Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Office of the Senior Economic Advisor to President

Afghanistan National Development Strategy

Communications Office
Kabul, December 15, 2007
Subject: Latest on ANDS
First Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Working Group Meeting
Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) are the center of sound governance arrangements.
They are necessary for the achievement of evidence-based policy making, budget decisions,
management, and accountability.
Since Afghanistan Compact was launched in January 2006, a monitoring framework was
initiated to monitor the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact benchmarks and the
commitments within the Afghanistan Compact Framework. The Consultative Groups and
Technical Working Groups mechanism were set in place for required coordination and
monitoring of the benchmarks across the Security, Governance, Rule of Law and Human
Rights; and Social and Economic Development pillars of the Afghanistan National
Development Strategy (ANDS).
Within the ANDS framework a Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) policy will be
developed to address the monitoring and evaluation aspects of the ANDS sectors, which
will be built on the current mechanisms established for the Afghanistan Compact
monitoring framework.
To better coordinate the Monitoring & Evaluation process and improve the current
mechanisms, the Monitoring & Evaluation Technical Working Group first meeting was
held on 9 December, 2007 in the ANDS conference hall. Key ministries, donors and WB,
ADB and UN agencies involved in the Monitoring & Evaluation process attended this
meeting. In the meeting the terms of reference for the Monitoring & Evaluation Technical
Working Group was discussed and highlighted to address the coordination, play the
advisory role, information sharing forum on Monitoring & Evaluation, as well as support
to the M & E implementation process.
In the meeting the Monitoring & Evaluation draft chapter of ANDS, including the M & E
policy were presented and discussed, comments and concerns were shared to be addressed
within the M & E chapter.
The importance of the M & E Technical Working Group was emphasized; it was
concluded that a timeframe should be established for the M & E Technical Working
Group, the group will be permanent; sub-working groups should be established on the key
sectors- while needed in the future- the list of the members will be updated, the revised M
& E chapter will be circulated for the members substantial comments.
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Gulkhana Palace Compound (Sedarat) | Kabul, Afghanistan | Ph: +93 (20) 2104513 | W: www.ands.gov.af,
Email: info@ands.gov.af

Working Group on Sub-national Governance

A Working Group meeting on Sub-national Governance was held in ANDS conference hall
on December 9, 2007.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Barna Karimi the Deputy of Independent Directorate for
Local Governance (IDLG). Around 25 participants of Afghan government ministries,
agencies, and international organizations as well as the embassies, IDLG, MCN, MRRD,
Mo Culture, Information, and Youth, ANDS/JCMB, IARCSC, WB, UNAMA, UNDP,
Canadian Embassy, US embassy, NATO, DFID, Netherlands embassy, ISAF, and USAID
were present.
The proposed benchmarks on sub-national governance and the proposed Policy Action
Group governance group activities for 2008 were discussed.
The chair referred to the 5 proposed benchmarks drafted by IDLG. The targets of the
benchmarks focused on the issues such as creating a policy for sub-national governance, its
regulatory framework as well as implementation. Moreover, the benchmarks focused on
provincial planning and budgeting, provincial elections and strengthening the sub-national
councils, municipalities, and women participation in sub-national level. The participants
then discussed and presented their comments.
As the second part of the agenda, the participants discussed the proposed activities under
the PAG governance group for 2008. Timeline for the next meeting was set.
Second Round of Sub national Consultations piloted
In the second round of pilot SNC, Faiz Mohammad Daqiq Ghazni Chief of Staff spent a
week in ANDS to review Provincial Development Plans of Ghazni province. Following
this, the governor of Ghazni province Mr. Faizullah Faizan visited ANDS director Mr.
Farhadi and Mr. Ghaznavi the SNC Coordinator to discuss the Ghazni provincial
development plans.
Following Ghazni province, authorized representatives from Faryab, Kapisa and Zabul
governors` offices spent a week in ANDS to review their provincial development plans and
get an update of ANDS to date.
In addition, the External Advisory Group discussed integration of PDPs in Sector
Strategies with donor community.

Gulkhana Palace Compound (Sedarat) | Kabul, Afghanistan | Ph: +93 (20) 2104513 | W: www.ands.gov.af
Email: info@ands.gov.af

Sector Strategy Development Group Meetings

Sector Strategy Development Group Meeting on Water took place during the period. The
updated draft of the sector strategy was shared and discussed and the SSDG members
shared their comments on the updated draft. The SSDG members were further asked to
share their written comments on the updated draft. Next steps for next SSDG meeting were
announced.
Group working on National Anti-Corruption Sector Strategy
In the series of the SSDG meetings on National Anti Corruption Strategy, the SSDG
members had regular group working with regard to the enrichment and quality of the
strategy last week.
Representatives from Supreme Court, Ministry of Justice, Attorney General Office,
General Independent Administration of Anti-Corruption, Independent Administration
Reform and Civil Service Commission, Control and Audit Office, Ministry of Interior,
Ministry of Finance and ANDS were present.
The SSDG members reviewed and modified all parts of the strategy and made some
technical changes in both Dari and English versions. The SSDG members are still trying to
edit other parts of the strategy. The aim is to have a comprehensive strategy with main
priorities, broad vision, specific goals, objective, outcomes and expected results.
Donor Dialogue Meetings
Apart from joint engagement in sector strategy development group meetings, ANDS is
continuing the consultations with donors through bilateral dialogues on every sector
strategy. A Donor Dialogue Meeting on National Capacity Development Sector Strategy
took place this week to share feedbacks and comments by donors on draft strategies.
Overall vision and goals for the strategy, Institutional Frameworks and Capacity,
General sector matters, Sector programs and Mainstreaming of Capacity Development into
other sector strategies and donor coordination were discussed.

Gulkhana Palace Compound (Sedarat) | Kabul, Afghanistan | Ph: +93 (20) 2104513 | W: www.ands.gov.af
Email: info@ands.gov.af