities

From Basic Aid Tracking… 3. Progress against 1382 Budget

Commitments and disbursements made in 1382 will be used to fund programmes over several years. A substantial financing gap remains. The Judicial Reform Commission is leading the collection of financial data, including projected and actual

expenditure for 1382, working in partnership with the Aid Coordination Unit. A critical financing gap relates to corrections, where only one quarter of needs have been met.

3.3 Justice

0

5

10

15

20

Corrections Secretariat Survey, Infra,Training

Law Reform Legal Ed &Awareness

Structure ofInsitutions

Other

Required1382

Committed

Disbursed

Required: 24.87Committed: 23.86Disbursed: 17.77

1382 Financial Overview • Simple

analysis of commitments against budget requirements is misleading

• Overstates success in year one, and understates available resources for year 2

To Budget Tracking: better decisions

based on budget information• Guide to real

resource availability against annual budget requirements

• Analysis of projected expenditure

• Shows both domestic and external resources

Transport BudgetRequirements, Commitments, and Funding Allocation ($m)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2003-4 2004-5 2005-6 2006-7 2007+

Requirements

Commitments

Funding Allocation

How does it work in practice?

[Demonstrate Project Summary Sheet (PSS) Database]

National Budget: Livelihood Programme

• Shows actual projected expenditure by province

• Allows Government to promote geographical equity

Afghan Aid Coordination Unit(Became Development Budget & External Relations Unit)

• Transition from International TA to Afghan Managers

• Recruited and trained 25 nationals– Managers– Donor Desk Officers– Database team– Website team– Translators– Administration

Aid Coordination Unit:Officer Responsibilities – Donor and Sector

Conclusion• Specific of Afghanistan Aid Coordination is

government led, mechanism is solid and ministry led.

• Challenges • To move from donor coordination to budget

coordination.• To convince donors to channel their funds through

government.• Capacity building, efforts for capacity building are

moving fast. In start the ratio of international and nationals was very high but now Afghans are in driving seats.

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