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USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 1
USAID Promote: Women in Government
Annual Progress Report
October 2015 – September 2016
IDIQ No. AID-306-I-14-00012
Task Order No. AID-306-TO-15-00044
October 30, 2016
This publication was produced by Chemonics International Inc. for review by the United States Agency for International
Development. The author’s view expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency
for International Development or the United States Government.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 2
Contents
Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................................ 3
Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Deliverables: Deliverables submitted from October 2015 to September 2016 include Monthly
Progress Reports, monthly Financial Reports, Quarterly Reports, and monthly Success Stories. 7
Project Overview: ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Project Result 1: Women’s Entry into Decision-Making Roles in Government Service
Facilitated ................................................................................................................................................ 10
Project Result 2: Hospitable Environment for Female Staff in Government Encouraged .... 22
Project Result 3: Local Stakeholder Support for Women in Civil Service Increased ............ 29
M&E Activities ............................................................................................................................................ 34
Planned Activities for Next Reporting Period .................................................................................... 39
Annex I: Radio PSA Broadcast Schedule in 13 Provinces for Internship Recruitment .......... 40
Annex II: Project Success Stories: ..................................................................................................... 42
Annex III. Environmental Monitoring and Compliance ................................................................ 55
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 3
Acronyms
ACBAR Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief and Development
AIRD Afghanistan Institute of Rural Development
ALDO Afghan Learning and Development Organization
AMEP Activity Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
AoP Administrative Office of the President
APPF Afghanistan Public Protection Force
BBC British Broadcasting Company
CAG Content Advisory Group
CBR Capacity Building for Results
CSO Civil Society Organization
DAIL Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock
DoLSAMD Department of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs, and Disabled
DoWAs Directorates of Women’s Affairs
EA Equal Access
EPD Equality for Peace and Democracy
FGD Focus group discussion
GIRoA Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
GIS Geographical Information System
HR Human Resources
IARCSC Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission
IDIQ Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity
IDLG Independent Directorate of Local Governance
IDP Internally Displaced Persons
IPU Internship Program Unit
JSSP Justice Sector Support Project
KM Kabul Municipality
KVTC Korea Vocational Training Center
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
MAIL Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock
MMP Musharikat Mobile Platform
MoE Ministry of Education
MoHE Ministry of Higher Education
MoIA Ministry of Interior Affairs
MoJ Ministry of Justice
MoLSAMD Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled
MoMP Ministry of Mines and Petroleum
MoPW Ministry of Public Works
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 4
MoRR Ministry of Refugees and Repatriates
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
MoWA Ministry of Women’s Affairs
MP Member of Parliament
MP Member of Parliament
MRRD Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development
NSDP National Skills Development Program
NTA National Technical Assistance
OVAT One Village and A Thousand Voices
PIR Project Intermediate Result
PSA Public Service Announcement
RFQs Request for Quotations
ToT Training of Trainers
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
USAID United States Agency for International Development
USIP United States Institute of Peace
VP Vice President
WCSA Women’s Civil Service Association
WIE Women in Economy
WLD Women’s Leadership Development
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 5
Executive Summary
Women’s Internship Program: The
USAID Promote: Women in Government
project continued to recruit university
graduate women for a one year internship
program. The multifaceted internship
recruitment program includes six months
of civil service training, three months of the
Women’s Leadership Development
program (WLD) and three months of
practical work with partner ministries.
During the second year of the project, the
pilot interns completed their three-month
practicum with the six partner ministries.
The pilot interns had the opportunity to network with other civil service employees, engage with
and understand the day-to-day work of government departments, learn procurement process
and procedures, and gain technical support from their supervisors and mentors. A group of
dedicated and skilled mentors supported the pilot interns during their practicum period. To
better support the mentors, the project team provided professional development trainings to the
mentors in areas such as, professionalism in the workplace, effective communications skills, and giving constructive feedback. The professional capacity training sessions aimed to provide
mentors with the right skills to professionally communicate with the interns, provide constructive
feedback on their daily performance, and be a better mentor. Sessions included discussions on
successful mentoring, individual mentor skills and experience levels, responding to cultural norms
and diversity, resources available to mentors, active listening, and working across diverse cultures.
The team conducted an evaluation at the end of the session to measure mentor satisfaction. The
feedback from mentors on the training was very positive.
The project team launched its internship program at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and
Development (MRRD) for 111 Cohort One interns. The MRRD provided the interns with
classrooms and study space. The interns learned of the core civil service functions. Moreove, the
project signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs,
Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) that will provide training facilities as well as offer opportunities
for practicum placement and employment for interns. MoLSAMD’s training center and newly
created Internship Program Unit (IPU) will assume management of the internship program after
the project concludes. The Internship Program Unit (IPU) under the Department of Manpower
and Planning will be established to support the project and manage the placement and
employment of interns at different ministries and independent agencies.
Relationship Building: The project team built their relationship with the First Lady, Second
Vice President Office, and H.E. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who
expressed their interest and commitment to the program. These relationship-building meetings
updated senior government officials on the project’s progress, and gained their support for the
placement and employment of interns within the ministries’ permanent civil service positions.
YEAR TWO HIGHLIGHTS
Established Relationships with First Lady and
CEO
MoU signed with MoLSAMD and MoIA
Began cohort 1 internship at MRRD
Internship recruitment campaigns conducted
in Kabul, Parwan, Kapisa, Mazar, Herat and
its neighboring provinces
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 6
The project also executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Interior
Affairs (MoIA) and the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) to
collaborate on the implementation of the internship program.
Policy and Research: The project team encouraged the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA)
to take the lead in launching and addressing results from the Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and
Recommendations Report. The MoWA leadership is now preparing for the report launch
ceremony in October 2016. The Workplace Obstacles report outlines the factors which limit
women’s participation in the civil service, with recommendations on how to create an
environment that would encourage more women to pursue careers in the civil service. In
addition to collaboration on the internship program, the project team will work with MoWA,
and other GIRoA ministries with whom the project signed MoUs, to provide policy reform
assistance and respond to their ad hoc policy reform requests during the life of the project.
Communications and Outreach: As part of the project’s communications and outreach efforts,
the Communications and Outreach team carried out multimedia internship recruitment
campaigns in Kabul. Herat, Mazar, and surrounding provinces to encourage women to apply for
the internship program. The campaign included developing and disseminating flyers, posting
announcements on the Promote and ACBAR websites, sharing information with student
networks, alumni groups, public and private universities, and television and radio public service
announcements (PSA) in local languages.
