Thematic Area: Democratic Governance

Project Document

Progress Report Quarter 2 2009

Progress Report Quarter 1 2009

Annual Report 2008 and Annex 1
Annual Report 2007
Progress Report Quarter 1 2008
Progress Report Quarter 2 2008 Annex 1 AWP
Progress Report Quarter 2 2008
Progress Report Quarter 3 2008
Progress Report Quarter 3 2008 Annex 1 AWP
Progress Report Quarter 1 2007
Progress Report Quarter 2 2007
Progress Report Quarter 3 2007
Annual Report 2006

[Last Updated August 2009]

SEAL II Start Date: March 2008
SEAL II End Date: February 2012
Project Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Status of the Project: On going
Implementation Partner: N/A

Background

SEAL II is to support the development of a more effective Afghan Parliament. SEAL II builds on the original SEAL project, started in February 2005, which played a central role in helping to establish the Afghan Parliament, thus helping to lay the stable democratic foundations for Afghanistan.

This project will support the Afghan Parliament by strengthening Parliament’s legislative, oversight and representative capacities. Initiatives will target parliamentarians, the commissions, their support staff, and the parliamentary secretariats. SEAL works in close partnership with Parliament’s Secretariat to build the staff support for MPs and Senators.

SEAL project offers legal, procedural and other advice and services to Parliamentarians, and strengthens the skills of the professional staff. The Project also makes significant contributions to the material establishment of the National Assembly, including communication systems and investment in infrastructure and security equipment.

Expected outputs of SEAL II project:

1. Enhanced parliamentary capacity to exercise its legislative responsibilities
2. Parliament effectively and responsibly oversees the activities of the Executive
3. Strengthened dialogue between parliament and citizens
4. Strengthened capacity for effective decision/policy making (e.g. budget process throughout the budget cycle, National Development Programmes and International Relations)
5. Effective administrative structures and processes are in place

Achievements:

Establishment of Parliament:

The Afghan Parliament was re-established in December 2005. All necessary measures and infrastructures to make parliament operational was put in place. The new parliament was equipped with infrastructures for MPS and staff, Information and Technology such as video conferencing system connecting parliament to provinces, telecom, computers, internet and modern payroll and finance and attendance system. As part of SEAL commitment to National Assembly, the project provided IT equipment including 21copiers, 4 digital senders, printers and other items for the MP’s offices in the Parliamentary Annex. SEAL also provided a complete wireless interpretation system capable of 200 users to the Afghan National Assembly. The system will be used for interpretation of conferences, workshops, and meetings in both houses.

Security of parliament was improved with modern equipment and training programs facilitated through SEAL project.

An Effective Hansard service, Women’s Forum and Women’ Resource Centre (with UNIFEM) are established to address the needs of women MPs.

SEAL delivered to the leadership of both Houses a draft Code of Conduct for parliament and a discussion paper to help Members better understand the value of a Code for them, their work and for citizens. The code will help both Houses and all MPs manage potential conflicts of interest and will provide a framework for enforcing norms of parliamentary practices and behavior.

MPs capacity:

MPs better understand their constitutional rights, responsibilities, and the legislative process. Their capacities have improved through technical training and visits of other parliaments. The Parliament of Australia hosted v the SEAL pilot mentoring visit of seven Afghan Senators and MPs (November 10 –19) in Canberra and Sydney to help strengthen parliamentary practice and culture for the elected members of the Afghan National Assembly.

MPs role is strengthened in governance (e.g. approval and implementation of UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC); improving role in budget process and oversight).

SEAL Team work with committee staff of the Meshrano Jirga to improve the bill drafting process and to improve efficiency by introducing a drafting checklist. This checklist will be completed by Parliamentarians and staff when writing a bill to better combine MP’s policy vision with technical research done by staff. Follow up workshops are planned.

Other capacity development programs in the area of Preparation of Member’s bills, legal, procedural and other advices, computer literacy, communication, building relationships with civil society and personalized training for individual MPs in plenary deliberations are provided.

Secretariat capacity improved through technical training and study trips for staff across Finance, Administration, Management, ICT, Legal, Security, and Information & Public Relations.

Committee assistants trained in-country and in foreign jurisdictions, and continued guidance in committee deliberation.

Parliament to the people:

Public better informed of parliamentary activities and responsibilities (70 SEAL supported publications, monthly gazette, radio and TV programmes, media training). SEAL TV spots started broadcasting on 01 August 2008. The TV spots provide information to the public about Parliament and the responsibilities of MPs and Senators. Similar radio spots began in July. A comic-book style parliamentary primer for school children was also produced to provide a resource for teachers to introduce parliament and its responsibilities to the classroom.

Citizens participate in parliamentary business, legislation (visits to Provinces by committees, public hearings). Civil society organizations participate in parliamentary work (regular joint meetings).

Challenges and risks:

Security situation in the country and the security situation in Kabul remain the sharpest and most immediate challenge to the implementation of the project and continue to challenge the project goal of helping to establish a well functioning parliament, well connected to and respected by citizens in every region... The security situation prevents some in-country planning and potential outreach visits by Members and Committees.

Other challenges includes:

• Members of the National Assembly and the Secretariat have limited experience.
• An effective legal framework and procedures including Standing Orders and mechanisms for executive relations must be in place.
• Parliament does not have full financial autonomy.
• Relatively low parliamentary staff salaries, compared to the open market, limit the hiring and retention of staff.
• Delayed party and caucus formation inhibit the functioning of parliament.
• Limited local-based materials and experts necessary for comprehensive understanding of the legislative environment in Afghanistan.

Future priorities:

Increasingly SEAL II is supporting the development of Members’ and staff professional capacities. This will include a staff development strategy and implementation, exposure to the norms of parliamentary culture and practice, support to the legislation and policy making work of Commissions (including in-country public hearings and the development of research ad analysis capacity) and targeted support to women parliamentarians and to citizen engagement.

SEAL budget: USD 15,316,166
Total commitment: USD 5,978,188
Total received: USD 2,250,000
Funding gap: USD 9,337,978

Donor Amount in USD
UNDP Core fund 650,000
Denmark 1,600,000
Sweden 3,728,188

Contacts:

Elyas Elyassi, OiC, Head of Capacity Building Unit, (elyas.elyassi@undp.org )
Dilawar Khan, Programme Officer (dilawar.khan@undp.org)

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