Matt Waldman, “Falling Short: Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan”, ACBAR, March 2008

Civil society organisations in Afghanistan have produced some stinging critiques of donor assistance.  In a March 2008 report, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (an NGO network) noted that, of US$25bn pledged to Afghanistan since 2001, only US$15bn has been delivered.  Of this, as much as 40% returns to donor countries through corporate profits, consultant salaries and other costs.  The report recommends increasing aid volumes, greater transparency on aid flows, improved impact measures, more effective coordination and the establishment of an independent commission to monitor aid effectiveness.

The Afghan Foundation for Culture and Civil Society was established in March 2003 as an independent, non-profit and non-governmental social organisation by a group of Afghans concerned with the fate of Afghan culture and the strengthening of Afghan civil society.  It serves as a focal point for all activities related to promoting Afghan culture and strengthening civil society.  It is both a motor for national development, within the framework of the peace process and national reconstruction efforts, and a bridge to the rest of the artistic and intellectual communities of Afghanistan.  The enable more citizen participation in the peace and reconstruction process, the Foundation for Culture and Civil Society is taking part in nationwide outreach efforts to involve as many local partners and community-based organisations as possible in such processes as the Constitutional Loya Jirga, elections and democratic governance.

The Afghan government has established thousands of Community Development Councils (CDCs) through all provinces and districts, under the National Solidarity Program (NSP).  The CDCs provides services to local communities, until such time as local governments are strengthened.  NSP provides grants through CDCs for social infrastructure, to strengthen local participation in local development planning and implementation.  CDCs were involved in ANDS consultations, producing a detailed mapping of community perceptions of development priorities across the country.

To facilitate civil society participation in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of its National Development Strategy, Afghanistan invited civil participation on its ANDS External Advisory Group, through ACBAR, an NGO coordination body.  The ANDS office has appointed a full-time civil society liaison officer.  NGOs supported the sub-national consultation process and many of the workshops, seminars and conferences. 

The Afghanistan Compact sets out the common goals of Afghanistan and its international partners on state-building, development and security.  To support mutual accountability, it contains a periodic review mechanism, under the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board.  The first review report was released in June 2008, based on a series of case studies.  It concluded that, while there had been important successes under all three pillars of the Compact, there were significant outstanding challenges in police, corruption, agriculture, energy, private sector development and counter-narcotics.  

The National Program Support Office (NAPSO) was established to support the implementation of development programmes and conduct independent monitoring.  It enables government to keep track of key policies, programmes and projects, and assess their contribution to achieving national development goals.  It identifies problems or bottlenecks in programme implementation and proposes remedial measures.

The Capacity Development Secretariat (CDS) was established in 2006 to provide a strategic approach to developing human resources, establishing effective and efficient development programme implementation systems, supporting the Public Administration Reform (PAR) process and improving common function areas across the administration by plugging critical capacity gaps in the short and medium term as well as supporting long-term capacity development through coaching and mentoring by national and international advisors.  It supports the recruitment of management and technical staff by identifying skilled expatriate and local Afghan professionals.

In 2008, the Ministry of Finance conducted a Procurement Assessment Report, using OECD-DAC/World Bank Common Benchmarking and Assessment Methodology.  The procurement system was given a ‘C’ rating, owing to an incomplete legal framework, the absence of a common set of procurement manuals and standard bidding documents, and a generally low level of institutional capacity.

A Procurement Policy Unit (PPU) has been established in the Ministry of Finance to guide and monitor the performance of public agencies in the field of procurement.  The PPU is responsible for prescribing policies and proposing improvements in procurement practices to accomplish the purposes of the Procurement Law.  It concentrates on measures relating to human resources and professional development, including training and certification of procurement committees and officers.

Afghanistan has conducted two public financial management (PFM) system performance assessments, in June 2005 and December 2007, using the standard PEFA methodology.  Overall, the system showed significant improvement, with 18 of 28 indicators improved, leaving Afghanistan better than the average for low-income countries and in some respects on a par with middle-income countries.  However, there is still a major gap between planned and actual budget expenditures, due to lack of realism in budget formulation and limited capacity to implement the budget.