The project’s behavioral change activities continued with the broadcasts of the “One Village, A
Thousand Voices” (OVAT) radio series to reach Afghan villagers and inform them of the
importance of women’s inclusion in public life. The topics of the radio series included women’s
inclusion in village councils, eliminating discrimination against women teachers, allowing women
to work outside the home, and reporting street harassment to provincial authorities. To further
support behavioral change activities, a draft Champions Strategy was developed to identify and
empower men and women leaders who champion women’s participation in government, increase
their visibility as models for positive change, and to create and strengthen a positive image of
reformers and supporters of women in government. The final Champions Report will guide
project implementation in the identification and promotion of champions.
Challenges and Opportunities: The project faced initial challenges with coordinating its civil
service training component with the Afghanistan Civil Service Institute (ASCI), which resulted in
the delay of the training program for Cohort One. Continued delays led to a different strategy
which spread the civil service training component between multiple ministries. The project
solidified commitments from MRRD, MoLSAMD, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and
Livestock (MAIL) to provide training space along with internship placement and employment
opportunities.
During the recruitment process of the pilot interns, the project team observed that a number of
interns withdrew from the internship program before it began. To consider the withdrawal of
interns and also be able to introduce the required number of interns to the ministries, the project
team will keep a list of at least 30 back-up candidates who also wish to join the program.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 7
As the project’s main counterparts are with the Government of the Islamic Republic of
Afghanistan (GIRoA) entities, it’s pertinent that partnerships are formally established through a
MoU mechanism. Due to a shift in signatory rights on MoUs, the project was unable to formalize
partnerships or commitments with ministries, thus delaying placement and employment of interns
in ministries. Despite the absence of this formal partnership mechanism, the project continued
discussions with human resource (HR) directors to place pilot interns for three months of
practical work until the MoUs are signed.
The project experienced a slight attrition of interns throughout June. The project developed a
follow up system to determine the root cause of interns leaving the program, and how the project
can address these issues in the future. The majority of the attrition to date is due to moving to
another part of the country or overseas, obtaining jobs elsewhere, or leaving the workforce due
to marriage or childbirth.
Deliverables: Deliverables submitted from October 2015 to September 2016 include Monthly
Progress Reports, monthly Financial Reports, Quarterly Reports, and monthly Success Stories.
Project Overview:
Period of Performance: April 21, 2015 – April 20, 2020
Name of Prime Implementing Partner: Chemonics International Inc.
Names of Subcontractors/Sub-awardees:
Equal Access (EA)
Afghan Learning and Development Organization (ALDO)
Equality for Peace and Democracy (EPD)
Dreshak Hotel Services
Services International, LLC
Afghanistan Public Protection Force (APPF) Geographic Coverage: Afghanistan
Promote is a joint commitment by the United States (US) and Afghan governments that will work
to empower 75,000 women between the ages of 18 and 30, and help ensure these women are
included among a new generation of Afghan political, business, and civil society leaders. Promote
aims to empower women to become leaders alongside their male counterparts, and ensure they
have the skills, experience, knowledge, and networks to succeed.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Promote: Women in
Government, a task order under the Promote Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ)
contract, was designed to increase and advance the number of women in the Afghan Civil Service.
In close coordination with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), USAID Promote: Women
in Government aims to ensure women are represented at the highest levels of policy and
decision-making in Afghan society and government. This component of Promote facilitates
women’s entry into decision-making roles in government service, encourages policy reform
within the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) at both the national and
regional levels, increases support for women in government, and establishes an internship
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 8
program for high school- and college-level female students interested in working within
government ministries. {
The USAID Promote: Women in Government program has three objectives:
Facilitate women’s entry into decision-making roles in government service;
Encourage a hospitable environment for female staff in government; and
Increase local stakeholder support for women in government.
Through the advancement of these objectives, USAID Promote: Women in Government aims to
achieve the following results:
At least 3,000 female university graduates and high school graduates complete one-year
government internships and transition to full-time employment;
70 percent of Women in Government participants employed by GIRoA within 24 months of finishing their internship;
75 percent of GIRoA workplace policy reforms benefit and protect female employees;
and
50 percent increase in local stakeholder buy-in for support of women working outside
the home.
The above results will be derived from the planned activities linked to the results framework
shown below in Exhibit 1.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 9
Exhibit 1: Results Framework
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 10
Project Result 1: Women’s Entry into Decision-Making Roles in Government Service
Facilitated
PIR 1.1: Internship Program Established and Operational
An increasing number of Afghan women are receiving university degrees, yet have limited access
to professional positions within the government due to limited practical work experience and
applicable skills. The multifaceted USAID Promote: Women in Government internship program
is designed to bridge these skill gaps.
1.1.1 Conduct Phase II of the Gender Analysis
The project is recruiting gender specialists to conduct Phase II of the Gender Analysis for Herat
and Mazar, which will begin in December.
1.1.2 Conduct Phase II of the GIRoA Partnership Assessment Report
The project team is working to finalize the contractual agreement with project partner Equality
for Peace and Democracy (EPD), who will be conducting the Phase II of the GIRoA Partnership
Assessment Report, which will begin in November 2016 upon contract execution.
1.1.3 Internship Program
Pilot Cohort: During the period of
performance, pilot interns completed
their civil service training, went through
their internship placement, and began the
Women’s Leadership and Development
(WLD) program. During the first six
months of technical training, the pilot
interns learned the core functions of the
civil service: human resources
management, financial management,
procurement, project management, and
policy and strategic planning at the
Afghanistan Civil Service Training
Institute. As a part of their civil service training, the interns also accessed the library to seek
information for their research and assignments, studied, and built their capacity in Microsoft
Office programs, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
After completing the training portion of the internship program, the project team placed the 16
interns with six partner ministries to engage in a three-month practicum period. The ministries
included: the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD); Ministry of
Counter Narcotics (MoCN); Ministry of Finance (MoF); Ministry of Information and Culture
(MoIC); Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD); and Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT). The project team visited the interns
during the year, met with their mentors, human resources (HR) directors, and gender directors
Pilot interns discussing their internship experiences
and alumni networking opportunities
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 11
to evaluate their performance and address any concerns or challenges observed. At the end of
their practicum period, interns completed and presented a research project. The topics of their
presentations included policies on job related stress, employees’ motivation, internal audits, the
government recruitment process, office communications, job satisfaction, the evaluation and
analysis of Human Resources Departments, women’s opportunities and challenges in the Bakhtar
agency, and low turnout of women during GIRoA recruitment campaigns. The representatives of
partner ministers (Gender Heads, Heads of Training and Capacity Development, MoF Director
of Development Budget, and HR department staff) attended the presentations. The interns
collected data through questionnaires administered to staff in their partner ministries. The interns
also provided their recommendations and lessons learned for each department where they were
assigned. The representatives from the partner ministries evaluated their presentations positively
and appreciated the data collection and contents of their presentations.
