Thematic Area: Democratic Governance
Letter of Agreement for the provision of Country Office support services
LOTFA Phase V Project Document (black and white)
LOTFA Phase V Project Document (colour)
Progress Report Quarter 2 2010
Progress Report Quarter 1 2010
Annual Progress Report 2009
Progress Report Quarter 2 1388
Progress Report Quarter 1 1388
Annual Report 1387 (01-04-2008 to 31-03-2009)
Progress Report Quarter 1 1387 (April - June 2008)
Progress Report Quarter 2 1387 (July - September 2008)
Progress Report Quarter 3 1387 (October - December 2008)
Progress Report Quarter 1 1386 (April - June 2007)
Progress Report Quarter 2 1386 (July - September 2007)
Progress Report Quarter 3 1386 (October - December 2007)
Annual Report 1386 (April 2006 - March 2007)
Annual Work Plan 1386
Annual Report 1385 (March 2006 - March 2007)
Annual Report 1384 (April 2005 - March 2006)
[Last Updated April 2010]
Project Start Date: May 2002
Project End Date: August 2010
Project Location: Main Office at the Ministry of Interior, Kabul
Status of the Project: Active (currently in fifth phase)
Responsible Partners: Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Finance
Implementation Modality: National Implementation (NIM)
Afghanistan’s war ravaged backdrop affected all sectors, including infrastructure, education, agriculture, military and police during the last two decades, causing a very significant collapse of the economy. It remains evident that Afghanistan continues to need significant rehabilitation and reconstruction, but to fill this gap a safe environment is an essential prerequisite. The Joint Coordination and Monitoring Body (JCMB) too, in its various assessments, has underlined that lack of improvement in the security situation, particularly in the south and south-east of the country, and believes that it would continue to prevent sustainable development and divert attention and resources from comprehensive security sector reform. The presence of a strengthened national civilian police force thus constitutes a critical element for security and the rule of law in Afghanistan.
However, the re-establishment of law and order has remained particularly difficult as the threats to Afghanistan’s security and stability have been varied, including terrorist/insurgent attacks, availability of weapons with armed militia groups, trade of weapons, narcotics and violation of human rights. Maintaining law and order in the country is primarily the responsibility of the national police force. Despite the need for an effective, well equipped and trained police force, currently, the national police personnel operate under severe constraints due in part to limited human and material resources, but also because of the non-traditional roles that it has increasingly been required to take on. The ANP has expanded, but the quality of the police has remained questionable.
International community’s support to rebuild Afghan police force started from the beginning of the establishment of the Afghan Interim Government in 2002, as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement. In May 2002, at the request of the Afghan Government, United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA), UNDP established LOTFA to enable the police to return to operation throughout the country. The Trust Fund has provided a mechanism for coordinating contributions from donors with the principle priority to cover police salaries, as well as to pursue other activities in accordance with project priorities. Since then, LOTFA has completed IV phases and is currently in phase–V, which was started on 01 September 2008 for a period of two years until 31 August 2010. (Phase IV, which was to have come to an end on 31 March, 2008 was provided a bridging extension until August 31, 2008 on account of finalization of LOTFA-V document after extensive consultations with the government and donors; lengthy discussions were held, particularly on issues like UNDP’s General Management Service (GMS), and food allowance, with consideration of fiscal sustainability) LOTFA is nationally managed through the Ministry of Interior and is governed by UNDP’s financial rules and regulations. Ministry of Finance is the other implementing partner.
LOTFA-V has the following order of priorities:
1. Payment of the police force remuneration;
2. Institutional development;
3. Procurement, maintenance and operations of non lethal police equipment and supplies;
4. Rehabilitation, maintenance and operations of police facilities;
5. Gender Orientation(Selection, recruitment and training of police); and
6. Payment of remuneration of uniformed personnel employed by the Central Prisons Department through specially earmarked contributions;
Salient aspects of LOTFA Phase V document include an agreement that commencing March 2009, and ending March 2010, the food allowance cost (currently covered under police salary) would progressively be borne by the core budget of the Government of Afghanistan (GoA), or food allowance will be integrated as part of regular (cash) salary. Further, procurement for DIAG cell to enable DIAG operations through three separate cells (DIAG operations, weapons registration, private security companies (PSC) registration and licensing) and related structures at central, regional and provincial levels was to be established within MoI. In addition, LOTFA is also to pay for salaries of uniformed personnel employed by the Central Prisons Department (CPD), through specially earmarked contributions.
Significantly, considering the importance of institution and capacity development within the MoI, together with the cognizance of the need for long-term sustainability of LOTFA processes, institutional development has been accorded higher (second) priority in phase-V of LOTFA. Appropriately, this was developed into a full-fledged institutional and capacity development plan, with specific timelines.
