POLITICAL PARTICIPATION FOR DEVELOPMENT EVALUATION IN SOUTH ASIA AN AFGHANISTAN PERSPECTIVE Rangina Kargar POLITICAL PARTICIPATION FOR DEVELOPMENT EVALUATION IN SOUTH ASIA

WHY DEVELOPMENT EVALUATION??? “A Truthful Evaluation Gives Feedback For Growth and Success”  ― Brenda Johnson Padgitt Slide – 2 Achieving sustainable socio-economic development is essential for an effective state. There are growing pressures today on governments and organizations around the world to be more responsive to the demands of internal and external stakeholders for good governance, accountability and transparency, greater development effectiveness, and delivery of tangible results. Brenda Johnson Padgitt says: “A Truthful Evaluation Gives Feedback For Growth and Success”  Development Evaluation is an objective assurance and consulting activity to add value and improve on-going operations. It helps to accomplish objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance process.

KEY INSTITUTIONS of Monitoring and evaluation in afghanistan Supreme Audit Office Ministry of Finance Parliament High Office of Anti-Corruption Slide – 3 Key institutions of monitoring and evaluation in Afghanistan are: 1 – Supreme Audit Office 2 – Ministry of Finance 3 – Parliament 4 – High Office of Anti-Corruption

KEY INSTITUTIONS of Monitoring and evaluation in afghanistan Supreme Audit Office (SAO) Slide – 4 1 – Supreme Audit Office Supreme Audit Office (SAO) is the supreme audit institution of Afghanistan. It reports directly to his Excellency the President of Afghanistan in an independent and impartial way. The SAO’s rules and regulations are based on international standards, and its objectives encompass financial, accounting, and economic monitoring of institutions such as ministries, public offices and organizations, government commissions, municipalities, and banks.

KEY INSTITUTIONS of Monitoring and evaluation in afghanistan Ministry of Finance (Internal Audit Investigation and Evaluation General Directorate) Slide - 5 2 – Ministry of Finance (Internal Audit Investigation and Evaluation General Directorate)  Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve Ministry of Finance operations. It helps the Ministry accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance process.

KEY INSTITUTIONS of Monitoring and evaluation in afghanistan Parliament Article Eighty-Nine of Constitution of Afghanistan states: “The House of People shall have the authority to establish a special commission, on the proposal of one third of its members, to review as well as investigate the actions of the Government. The composition and method of operation of the aforementioned commission shall be determined by the Regulations on Internal Duties.” Slide – 6 3 - Parliament Article Eighty-Nine of Afghanistan constitution authorize the Members of Parliament for Monitoring and Evaluation issues. The House of People shall have the authority to establish a special commission, on the proposal of one third of its members, to review as well as investigate the actions of the Government. The composition and method of operation of the aforementioned commission shall be determined by the Regulations on Internal Duties.

KEY INSTITUTIONS of Monitoring and evaluation in afghanistan High Office of Anti-Corruption Slide – 7 4 – High Office of Anti-Corruption Taking into consideration the importance of combating corruption for stability and the sustainable development of Afghanistan and recognizing the inability of existing institutions to deliver, H.E. President Karzai in July 2008, issued a Decree establishing a High Office for Oversight and Anti-corruption (HOOAC). The creation of this Office has fulfilled the requirement of Article 6 of the UN Convention against Corruption.

Good evaluation matters!!! Slide – 8 A small hydroelectric project in eastern Afghanistan is supplying electricity to nearby houses and creating jobs, and appears to be an example of aid money well spent. The project, financed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to the tune of US$274,000, has seen the installation of a hydroelectric turbine in Sherzad District, Nangarhar Province, which produces 175 kilowatts of electricity per hour. The electricity produced is sufficient to supply 1,400 nearby houses and is expected to help jumpstart three factories which will produce tomato paste and dry fruit, creating much needed local jobs. Local people said the project was successful because it was designed and implemented in close consultation with the district council, and it was closely evaluated and monitored by government respective agencies and donors. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which has a mandate to help coordinate international aid, in the inauguration ceremony of this successful project wanted all donors to ensure better transparency in aid disbursement and increasingly spend money through the government budget, and also asked the Afghan government to continue building capacity for improved aid management and disbursement. The Ministry of Finance acknowledges the problem of weak capacity to manage the aid inflows in the past, but said the country was now capable of managing and disbursing large sums of aid.

Key achievements Slide – 9 Key Achievements Operations in Afghanistan started and have continued under highly uncertain, extremely difficult and risky conditions. People on average are living much longer, more children have access to education and everyone to health care, the economy has grown substantially, an independent media is in place, and women have made exceptional advances. The country can now make use of a network of rehabilitated and improved roads that allow more travel in less time. Of the seven intended airports, five have been built with good outcomes. A new 75-km rail line was completed ahead of schedule. Electricity is now available almost around the clock compared with about 4 hours a day in 2002 in many provinces. Telecommunication companies performed its expansion plans and reached its subscriber target faster than originally anticipated.

Recommendations Slide – 11 Recommendations It will be important to carefully assess the security situation, financial and fiscal sustainability, and institutional capacity while coordinating with other key development partners to make complementary efforts. A future program should continue to focus on infrastructure and capacity development in the government, sector strategies should be based on analyses of industrial and agricultural demand and of the population’s socioeconomic needs. Developing and closely monitoring a long-term capacity development and governance improvement plan carefully tailored to Afghanistan’s unique circumstances and the government’s required. The short history of the current government, weak cooperation between central and local governments, and public sector staff with limited education levels and low salaries send signals to the requirement of an effective capacity development to be shaped by the specific circumstances and challenges in Afghanistan. It requires better coordination by development partners. Operations need to explicitly strengthen governance to maximize the development effectiveness of its support.

THANK YOU Rangina Kargar Member of Parliament (Wolesi Jirga) Afghanistan Slide – 12 Thank you Rangina Kargar Afghanistan