As part of ongoing internship support, the project team organized a “High Tea” for the pilot
interns to discuss their experiences with the internship program. The group identified successes,
challenges, and opportunities to further improve the program. The pilot interns also met with
the project Alumni Services Team to learn more about the alumni services available to them,
such as support with identifying full-time employment opportunities and creating professional
networks with female civil servants including mentors, supervisors, and other government civil
servants. The project team also conducted a short survey to quantify the lessons learned for the
internship program. One of the interns expressed, “The entire internship program gave me a
vision to go forward and face challenges with full confidence, thanks to the USAID Promote:
Women in Government program for making me such a person.” The team celebrated the
successful employment of five pilot interns and discussed other employment opportunities for
the remaining eleven interns. The 16 pilot interns joined the WLD portion of the internship in
July. The WLD trainings teach the women about women’s empowerment, leadership skills, and
integration topic that included women’s education, economic, security concerns, women’s health
and politics. They will complete the training by end of October 2016.
Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD): The two pilot interns
at MoLSAMD completed their practicum period with the National Skills Development Program
(NSDP) in the HR department. Both interns learned how to adjust salary revisions under the
Capacity Building for Results program (CBR). They observed the government recruitment
process for national and international expats and were engaged in developing interview packages
for different positions, specifically completing packages for administrative assistant positions for
24 provinces. They also attended a labor market information workshop, which discussed a survey
of the job market in Afghanistan. The interns learned how to write request letters, applications,
and award requests for official ministry positions. The NSDP program management were
impressed by their high quality of work and requested the creation of two HR full-time positions
for the interns within the project structure. They have sent the request to their donors and
ministry for approval. The MoLSAMD mentor supported these interns, and appreciated their
hard work and was impressed with their ability to learn quickly.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 12
Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC): The three interns at MoIC were placed in the
Procurement Department, where they learned about government procurement planning and
procedures. They learned how to develop procurement requests, and other relevant procedures
to ensuring a fair procurement process. These interns had previously worked in the Gender
Directorate of the ministry and had also learned about the department policies and procedures,
in addition to the ministry’s capacity building programs for female employees. Interns also
attended two events on violence against women and women’s political participation, increasing
their awareness on violence prevention and learning from the experiences of participants. Interns
held daily morning meetings with their mentors to follow up on the progress of their activities
and discussed lessons learned. As a result of their good performance, MoIC employed one of the
interns as a Library Assistant at grade six. This intern assists the Library Director in carrying out
daily administrative tasks, assists librarians with acquisition preparation, and plays a key role in
information management.
Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD): The four interns at MRRD
worked with the Archive Department to organize files, scan documents, and catalogue reports
from the ministry. The interns were also responsible for developing a record maintenance filing system. The interns were then placed with the Employees’ Relations Department, where they
learned about MRRD’s recruitment process. The interns also worked closely with the Chief of
Staff’s Office, Employees’ Attendance Reporting Department and Training Department, and
Capacity Building Department, where interns learned how to manage their time, maintain
electronic attendance records, and prepare Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Additionally, interns
attended a five-day workshop on management skills and women’s empowerment in organizations.
The interns learned about management skills and increased their awareness of human rights and
the principles of women’s empowerment. By directly engaging with the Gender Directorate,
interns become familiar with gender policy and its department activities.
Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MoCN): The two interns at MoCN worked in two different
departments. One intern worked with the Drug Demand Reduction department, where she
learned about the country’s drug prevention system and ways to treat addiction. She also
reviewed the M&E report of addicted persons in the provinces and learned more about regional
narcotics issues. The other intern worked on the Ministry’s Geographical Information System
(GIS). She regularly prepared provincial drug cultivation status reports for the ministry, which
aligned with her interest in GIS reporting and mapping systems.
Ministry of Finance (MoF): The two interns at MoF worked with the Gender Directorate to
increase awareness on gender policies and regulations. Additionally, interns assisted the Gender
Director in developing a budget for introducing employees to private universities to pursue higher
education opportunities. By working with the Treasury and Control Department, interns learned
about verifying employee salary payrolls, pension and tax deduction procedures, and maintaining
incoming and outgoing ministry communications. Interns also worked with the Deputy Minister
of Policy within the Department of Data Analysis, where they learned about ministry financial
policies. To date, one intern applied for the grade six position of Control Officer for Internally
Displaced Persons (IDP) at the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MoRR). The other intern
applied for the Health and Safety Officer position with the Employee Relations Department. One
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 13
intern obtained the position of Staff Affairs Clerk and the other obtained the position of HR
Officer in the HR Directorate.
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT): One intern at MoCIT
worked with the Performance Management Department. She learned about the employee
promotion process as well as the performance recognition and improvement systems. She
attended a one-day management workshop, where she learned about management skills in the
information technology (IT) sector.
Meeting with the Ministry of Public Works (MoPW) and the Ministry of Education (MoE):
In the meeting with the MoPW and the MoE, the project team continued discussions about placing
interns in their ministries. These ministries also expressed their willingness to accept interns for
placement within their different departments. MoPW recommended their gender unit follow up
with the engineering universities to encourage the university graduates to join the program to
gain employment with their ministry. In a follow-up meeting, the Deputy Minister of MoPW also
agreed to hire four of the pilot interns at MoPW. The internship placement team will coordinate
and facilitate the recruitment process of the four proposed interns with the HR Directorate.
Regarding training sites, MoPW proposed a building by Shad-do-Shamshira Wali, which serves as
a women’s dormitory. The ministry was willing move the current residents into a separate
location so the project can utilize this space for our training needs. Unfortunately, the building
needed extensive make ready construction, which is beyond the project scope of work.
Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP), the Administrative Office of the President
(AoP), Ministry of Justice, Kabul Municipality: In meetings with MoMP, Kabul Municipality,
and AoP, the project team
continued discussions about placing
interns in their ministries and
agencies. These ministries also
expressed their willingness to
accept interns for placement in
different departments. MoMP
recommended that their gender
unit follow up with the engineering
universities to encourage university
graduates to join the program to
gain employment with their ministry.
In a follow-up meeting with AoP, the Deputy of Administration also agreed to hire six of the pilot
interns. The internship placement team will coordinate and facilitate the recruitment process of
the six proposed interns with the HR Directorate.
The Deputy Minister of Administration and Finance appreciated the launch of the USAID
Promote: Women in Government’s internship program and has committed her full support to
the program. She suggested that the interns at MoMP should have undergraduate degrees in mine
engineering, geology, business administration, accounting, finance, or law. Additionally, the
Meeting with MoMP.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 14
Deputy Minister requested that USAID Promote: Women in Government support MoMP in
developing a gender inclusive strategy for extractive industries. The Deputy Minister proposed a
long-term program to build the capacity of gender units through a one-year certificate program
in gender studies. The Deputy Minister also requested the project train the members of the newly
established Committee on the Anti-Harassment Regulation and help them introduce the
implementation guidelines and other relevant procedures to the MoMP staff. At the end of the
meeting, the Deputy Minister promised to identify areas of policy reform and share it with the
project for consideration.