Achievements:
Output 1: Police force is supported to perform their job effectively and efficiently
1.1. Ensuring of payment of salaries to police force
The first priority of LOTFA is reimbursement of remuneration of ANP to the MoF/MoI and more importantly, ensuring that the payments to the police force in all 34 provinces are made in a timely and transparent manner. The police remuneration expenditure eligible for reimbursement comprises salaries in cash and payments for the provision of food for police (mainly in kind while payment in cash has been piloted in a number of provinces). The actual payment of police remuneration took place through the regular government payroll and non-salary payment system. The funds were channeled to provinces by the Treasury Department of MoF. The amount eligible for reimbursement was based on the actual expenditure derived from the Afghanistan Financial Management Information System (AFMIS) maintained by MoF, and verified by the LOTFA Management Support Unit (MSU).
1.2. Completion of computerization of the payroll system
Electronic payroll system (EPS) continued to serve as an efficient and transparent financial and human resource (HR) tool, with the objective of ensuring timely and accurate police salary payments to the legitimate staff, through sustainable and cost effective payroll payment procedures. EPS implementation was encouragingly completed in all 34 provinces, including 65 client payroll stations in Kabul zone and MoI central departments, covering 99.5% of the total existing police force
1.3. Expediting and increase of the Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) to the police force
EFT (payment of police salaries through individual bank accounts) was made functional in 31 provinces. The percentage of uniformed police personnel receiving salaries by EFT reached 77%of total existing police force. The EPS team is liaising with Kabul Bank for expansion of the branches to other provinces too, so that the remaining inactive bank accounts can also be activated and all police having bank accounts can receive their salaries through EFT.
Output 2: Financial, project management and other capacity built within MoI
- Conduct of financial management/HR/admin/EPS-EFT/computer training
ID plan was continuously re-assessed for better accountability and transparency in financial, HR, administrative, and EPS-EFT management systems, web-based EPS systems, (ToTs) programme.
2.2 Provision of technical support on EPS on a regular basis
LOTFA-EPS help desk continued to provide routine technical advice and support to all 115 EPS stations nationwide, as well as for the enforcement of a banking culture to police account holders. Weekly updates were also provided to the 65 client databases in MoI central departments, Kabul zonal command, 14 Kabul districts, 22 police stations and 5 border police HQs. Technical support included the undertaking of computer repairs, problem solving, scans, maintenance of data back-up, creation and sharing of financial/HR data, tracking of bank accounts, as well as facilitation with commercial banks for payroll transactions. Functions were handed over to MoI departments for institutionalization of processes and systems.
2.3 Establishment and strengthening of specialized units in MoI
MoI capacities continued to be strengthened through the work of the 18 National Advisors in specialized units in the Minister’s office (policy planning, gender, legal, parliamentary affairs and security disciplines), as well as MoI departments of procurement/HR/finance) - through policy support and skills transfer. Additionally, at Minister’s request, there is proposal for further strengthening the procurement department through review of current systems and devising integrated capacity development modules .
Output 3: Police force is equipped with required equipments for improvement of their mobility and responsiveness
3.1 Procurement of equipment falling under the category of non-lethal equipment
Procurement of equipment for MoI Traffic/ Fire-Brigade/ Health Departments and MoI DIAG cell is in progress. Other requests received for the procurement of non-lethal equipments from MoI will be considered on priority bases.
Output 4: Improved working and living conditions of police contributing to better efficiency and morale.
4.1. Provision of assistance to MoI for tendering of LOTFA- funded construction activities
The construction work of the police gymnasium at the Central Region Command Centre (CRCC) was progressed. (75% completed). The slow progress was due to the winter season, affecting construction activity).
Additionally, work was in progress for 10 construction projects for the MoI departments of health (reconstruction of 200-bed hospital in Kabul), fire brigade (construction of new units in provinces as well as refurbishing of existing ones), border police (highway check posts) and traffic (refurbishing of traffic police units in provinces). These are in around 85% completion stages.
With respect to new projects for 1389, considerable discussions were facilitated with MoI and IC stakeholders.. One proposal which was assessed was construction of a Regional Training Centre in Ghor, to be supported by EUPOL. But it still requires further research.
Output 5: Improved capacity in police force with enhanced gender balance
Activities were carried out in accordance with the 2 sub-components of the gender unit of LOTFA i.e. recruitment campaign and gender mainstreaming in MoI.
5.1 Undertaking of recruitment campaign
714 female police were recruited (130 officers, 359 sergeants and 225 patrol women). Additionally, 20 female police women were enrolled for courses in the Kabul Police Academy.
Regular monthly meetings of ANPWA, an informal platform for recruited women to share experiences and concerns, were continued, with the participation of police women from MoI, Kabul Police Academy, Family Response Units and district commands.
