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Rebuilding Afghanistan

Weekly Activity Update for April 23 - May 06
Special Edition: Capacity Building

Supreme Court administrative staff learn computer skills.

Teacher training programs teach Master Trainers who in turn educate local teachers.

Farmers in Helmand Province gain skills by participating in a potato crop demonstration.

University of Herat Journalism students

What is capacity building?

Capacity building involves the transfer of technical knowledge and skills to people involved in a project or activity so that they can maintain or expand it once USAID has left. This principle is important because:

• Donor funding stays in country and provides more bang for the buck: Capacity building ensures that the impact and results of money spent on reconstruction programs does not stop when the programs themselves are no longer funded. In fact, the impact of capacity building programs often grow exponentially as those with new skills train others.
• Creates sustainability and meets long term needs: Capacity building allow programs to meet immediate needs, but also transfers skills so Afghans can continue to tackle long-term problems, such as one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world.

Building capacity in Afghanistan

Development of human capital is a top priority of the Government of Afghanistan. USAID/Afghanistan�s programs build capacity on three main levels:

• Ministerial & Provincial � Developing human capital and self-managing capabilities within the key ministries of the Government of Afghanistan is essential to country�s growth and ability to effectively engage donors.
• Individual � Equipped with critical technical knowledge and badly needed skills, Afghans will develop professionally while rebuilding their country and fostering economic growth.
• Civil Society � This component of Afghan society also plays a pivotal role in building stability and laying the framework for sustainable growth. Civil society includes private enterprises, business groups, professional associations, media, and political parties.

Education

Ministerial & Provincial: USAID provides support to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education, and the Academic Council on Education to improve policy formulation, strategic planning and program development, and monitoring and evaluation.

Individual: USAID supports several teacher training programs, including Master Trainers who train local teachers, through the Accelerated Learning program and through literacy programs at the Women�s Teacher Training Institute. Over 7,500 teachers have received formal classroom training and 65,000 teachers in remote areas have been trained through the Radio Teacher Training Program. Literacy and community empowerment programs teach literacy, numeracy and life skills linked with enterprise development and self-governance.

Civil Society

USAID strengthens civil society organizations, with a focus on those outside of Kabul, by teaching advocacy and service delivery functions, as well as management skills. To sustain the growth of civil society organizations, USAID has helped establish professional organizations such as the Afghan Chamber of Commerce, the Afghan Venture Capital Fund, the Afghan Midwive Association, and the Afghan Women�s Business Association. USAID also utilizes Afghan NGOs and companies when possible when implementing reconstruction programs.

Agriculture

Individual: Farmer training programs take a holistic approach, including: agricultural best practices taught through crop demonstrations and radio programs, infrastructure construction (farm to market roads and irrigation systems), high value crop production such as potatoes and grapes, microfinance practices, quality control measures, poultry production, livestock health services, agricultural processing and marketing, agri-input dealer training, business and management skills through Village Based Seed Enterprises. To date, 642,732 farmers have been served through these programs.

Ministerial & Provincial: USAID will provide 5 specialists to train the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food (MAAF) on policy, program planning and implementation, budget management, administration, and extension service. Agriculture programs provide support to the Ministry of Commerce, including the Export Institutes. Also, USAID coordinates with the MAAF, Commerce and Foreign Affairs to reduce trade barriers. Institutional capacity building is provided in rangeland and watershed management, nursery management, wetland rehabilitation, and animal disease surveillance and control.

Economic Governance

Ministerial & Provincial: USAID supports the Ministry of Commerce through a trade advisor and training programs to promote external trade. Support to the Ministry of Finance includes customs operations, budget formulation and reform as well as an extensive taxation reform training program. Also, the Mustofiat program provides financial guidance and training on a provincial level, with 110 staff trained to date. Plans are underway to move 412 USAID-funded Afghan staff from USAID�s economic governance program into Ministry of Finance. Central Bank staff are trained in legislation, branch management and modernization, and fund transfer systems.

Individual: 296 Central Bank employees have attended training courses on information technology, accounting, and economics, while on-the-job training hours at the Central Bank total more than 567,000.

Media

Ministerial & Provincial: Support provided to the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson through technical advisors.

Individual: USAID provides technical and business training to enable Afghans to manage their 32 new independent radio stations. Training was provided to media professionals, including radio and TV. Novice Journalist Training Programs were established at journalism schools in the universities in Mazar, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Khost and Jalalabad.

Information Management

USAID is creating a Management Information System for the GOA that eventually will store and manage NGO and donor programs. This database will not only help with reporting and evaluation, but also increase transparency of donor programs and allow for the GOA to better coordinate reconstruction programs.

Training programs prepare voters and candidates for parliamentary elections this fall.

Over 26,000 Afghans are employed through Alternative Livelihood Programs, where they receive on-the-job training.

Democracy & Governance

Ministerial & Provincial: In preparation for the parliamentary elections, USAID is training candidates and providing support and training to the Joint Electoral Management Body to run and monitor elections.

Judicial sector support includes legislative training and on the job mentoring for all 50 Ministry of Justice (MOJ) staff in Kabul, general training for 41 provincial level MOJ staff, training for all 50 members of the Taqnin, as well as training for the National Assembly secretariat staff. USAID reorganized Supreme Court data and records into a database, allowing for better management and analysis, particularly of training and facilities. Supreme Court staff were trained in computer skills and data management.

Individual: In preparation for the parliamentary elections, voter education programs include independent candidate and political party training, with over 12,000 Afghan participants across 8 provinces. Judicial support includes human rights and women�fs rights training to 3,037 local community members in 6 provinces, judicial personnel training, the distribution of the Afghan Constitution and legal code, and English training for legal professors.

Alternative Livelihoods

Ministerial & Provincial: In ten priority provinces for the counternarcotics effort, USAID will work with Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development�s provincial and district officers, and village shuras (councils) to provide training in two main areas: developing regional economic growth and removing governmental administrative constraints.

Individual: As Afghans are employed under USAID�s Alternative Livelihood Programs, they receive on-the-job training on agricultural practices and construction of agricultural infrastructure. Over 26,000 Afghans have been employed through the programs to date.

Infrastructure

Ministerial & Provincial: USAID�s five year training program for Ministry of Public Works (MOPW) personnel includes technical, English, and computer classes. The road reconstruction team is training MOPW management staff working on the Panjshir Road and the Kandahar-Herat Highway.

Individual: USAID provides on-the-job accounting, engineering, logistics, and management training to Afghans helping to reconstruct the Kandahar- Herat highway. Also, Afghans rebuilding district center roads gain construction skills. While constructing provincial judicial facilities, Afghan engineers are trained in engineering, monitoring, and project management. Training is provided for Afghans working on some of the school and clinic construction projects.

Health

Ministerial & Provincial: USAID helped the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) restructure and provided training on health finance, reform, budget planning and policy and developed the Health Management Information System to assist in data management and decision-making. MOPH and health-focused NGOs are being trained in technical skills, as well as health services, hospital, and grant management

Individual: Professional midwife training programs were established and 228 have completed the course by May. To date, 9,347 Community health care workers have been trained and retraining courses are provided for existing doctors, nurses and midwives in policy and medical practices. Provincial hospital staff are trained in management and technical skills.

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