The Deputy Minister of Policy and Programs expressed his appreciation for the internship
program and suggested that the practical training period for interns should increase from three
to six months. This longer training period would provide interns with more opportunities and
time to find jobs at the ministry. The Deputy Minister requested the project introduce interns
with trainings relevant to MoMP. At the end of meeting, the Deputy Minister pledged MoMP’s
full support of the program.
1.1.4 Phased Expansion of the Internship Program in the Provinces
The project team conducted an initial assessment of Mazar and Herat to identify office space,
assess training center locations, their capacity to accommodate interns, existing infrastructure,
and necessary security measures in preparation for the internship program rollout in Herat and
Mazar provinces. The project team visited various government and private institutes and training
centers such as Korea Vocational Training Center (KVTC) and MoLSAMD Directorate, met with
Governor’s Office, Directorates of Women’s Affairs (DoWA), MRRD, MoLSAMD, and the
Directorate of Information and Culture (DoIC). In addition to this, the project team also met
with USAID Promote task orders WLD and Women in the Economy (WIE), the Lincoln Learning
Center, and Tadbeer Consulting to discuss potential training space.
The team identified the Jami Vocational Center, affiliated with MoLSAMD in Herat, and MoWA
training center in Mazar. In Kabul, after signing the MoU with MoLSAMD, the project team agreed
to use the Institute for People with Disabilities for the internship program. The Institute for
People with Disabilities is newly constructed and had no other training programs. It houses an
auditorium with the capacity for 150-180 people and five to six washrooms in each floor. The
institute was assessed as a feasible option for the upcoming internship cohorts.
To gain support at the provincial level, the project team visited key government stakeholders in
Herat. The team met with the Governor of Herat, eight provincial council members, a Member
of Parliament (MP), the Dean of Herat University, the Director of DAIL, the Director of DoWA,
the Director of DoLSAMD, and the Director of Hajj and Pilgrimage. The USAID Promote:
Women in Government internship program was well-received by all government officials as a
promising opportunity for the young women of Herat. Moreover, after meeting with the Dean
of Herat University, the project was offered the annual use of the women’s hostel (consisting of
50 rooms) for the internship program. Formalizing this arrangement is subject to signing the MoU
with MoHE.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 15
1.1.5 Identify, Recruit, and Select interns
Cohort Two: During the period of performance, the project team recruited interns for the
second cohort of the internship program. The internship recruitment campaign reached
applicants in Kabul, Kapisa and Parwan provinces. As a result of the recruitment campaign, which
included flyer distribution, radio and TV PSAs, and announcements on the ACBAR and Promote
websites, 1,785 applications were received. Among these applications, 902 applicants were eligible
for the written test. 552 candidates attended the written test, 528 candidates were interviewed
among which 524 candidates were qualified for the program. 360 interns will begin their six-
month civil service training at MoLSAMD in October 2016. While the remaining 164 will start at
MRRD in mid-December, 2016.
Cohort Three, Four, and Five: The project team launched its internship recruitment campaign
for cohort three, four and five in Balkh, Herat, Kunduz, Baghlan, Samangan, Sare- pul, Kabul,
Parwan, Kapisa, Badghis, Farah, Ghor, and Bamyan provinces. The internship announcement was
open from August 30 to September 30, 2016. The project team will receive the hard and online
copies of application forms from 13 provinces in the first week of October 2016. The project
team will continue the shortlisting and screening process to identify qualified candidates to take
the entry written test next month. The project plans to begin training for these candidates at
DoLSAMD in Herat in November and with DoWA in Mazar in December. The MAIL in Kabul,
will take the Kabul cohort in January 2017.
Given the dramatic uptick in the volume of interested candidates, the program decided to pilot
the use of Bulk SMS technology to inform Kabul-based candidates of the written test. As a result,
nearly 600 recent female graduates attended the USAID Promote: Women in Government
written test on July 26, 2016 to qualify for panel interviews. If selected, they will begin a 12-
‘Nearly 600 recent female graduates sat for the USAID Promote: Women in Government written test
on July 26, 2016 to qualify for panel interviews. If selected, they will begin a 12- month, multifaceted
program, ultimately leading to employment within a government ministry or independent agency
internship.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 16
month, multifaceted program, ultimately leading to employment within a government ministry or
independent agency.
Piloting the message in English, the team sent a text message to 821 applicants, of which 787
(96%) successfully received the message. Given the success of this notification approach, the team
then used the technology to send Dari and Pashto messages to candidates who successfully passed
the tests to move onto the panel interview stage. See attached success story (Annex II) for
additional information. The project team invited government officials, civil society organization
(CSO) representatives, project members, and project mentors to participate in the interview and
selection process.
1.1.6 Identify, Recruit, and Select Mentors
The project team identified seven mentors from the six partner ministries who monitored and
provided guidance on the performance of the 16 pilot interns. To better support these mentors,
the project team organized professional development sessions for them. The project team
conducted communications, constructive feedback, and professionalism in the workplace training
for the current mentors to improve their communications skills and teach them how to guide
the interns during their practicum placement at partner ministries. To measure the satisfaction
of the participants from the training, the team conducted an evaluation at the end of the training
session. The feedback received from the mentors on the training was very positive. One mentor
said, “The training was very useful and introduced me to important points of communications,
feedback and professionalism in the workplace.” Another participant said that, “This training
provided me with important tips on writing effective, professional, and official emails.”
The project created a “Mentors Evaluation Form,” to collect intern feedback on the performance
of mentors, in order to improve performance if needed during the Cohort Two internship
placement. The 16 pilot interns evaluated their current mentors and provided feedback on the
level of the mentors’ contribution in aspects of career development and mentors’ personal
communications skills. The interns also evaluated if their mentors served as good role models.
The project team used the results of the evaluation to decide whether or not to continue with
the current mentors and the information will also be used to develop other professional
development programs for mentors as needed.
The current mentors from the partner ministries requested a mentor incentive plan to encourage
more civil servants to become mentors. Mentoring remains a new concept in Afghanistan, and
voluntary participation in mentorship programs is often perceived as an additional responsibility
to the mentors’ regular jobs. An incentive plan may attract qualified civil servants to serve as
mentors and encourage them to continue with their mentorship for the duration of the internship
program. The project team held a brainstorming session with the current mentors of the
internship program to discuss possible incentives for mentors and to obtain their suggestions for
an incentive plan. The mentors suggested covering communications expenses, awarding
certificates to mentors at the end of the project, and providing necessary logistics including
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 17
stationery for ad hoc mentor-intern feedback sessions. The project team will continue to
research and develop an incentive plan for mentors.