Media continued to be used as a vital tool for the recruitment of women, with telecast of TV spots in Dari and Pashto on select private local television channels. The telephone info-line continued, with operations delegated to the MoI Gender Mainstreaming Unit (GMU) as part of the sustainability plan, under continuous supervision of LOTFA.
Coordination with the MoWA and the MoLSAMD was continued for exploring avenues for policewomen recruitment, through the women development organizations registered with these Ministries at the central and provincial levels. Civil society organizations like Afghan Women's Network (AWN) were also involved in the gender enhancement work through technical support as well as women enhancement proposals.
Some new proposals pursued : (i) conduct of an independent survey for determination of overall service conditions of Afghan policewomen, with view to mapping out performance goals and outputs; (iii) contracting of a documentary film on female police by a renowned policewoman, director and actor, to be shown through mobile cinema across the country, both for advocacy and as part of recruitment strategy; (iv) contribution to IPCB proposal of contracting TV soap serials on different facets of ANP, with one specific segment on policewomen, also as part of the recruitment theme.
5.2 Conduct of on-the-job and theoretical training
On- the-job training, in the form of formulating proposals, liaising with other stakeholders, etc was provided to the ANPWA, as a capacity building measure.
Some key proposals were initiated, which are in conceptualization phase: (i) undertaking of a study to determine specific literacy levels of Afghan policewomen for devising appropriate training capsules in different fields (in conjunction with EUPOL); (ii) devising of training campaigns on HIV/protection for ANP, including policewomen - after authorization by MoI leadership (in collaboration with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC).
5.3 Conduct of gender awareness and mainstreaming activities
During the period, supplementary gender awareness material including posters, brochures and guide books were distributed to the provincial police Education Departments. Calendars for 1389, based on gender themes, were designed / printed in collaboration with MoI gender as well as education departments. Additionally, various gender mainstreaming events were logistically supported by LOTFA. i.e. 08 March International Women’s Day, through contribution to a major event at which performing policewomen in MoI were publicly acknowledged.
5.4 Provision of technical and logistic support to Gender Mainstreaming Unit (GMU) in MoI
Capacity building and logistic support continued to be provided to MoI GMU to further enhance its functional capability. IT as well as operational equipment was supplied.
Output 6: Uniformed personnel of Central Prisons Department (CPD) are supported to perform their job effectively and efficiently
6.1 Payment of remuneration of uniformed prison guards
Payments were affected for the current strength of around 5,055 uniformed personnel of Central Prison Department (CPD) of MoJ.
6.2 Establishment of electronic payroll system for CPD
Transparency and accountability in the disbursement of CPD salaries, as in the case of ANP salaries, continued to be LOTFA's priority for the most effective use of the funds. Training was provided to 9 CPD officials of Kabul and 5 provinces by the LOTFA-EPS team in financial/HR/EPS/computer concept systems. The training could not be continued, on account of non availability of staff from the provinces. Currently, 30% of CPD personnel are under EPS and around 20% under EFT.
Challenges and Risks:
- Expansion of EPS/EFT (exp of com banks)
- Monitoring challenges (MA/security/logistics/
- Female Police recruitment
- Inadequate sustainability of training process
- Unpredictability of funds ; limitations in planning process
- Insufficient ownership of MoI
- Resignations of trained staff
- Insufficient co-ordination: police sector organizations
Partnerships and Resources:
Phases I (1 November 2003 – 31 March 2004) and II (1 April 2004-31 March 2005)
The estimated budget was US$ 275,846,292. The received and delivered amount is USS 119,995,564 with a US$ 136,746,820 shortfall. Some planned components were not implemented due to the shortage of funds.
Phase III (1 April 2005 – 31 March 2006)
The total target budget for phase III was US$ 159,340,000, including PPSS. During the mid-year revision of the budget the total budget was revised to US $ 164,550,000. The Trust Fund has received Euro 30,000,000 from EC for LOTFA Stage III. USA had also committed US $ 40,000,000 for the police remuneration and the amount was received by the Trust Fund. In addition, US$1,652,893 came from CIDA/Canada.
Phase IV (1 April 2006 – 31 August 2008)
An amount of US$ 297 million were contributed to LOTFA during phase IV of the project. The contributions helped the project meet its expenditures over the life time of the phase.
Phase V (1 September 2008-31 August 2010)
The total estimated budget of LOTFA for two year period was USD 454,500,158 as per project documents, but as per revision of budget, it is increased to USD 613,387,927 with no shortfall.
Donors: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, European Commission, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, UNDP, United Kingdom, Australia, United States, Latvia, Iceland, Italy and UK Department for International Development (DFID).
Contacts:
Mushtaq Rahim, Assistant Country Director ( mushtaq.rahim2@undp.org)
Sandeep Kumar, Project Manager (sandeep.kumar@undp.org)
Ubaidullah Sahibzada, Deputy Project Manager (Ubaidullah.sahibzada@undp.org)
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