prioritization and implementation plan - Cooperazione Italiana allo ...

conference.asp and http://www.ands.gov.af/,
contains the detailed National Priority Program
summaries in the various clusters (including
projected medium-term outcomes for the next
three-to-five years), as well as the following three
initiatives: "Joint Framework for Inteqal: A
Process for Strengthening Peace and Stability in
Afghanistan and the Region", "Regional
Cooperation", and the "Afghanistan Peace and
Reintegration Program". Delivering success will
also require a focus on the following core
elements:
• Understanding and tackling the challenges of
implementation;
• Building Good Democratic Governance and
the Rule of Law;
• Unleashing Investments in Economic and
Infrastructure Development;
• Accelerating Agricultural and Rural
Development;
• Facilitating Human Resource Development;
• Transitioning to Afghan-Led Security;
• Reconciliation and Reintegration through a
new Peace Initiative;
• Curbing the Trade and Harmful Effects of
Narcotics;
• Expanding Regional Cooperation;
• Meeting Resource Requirements and
Measuring for Results; and,
• Strengthening Leadership and Accountability.
Understanding and Tackling the Challenges
to Implementation
Difficult conditions for national program
implementation are caused by continued violence
across Afghanistan, particularly in the South and
Southeastern regions. Additional organizational,
regulatory, and capacity supply-related constraints
challenge Afghan Government ministries and
agencies, international development partners, the
private sector, and civil society organizations.
These constraints have been examined in the
context of the (re)-design of National Priority
Programs presented at the Kabul International
Conference on Afghanistan. The Government of
Afghanistan recognizes these constraints and the
fact that its capacity to absorb foreign assistance,
while improving rapidly, remains limited. Overly
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optimistic planning by Government, ministries and
agencies is exacerbated by a limited capacity to
implement programs by both government and
donors, which contributes to low budget execution.
The government also appreciates that, while fund
management is relatively strong, there are still
risks to implementation that the Government plans
to tackle within new clusters designed programs.
A concerted effort to build public financial
management capacity in line ministries will be
undertaken. The Government will focus on: (i)
Improving procurement and project management
systems; (ii) Streamlining and simplifying
government and donor delivery systems; (iii)
Increasing the creation and use of effective
management information for all programs; and (iv)
Unleashing the capacity of the private sector and
civil society service-provider organizations to
implement programs. This will build the
confidence necessary for donors to follow through
with pledges made at the London Conference to
increase aid alignment with government priorities
and increase aid delivered through the Afghan
national budget.
This is a challenging agenda and will take time.
However, the early 2010 establishment of Five
Cluster Groupings of ministries (covering
Governance, Economic and Infrastructure
Development, Agriculture and Rural Development,
Human Resource Development, and Security) to
improve coordination, program delivery, and
prioritization in support of ANDS implementation
is a positive step forward. As demonstrated
through the preparations for the Kabul Conference,
this innovative arrangement for enhanced
Government leadership in all major areas of
recovery and rehabilitation is realizing results. The
high quality of inter-ministerial and official level
coordination towards setting program priorities is a
major achievement in its own right, as is the
identification of strong linkages between
governance and socio-economic development
programming. But it does not end here. These
National Priority Programs begin an iterative and
consultative process for setting out a short-,
medium-, and long-term plan for ANDS
implementation, and they lay a solid foundation for
more robust prioritization and budget realism in
the future.