In the second year, the project team met with the different ministries, to discuss MoUs, placement
of interns and the intention to identify mentors. During these meetings, the project team shared
the workforce table along with a list of interns with their educational background information.
The ministries selected the required number of interns considering their departmental needs,
matched with the educational background of interns. Each ministry identified specific departments
and who will introduce mentors as the interns are placed for their practicum period. The Cohort
Two interns will begin their practicum period in mid-December.
The project Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team also undertook an analysis of the results of
the mentor pre-and post-tests, which was conducted for six out of seven program mentors from
different ministries. This report revealed key results of the project’s professional development
training for mentors. The trainings covered a variety of topics with the objective to help improve
mentors’ work with the interns and build the capacity of the intern cohorts, preparing them for
future work in government ministries. The results depicted in the graph below show dramatic
improvement of mentors’ knowledge in: (Q1) steps of the communications process; (Q2)
communications tools; (Q3) types of feedback in the workplace; (Q4) types of violence as per
the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law; (Q5) victims’ rights as per the EVAW
Law; (Q6) the composition of the Prohibition of Women`s Sexual Harassment Commission at
the central level; and (Q7) attributes of professionalism in the workplace.
Exhibit 2: Mentors Professional Survey Results
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 18
1.1.7 Continuation Materials
The project team developed the Internship Recruitment Package, Interns’ Package, Mentor’s
Package, and Mentor’s Training Package. The Internship Recruitment Package includes the
internship application form, acknowledgement letter from family, interns’ commitment letter,
written test questionnaire and answer sheet, intern’s interview assessment question sheet, and
agreement letter for interns. The Intern’s Package includes the internship manual, intern’s
practical work schedule, interns Terms of Reference (ToR), attendance sheet, weekly report
template, performance evaluation template, interns’ placement tracker, and internship
orientation. The Mentors’ Package includes the mentor selection template, mentor ToR, weekly
report template, Training Needs Assessment (TNA) template, mentors’ orientation presentation,
and agenda. The Mentor’s Training Package includes the mentors’ training module, feedback
training module, communication training module and professionalism in the workplace training
module.
PIR 1.2: Interns Trained in Work and Life Skills
1.2.1 Design and Launch Training and Capacity Building Program
The training team is currently reviewing the Civil Service Training curriculum to prepare the
modules according to the project and interns’ needs. The team conducted a focus group
discussion (FGD) with pilot interns at MRRD to identify the topics that were most important to
them. The team identified some of the core civil service function topics that needed to be
reviewed for further upgrading based on the needs of the ministry and interns. The participants
reviewed project management, communications, human resources, financial management, and
related topics to be reviewed for future cohorts. The project training team continues to review
the curriculum and will develop supplementary materials for each module by January 2017. During
a FGD, the pilot interns also reviewed the updated materials and curriculum topic outlines and
will provide feedback for additional curriculum revisions. The areas for upgrading included
standardization of some of the modules, such as project management, improving the sequence of
topics, including charts and graphs, and exercise worksheets for practice and case studies.
Additionally, the curriculum updates will reflect recent changes in the government procurement
law and accounting manual. The training team is integrating these changes into the current
curriculum so that interns learn about the most recent changes in the civil service. Other areas
for further curriculum revisions include developing new materials for the professionalism in the
workplace module, and preparing a Training of Trainers (ToT) package, which will include
guidelines, methodology and session plans. The project team is currently working to draft the
suggested changes, review, and finalize all suggested revisions into the curriculum. After
completing revisions, the training team will also hold an orientation session to train the newly-
hired trainers in the upgraded curriculum. The project team will further discuss the training
curriculum with MoLSAMD, as the ministry will certify the curriculum.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 19
1.2.2 Upgrade Career Development Center
In Year 1, the project team conducted an evaluation to identify gaps and areas of possible
assistance. The findings of the evaluation showed that IARCSC’s women’s Career Development
Center (CDC) needs technical assistance in terms of upgrading its curriculum, guidelines, and
publicity tools to lobby the center for new applicants. With the change in the IARCSC leadership,
the project team will resume its relationship to begin collaboration in the future. No activities
were undertaken during this reporting period.
PIR 1.3: Number of Interns Hired for Full Time Positions in Government Increased
1.3.1 Internship Program Linked to Job Placement.
Cohort One: The project team celebrated the beginning of the internship program in a joint
event a MRRD/AIRD on June 11, 2016. The interns celebrated the event with the positive and
encouraging remarks from Chemonics International Inc. Senior Vice President, the project
management team, and MRRD/AIRD senior personnel. During the event, the interns officially
began their six months of civil service training at AIRD, and also received a completion certificate
for their Women’s Leadership Development (WLD) training. A total of 111 interns began
studying core civil service subjects at AIRD; the project Training Team conducted the first three
classes in basic management. The interns continued learning about office management, time
management, and also increased their knowledge about the civil service law, project management
and procurement, and policy and strategy. Interns were satisfied with the quality of training the
project training team is providing and received assignments to review and present chapters of
the civil service law. A cadre of qualified trainers, including an HR and Project Management
Trainer, Finance and Procurement Trainer, and Computer Instructors, have joined the project at
MRRD to deliver the additional civil service training modules.
Cohort Two: After successful completion of the internship recruitment process, the project
team interviewed 542 interns to begin their civil service training at MoLSAMD. The recruitment
process is now complete and among 453 interns who have been selected, 360 will begin their
six-month civil service training at MoLSAMD in October 2016. The remaining interns will start
at MRRD in mid-December 2016.
Cohort Three: The project team launched its internship recruitment campaign for Cohorts
Three, Four, and Five in Balkh, Herat, Kunduz, Baghlan, Samangan, Sare- pul, Kabul, Parwan,
Kapisa, Badghis, Farah, Ghor, and Bamyan provinces. The internship announcement was open
from August 30 to September 30, 2016. The project team received the hard and online copies of
applications form 13 provinces on first week of October 2016. The project team will continue
the shortlisting and screening process to identify qualified candidates to take the written entrance
exam next month. These selected candidates will receive their civil service training at DoLSAMD
in Herat in November, and DoWA in Mazar in December. The MAIL interns in Kabul will begin
in January 2017.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 20
MAIL: In meetings with MAIL, the project team discussed the availability of training space for the
internship over the next three years, the ministry’s capacity for intern placement, expected
employment opportunities within the ministry, and technical assistance needs for gender policy
reform. As a result of these meetings, MAIL offered four furnished rooms with desktop
computers, one trainer’s office, plus a large basement that can be converted into eight rooms
using partitions. The project completed its assessment of the training rooms and drafted a budget
for the upcoming cohort in January 2017. The MoU has also been drafted and shared with MAIL
for review.
