Thematic Area: Democratic Governance

Progress Report Quarter 2 2008
Progress Report Quarter 2 2008 Annex 1 AWP
Progress Report Quarter 3 2008
Progress Report Quarter 3 2008 Annex 1 AWP

[Last Updated December 2008]

Project Start Date: September 2004
Project End Date: December 2008
Project Location: Main Offices in Kabul with Satellite Offices in the Provinces
Status of the Project: Active
Responsible Partner: Ministry of Communication and IT
Implementation Modality: Direct Implementation (DIM)

UNDP has been providing support to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT) under the ICT Capacity Building Project (Phase II) with the aim of building the capacity of the MoCIT to develop and regulate IT and communication related policies, enhance government efficiency through E-Governance and build advanced ICT capacity in the country.

During the G-8 Summit in July 2000, the Least Developed Countries Initiative (LDCI) was announced. Partners of the LDCI include the following: Cisco Systems, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United States Agency for International Development’s Leland Initiative, United Nations Secretary General’s UNITeS and United Nations Volunteers. The goal of these strategic partners is to work together to extend the Cisco Networking Academy Program to the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs), by expanding the scope of information and communication technologies available in LDCs. By bringing the Cisco Networking Academy Program to these countries, students would benefit from educational opportunities in the area of IT and communication currently offered in 80 countries. Providing a workforce with the skills to design, build and maintain the IT infrastructure is a critical step to participation in the global economy. The Cisco Networking Academy Program can assist in offering sustainable development in the LDCs and accelerate their progression and full integration into the world economy.

The Cisco Networking Academy Program is a comprehensive, e-learning programme, which provides students with the Internet technology skills essential in a global economy. It helps in delivering web-based content, on-line assessment, student performance tracking, hands-on labs, instructor training and support, and preparation for industry-standard certifications. Launched in 1997, there are now over 10,000 Networking Academies in more than 163 countries. Over 400,000 students are enrolled in Academies in high schools, colleges and universities, technical schools, community-based organizations, and other educational programmes around the world.

The UNDP Cisco project oin Afghanistan was integrated into the ICT project and charged with training of men and women in the areas of information technology and network security, as well as networking/hardware.

As the Cisco project will be concluded in December 2008, all assets and responsibility is currently being handed over to government counterparts. From January 2009, MoCIT will be in charge of the Cisco Programme in Afghanistan, with the day-to-day management of academies falling on the Ministry of Education. The ICT/Cisco project thus represents a sustainable transfer of capacity and responsibility of previous project activities funded by donors to the government.

Achievements:

• Achievements include development of the Afghan ICT Policy, implementation of the first National ICT Conference, launching the ICT Council of Afghanistan, expansion of Cisco Academies, establishment and hand over of the country code top level domain name to MoCIT, drafting of the E-Governance architecture and implementation documents, and the establishment of Multi-purpose Telecommunication Centers (MTCs).
• A new curriculum for the Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP) programme has been developed and will help in producing even more professional network personnel. CCNP is a step further for the Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA) graduates.
• A new CCNP lab has been introduced at the Kabul Regional Academy to meet the training needs and a testing center has been established at the Kabul University.
• A total number of app. 1000 students have graduated from the Cisco Academies and there has been an more or less constant increase in enrollment of students in all academies.
• 31% of new students are female, which is the highest number of female participants in the Cisco Networking programme in the region.
• Through the Cisco project, UNDP has helped train 36 university professors as trainers for the programme in the provinces, in turn training hundreds of students.
• Completion of several IT software and guides to increase the awareness of and access to ICT opportunities, including the development of a Microsoft Office Pashto Interface Pack, aSoftware Localization Style-Guide for Pashto language, a Pashto locale for Windows XP, a complete dictionary of the computational glossary of around 8000 words comprised of both basic glossary and second phase glossary a WindowsXp Interface Localization, including help files, menus and character set, and a Polichek Project for Pashto language.
• The Cisco academies are in the process of being transferred to the MoCIT, with the day-to-day management being handed over to the Ministry of Education. The last half of 2008 has been dedicated to increasing the management capacity of academies to facilitate this transfer and ensure sustainable agreements with and between government counterpart for the onward management and success of the programme.

Challenges and Risks:

• The main risk remaining is that government counterpart may not have sufficient capacity to maintain and ecpand programme activities.

Partnerships and Resources:

Target Budget: USD 1,477,404
Received budget: USD 1,477,404
Committed: USD 1,477,404
Shortfall: 0.00
Donors: USAID, Cisco, French Trust Fund, Microsoft, EC and GSI

Contacts:

Fazel Hanif, Project Manager (fazel.hanif@undp.org)
Dilawar Khan, Programme Officer (dilawar.khan@undp.org)
Maya Lindberg Brink, Programme Officer (maya.lindberg.brink@undp.org)

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