Implementation of Community Based Activities for Risk ... - Agire

FINAL REPORT “Implementation of Community Based Activities for Risk Reduction and Mitigation of NaturalDisaster Impacts in the Province of Herat, Western Afghanistan”5. MONITORING AND EVALUATINGAs main monitoring tool, Intersos utilized direct observation and site visits regularly conducted in orderto closely monitor the progress of the activities. Moreover, during all the duration of the project, regularmeetings with villages’ members of shuras and arbabs have been held by Intersos team in order tounderstand community concerns and degree of satisfaction with Intersos approach and methodology.Inspections have been organized in cooperation with the relevant Provincial Department and inaccordance with present Afghan National Standards and Ministries directives.Beside UNOPS reporting requirements, the project manager prepared and submitted monthly ProjectProgress and Financial Report to INTERSOS Head of Mission. Intersos Head of Mission, based in Kabul, hasbeen responsible to maintain the relationships with UNOPS for the overall implementation of the action.Intersos Country Administrator has been responsible to oversight the administrative management of theaction, guaranteeing that the procurement procedures were in line with Intersos procurement regulationand that financial reporting was compliant to donor's requirements.Regular narrative and financial reports have been provided to UNOPS, according to the specificreporting guidelines of the agency.6. MAJOR CONSTRAINS AND CHALLENGESDuring the activities implementation several challenges and concerns have been encountered.- Implementation during cold season: one of the more problematic challenges faced was the need toimplement the construction projects starting from the end of September up to the end ofDecember, meaning when the weather was worsening and the probability of rain falls wasincreasing. For this reason INTERSOS was forced to cancel the intervention in Sourestan andGerdab and to slow down the works both in Ali Abad/Garmi Abad and in Jalwardi.- Weakness of national authorities (ANDMA) in effectively plan and coordinate stakeholders’response within a broader DRR scheme for the Province of Herat: The intervention developed in acontext where a number of actors were involved in similar projects not having a clear provincialDRR plan to which to refer to. This weakness caused cases of overlapping as well as effectivenessloss. INTERSOS promptly reported to ANDMA about the above mentioned issues, trying to minimizethe related risks. However, it is advisable to further invest in the capacity building of national actorsin order to enhance their analysis and planning skills so as to guarantee better coherence to futureinterventions.- Poor effectiveness of community based approach for duplicability of interventions: INTERSOSimplemented all the projects involving directly the community in the works. In all the locationswhere INTERSOS worked the result of the works and the commitment of the communities weremore than satisfactory. The main problem INTERSOS faced with the communities was the difficultyto convince them to duplicate the intervention by themselves – without receiving any payment outof the benefit of the intervention itself - once the planned work has been finished. This happened,out of the indubitable need of money, mainly because of the poor sense of common responsibilityKarte Parwan, District Four, Kabul - Afghanistanphone: +93 797 551123, e-mail: afghanistan@intersos.org17