MRRD: During the reporting period, the project team met five times with the MRRD leadership
and technical team to discuss comments on the budget for the internship training. The meeting
participants adjusted the cost to match the
target of training 200 interns per year and
brought additional changes to material
costs. AIRD agreed to provide ToRs for all
the positions and submit them for review
to the project team.
The MRRD leadership team agreed to
initiate the necessary HR and procurement
activities prior to signing the MoU.
Additionally, they also discussed
contracting mechanisms for the proposed
staff to be embedded at MRRD. The project team explained Chemonics’ global HR procedures
and clarified that all new staff will be embedded within institutes’ structures with dual reporting
obligations to both Chemonics and MRRD. Only the Capacity Building for Results/National
Technical Assistance (CBR/NTA) salary scale and grading will be applied to these positions. Both
parties agreed that AIRD would review the budget and ToRs and submit for project approval.
With the launch of the internship program at MRRD for 126 interns, the project training team
provided civil service training to the interns until the MRRD embedded trainers were hired. The
project team also upgraded the training curriculum, and is planning to conduct a training of
trainers (ToT) for new trainers. Together with MRRD, the project team discussed the availability
of space for the written test and interviews for the third intern cohort and the ministry’s
commitment to host an additional 360 interns for this cohort. The project team also conducted
assessments for security upgrades, streamlined the recruitment process for the embedded staff,
and updated the internship curriculum and the operational work plan. The project team also met
with the Minister of MRRD to discuss the formal MoU signing and to provide progress updates
on their partnership. The meeting ended positively and the minister committed his full support
to the program for the coming year. He further expressed his appreciation for the project’s
mission to empower educated women in government. The project team also reached mutual
agreement on programmatic and operational issues.
Acting COP meeting the Minister of MRRD.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 21
Pilot Interns’ Employment Status: From a total of 16 pilot interns, five are employed in different
ministries in grades 5 and 6. Among the remaining 10 interns, the project team shared six of the
pilot interns’ CVs with the AoP and four with MoPW to be considered in grades 4, 5, or 6 of
their relevant civil service categories. One intern did not attend the WLD training and the project
team is working to introduce her to WLD in the next cohort. The project alumni services team
also began drafting an Alumni Plan for internship graduates. The plan will outline interventions
for strengthening mentors’ involvement in interns’ job searches, establishing an alumni team,
engaging current and graduated interns on an ongoing basis, and maintaining an alumni database.
1.3.2 Establish and Launch Database for Alumni Network
The project Database Specialist will work on a plan to create the alumni database so the project
can monitor the number of interns recruited and hired for full-time positions. After the database
is established, the project team will transfer the database to MoLSAMD and train their staff to
ensure the database is regularly updated, properly maintained, and effectively utilized beyond the
life of the project. Therefore, to ensure MoLSAMD successfully integrates this database, the
project team will recommend that their gender units include this database in their action plan
and strategic plans. The data will allow the project to make informed decisions about employment
strategies to meet employment targets. The Database Specialist joined the management team for
meetings with the Women in Economy (WIE) project and also with MoLSAMD to further discuss
database development. The project learned that although software programmers from
MoLSAMD could not support database development, WIE could collaborate by sharing their
database structure and user interface and management information system codes with the
project.
1.3.3 Provide Technical Assistance to the Women’s Civil Service Association (WCSA)
No activities were undertaken during this reporting period.
PIR 1.4: Professional Development of Women Who Work in Government Enhanced
1.4.1 Train Supervisors
The project training team designed and facilitated professional development training sessions for
the current mentors, who also serve in the supervisory roles for interns in some ministries.
During the second year, the project provided leadership trainings to the supervisors on topics
such as providing constructive feedback and enhanced communication techniques. These training
sessions aimed to improve the capacity of supervisors to effectively fulfill their supervisory role
along with their role as mentors. Attending this session, mentors were able to provide daily
instruction, mentor the interns’ daily performance and provide effective feedback on their tasks
every day. The project team will continue to train supervisors for upcoming cohorts of the
internship program throughout the life of the project.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 22
1.4.2 Connect to Scholarship Programs as Incentive for Mentors
The project will plan to link successful and qualified mentors with the recently launched Promote
scholarship program. The project team will assist mentors with their applications for scholarships
to attain graduate degrees. No specific activities were undertaken in this reporting period.
Project Result 2: Hospitable Environment for Female Staff in Government
Encouraged
PIR 2.1: Policies that benefit women in government improved and implemented
2.1.1 Initiate and Build Relationships with Relevant Partner Government Staff
During the second year, the project team engaged particular key ministries - MoLSAMD, MRRD,
MoI, MAIL, MoMP, and MoPW- to maintain relationship, gain their support for the placement of
interns, identify employment opportunities for graduate interns, and identify their ad-hoc policy
reform needs. MoMP and MoJ requested training their gender committees on the Anti-
Harassment Regulation, and MoIC requested the project to provide specialized training for
employees engaged in reporting and technical ministry activities. The project team is planning to
meet with these ministries and follow up on their ad- hoc policy reform requests after the MoUs
executed. The project is working with other ministries to identify areas for policy reform needs.
MoLSAMD: MoLSAMD will provide training facilities as well as offer opportunities for practicum
training and employment. The project technical team drafted a budget for MoLSAMD’s training
center and the Internship Program Unit (IPU) and shared it with MoLSAMD for review and input.
MoLSAMD’s Department of Manpower and Planning agreed that it would take over the
management of the internship program after the project concludes. Under the Department of
Manpower and Planning, an IPU will be established to support the project and manage the
placement of interns at different ministries and independent agencies. The unit would further
have the authority to confirm interns’
eligibility for the one-year work
experience certificate and would grant
this certificate to qualifying interns.
Moreover, the project team followed
up on the recruitment approvals for
personnel to staff the IPU under the
Department of Manpower and
Planning to support the project and
manage the placement of interns at
different ministries and independent
agencies. The project also discussed
the provision of work experience
certificates for the 16 pilot interns. Certificate designs were shared with MoLSAMD for approval.
YEAR TWO HIGHLIGHTS
MoWA to launch Obstacle Analysis and
Recommendations Report
MoLSAMD to take on internship program lead
Secured a 12-room training space with MAIL
for the internship program
The last 2 points are component 1 focused
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 23
The project team is now working to prepare for the graduation ceremony of the pilot intern
cohort in November 2016.
Meeting with Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC): The project team met with the
Deputy Minister of MoIC to update her on the project’s progress, seek her recommendations
for policy reforms, and to solicit her support in the recruitment of project interns placed at MoIC.
The Deputy Minister requested that the project team notify her prior to the announcement of
the next round of the internship program so she can inform female university graduates at Kabul
University. She said that the ministry recently established an anti-harassment committee to
implement the Anti-Harassment Regulation at MoIC. She suggested that the project team train
the members of this committee in implementing the regulation. She also recommended that the
training would be provided to female journalists and would focus on preventing discrimination in
the workplace.” his training could benefit female journalists both in the public and private sectors.
The ministry also suggested to provide advanced specialized journalism training programs for
female journalists working at Bakhtar News Agency, Kabul Times, Anis Newspaper, Hiwad
Newspaper, National Radio Television, and the broadcasting department of MoIC. However, the
project team expressed that it would discuss provision of this training under Component 2
activities to see if the project could support these ministry training requests. The project team
also delivered the second cohort internship application forms to the Office of the Deputy Minister
for Youth Affairs under MoIC. The project team was able to brief the representative of the
Deputy Ministry on how to complete the application forms and apply for the internship program.
The Deputy Ministry then facilitated a session for a number of potential internship candidates on
the internship application process. As a result of this information session, 38 applicants submitted
their applications. The applications were then delivered to the project for further processing.
Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA): To support MoWA in the development of
implementation guidelines and procedures for the Anti-Harassment Regulation, the project team
discussed plans for launching the Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and Recommendation Report
and for training gender unit heads through ongoing meetings. The Deputy Minister agreed to
launch the report, and has asked the team to update the content of the professionalism in the
workplace training module to include materials on the implementation of the Anti-harassment
guidelines. The proposed training will familiarize the gender units and the newly established anti-
harassment committees with the Anti-harassment guidelines to ensure effective implementation.
The team is now preparing to launch the Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and Recommendations
Report on October 25, 2016.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 24
Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoIA): Meetings were held with MoIA to complete the workforce
table and discuss the MoU to place future
interns at the ministry for their practicum
and employment. This ministry also
requested policy support for strengthening
their gender strategy, which has been
included in MoIA’s Policy Reform Plan. In
addition to the policy support, the ministry
suggested that the outreach and
communication component of the project
support them in promoting messages to
attract and hire female police officers. The
project team indicated interest in supporting
MoIA in this effort, and explained that the
project would first need to work on the ministry policy reforms and advocacy to ensure that the
working environment for women is desirable. The MoU was signed with MoIA on September 25,
2016.
High-level Meetings with Government Officials: During the second year of the project, the
team established and maintained professional relationships with various high ranking GIRoA
ministry officials. The project periodically met with these stakeholders to provide updates on the
project progress and activities. Some of the high level official meetings included: the First Lady,
the Second Vice President, the Chief Executive Officer, the Minister of MoLSAMD, the Minister
of MRRD, the Council of State Ministries, and Members of Parliament.
Meeting with First Lady: The project team established relationships with both the First Lady
and the Second Vice President’ offices. The First Lady was pleased to learn about the progress of
the internship program and pilot interns’ progress. The First Lady was also updated on the
project’s Component 2 activities addressing policy and reform. She took great interest in making
recommendations about the Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and Recommendations Report. She
asked the team to meet with the Second Vice President, as he is responsible for managing gender
reforms within the government, to gain more information about current gender reforms in-
progress. The project will meet with the Second Vice President to update the report before it is
launched. The project team also brought up the challenges within the government that female
interns will face because of corruption and nepotism in hiring practices. She agreed, but suggested
that the project should inform the interns of these challenges, regularly check in with them to
monitor any difficulties they are facing, and follow up with government agencies by reporting
potential corruption cases. The First Lady also recommended an effective way to support interns’
job placement, which will involve requesting the Second Vice President to include this issue in
the President’s agenda in the next cabinet meeting. The project team also updated the First Lady
on Component 3 activities and described how different strategies could encourage behavior
change. She was pleased about the “One Village, a Thousand Voices” radio series broadcasted
through Radio Azadi and expressed that having short TV spots on anti-harassment issues could
further support communications and outreach impact. At the end of the meeting, the First Lady
introduced a point of contact for future contacts and updates.
USAID and MoIA MoU Signing Ceremony September 25, 2016
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 25
Chief Executive Officer: USAID arranged a meeting at the office of the Chief Executive Officer.
The Mission Director, USAID Gender Director, and other Afghan women activists were present.
The CEO initiated the program by thanking USAID and expressing his full support for Promote.
The Gender Director gave a brief presentation on the Promote budget and the status of each
task order. She added that in the future there would be Promote “sister projects.” The four
Promote task orders presented their projects, achievements, and challenges to the CEO. In
conclusion, the CEO requested that USAID provide him with monthly reports on Promote so
he can share them at the next cabinet meeting. He asked all the Promote task orders if they faced
any challenges with the Afghan government while implementing, and said the task orders must
notify his office so that he can solve these problems.
First and Second Vice President Office: The project team met with the First and Second Vice
Presidents’ Offices and with the CEO to reaffirm their support for the project. They discussed
the internship program and inquired
about the possibility of placing
interns in their respective offices.
The CEO was very supportive and
asked the Minister of Education to
meet with the project management
to support the program. The First
and Second Vice Presidents also
expressed their support for the
project and decided to place interns
within departments of Women’s
Empowerment, Political Parties,
Economics, Religious and
Minorities, and Social Affairs. The
Second Vice President assigned his gender representative to be in close contact with the project
and provide the team with workforce table information, specifying how many interns they will need for on-the-job training and how many they can hire on an annual basis. The Vice Presidents
will support the project in identifying training centers as well. The Chief of Staff of the Second
Vice President promised to support the project in the provinces, specifically in Mazar and Herat.
The meeting concluded with a promise from the Chief of Staff to distribute official documentation
describing interns’ placement and to provide the project with employment opportunities within
this office.
On August 13, 2016, the project team also met with the Second Vice President to brief him on
the USAID Promote: Women in Government project and gain his support for placement and
employment of interns. The Second Vice President leads high-level government committee
meetings, including the Gender Committee, and can leverage support for the project at cabinet
level meetings. The project team provided an overview of the Promote task orders and described
how they aligned with the government’s National Priority Programs. The team further discussed
Project Team meeting with the Advisor to the First Vice President
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 26
sustainability, exit strategy, and relationship building with MoWA and other government
counterparts.
In meeting with the project team, the Second Vice President obtained critical information about
the internship program, which informed his subsequent recommendations. After the team
provided a presentation, he asked questions about interns’ mentorship, the project’s exit strategy,
engagement with MoLSAMD and MoWA, interns’ stipends, provincial rollout, selection criteria,
and internship recruitment. The team comprehensively discussed these questions to ensure that
all points were clarified. At the end of the meeting, the Second Vice President highly praised
Promote as one of the best and largest programs ever implemented for women in Afghanistan.
He further mentioned that Promote is an excellent platform for Afghan women to build their
careers and empower themselves.
The only concern the Second Vice President had involved recruitment. He stated that the civil
servants law and government recruitment procedures are the two largest barriers interns will
face in quickly securing permanent jobs. Some of the barriers mentioned were different job
specifications for different grades, work experience, and high selection criteria. He added that
traditional gender attitudes also could exacerbate women’s promotion opportunities. However,
he offered his full support to the project and requested the project to provide him with ideas to
facilitate women’s quick entry into the civil service. These ideas would be carefully assessed to
determine feasible options that could be presented to his office and shared with the cabinet and
other relevant institutions during government-led meetings (e.g. or cabinet meeting). These
options may also be shared in the next Gender Committee meeting with the Vice President’s
support.
The project team also updated the Second Vice President on the other two components of the
project. He was interested in the two assessment reports (the Partnership Assessment and
Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and Recommendations) and thought these findings would help
inform the project’s planning. The Second Vice President appreciated the project’s work in
informing government entities of their progress.
Meeting with Member of Parliament (MP) On May 21, 2016, the project team met with an
MP to discuss the possibility of placing interns with female MPs. The meeting started with a brief
introduction and update of the project. The MP appreciated the project’s progress and promised
to not only accept 92 interns, but also to assist with placement and hiring within partner
ministries. The MP will arrange a meeting with the Speaker of the House to discuss the signing of
an MoU.
Meeting with MoWA Minister: On January 2, 2016, the USAID Promote: Women in
Government leadership team and the Minister of MoWA met to discuss the project goals and
support the project could provide in conjunction with MoWA’s goals. During the meeting, the
project team stressed the importance of signing a MoU to begin USAID Promote: Women in
Government program implementation. The two parties also discussed the establishment of a
technical working group for developing implementation guidelines for the anti-harassment policy,
as well as monitoring mechanisms for the implementation of activities in the proposed action
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 27
plan. In addition, the team proposed an added level of support to MoWA in the dissemination of
the anti-harassment messages and campaign in national and subnational media outlets. MoWA
was in agreement with the proposed actions and determined they would move forward with
assigning a focal point to liaise with the USAID Promote: Women in Government project.
Furthermore, MoWA has confirmed they will discuss the pending MoU with MoWA senior
officials at the ministerial leadership meeting planned on January 12, 2016 to receive further
direction from relevant MoWA departments to finalize the MoU. Lastly, the MoWA minister
pledged to meet the 16 graduating interns from the pilot phase of the internship prior to their
graduation to encourage them toward a better career by sharing her own inspirational career
experience. Currently, the project is following up with MoWA to arrange a meeting between the
minister and the graduating interns. Pursuant to MoWA’s request, the USAID Promote: Women
in Government project provided a highlight of project activities over the past six months.
Counsel of State Gender Committee Meeting: The Government Liaison Lead participated in
the first Counsel of State Gender Committee Meeting, which was chaired by the Second Vice
President of GIRoA. The meeting began with a presentation from MoWA on the new Elimination
of Violence against Women (EVAW) strategy. USAID provided an overall update on Promote,
followed by presentations by each Promote task order. Participants from the Ministry of Higher
Education (MoHE), women’s civil society networks, MoWA, the Attorney General’s Office
(AGO), the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL), civil society organizations
(CSOs), and the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) provided their comments and
recommendations about the overall Promote program. The Second Vice President concluded the
session by thanking USAID for the launch of its largest program for women in Afghanistan and
reiterated Promote’s overall objectives. In principle, the vice president agreed to Promote’s
overall objectives and admitted that it is not possible to change the scope of the program in this
stage, but insisted that Promote should consider the recommendations provided by the
participants and tailor Promote’s objectives to government priorities and needs. He further added
that in the coming meeting, Promote will be provided enough time to respond to some of the
questions and concerns raised in the meeting.
2.1.2 Support IARCSC in Developing Implementation Guidelines for the Anti-Harassment
Regulation
In an effort to keep the momentum for this activity underway, the project team met with MoWA
to discuss the efforts of the project to support MoWA and the issue of the Justice Sector Support
Project’s (JSSP) duplication of efforts on the Anti-Harassment messages. During the reporting
period, in a follow-up meeting with the Deputy Minister for Policy and Programs, the project
team identified that MoWA had already developed Anti-Harassment guidelines. The guidelines
were shared with the project team for review and will be presented to the Gender Committee
led by the Second Vice President for approval. MoWA will require support in developing an
action plan, implementing the Anti-Harassment guidelines, and training the gender committees of
different ministries. The Deputy Minister for Policy and Programs also agreed to extend the
professionalism in the workplace training by one day. This training module includes an
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 28
introduction to the Anti-Harassment Regulation and describes how to implement the
corresponding guidelines.
2.1.3 Conduct Offerors’ Conference
The project team finalized the first draft of the agreement and other subcontract-related
documents with project partner EPD in August 2016. Working with EPD, the project will
organize and support an Offerors’ Conference in November 2016, in which senior management
from government partners will be invited to address gender inequities within the government
and share applicable technical resources to aid in rectifying the identified issues. After the
Offerors’ Conference, a specialized workshop will be held on the process of soliciting, evaluating,
and selecting expressions of interest from government entities who seek to support policy
reforms aimed at eliminating harassment and discrimination, particularly against women in the
workplace.
2.1.4 Solicit, Evaluate, and Select Expressions of Interest from Government Entities
Interested in Policy Reforms that Benefit Women in the Workplace
This activity is linked to the above activity 2.1.3. No activities were undertaken during this
reporting period.
2.1.5 Provide Technical Assistance to Support Policy Reform Measures
The project team will provide targeted assistance to support policy reform and enforcement
measures. By completing the project’s Policy Reform Plan, the team will outline specific measures
for technical assistance. The team will also consider and respond to ad hoc gender policy reform
requests from line ministries emerging from GIRoA’s new development agenda. The project team
will support key GIRoA counterparts, including MoWA, MoI, MoPW, the Independent
Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), MRRD, IARCSC, MoLSAMD, MoMP and AoP to 1)
improve and implement policies that advance women working within the Afghan government,
and 2) identify viable solutions to create a more hospitable environment for female staff.
PIR 2.2: Obstacles in the Workplace for Women in Government Identified and
Solutions Recommended
The project team conducted an assessment of the Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and
Recommendations Report. MoWA will launch the report in October 2016 and it will be shared
with partner ministries. The report will be published and disseminated in three languages and it
will be available online on MoWA’s and Promote website.
2.2.1 Recommend Solutions to Address Women’s Obstacles (policy, cultural, and
infrastructure) in the Workplace
During August and September, with MoWA, the project team agreed to develop a plan for the
launch of the Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and Recommendations report. By launching this
report, MoWA aims to inform other ministries about the obstacles women face in the ministries,
request ministries to eliminate the obstacles, and develop a plan to monitor the process. The
launch is planned for October 25, 2016. Prior to the launch, the project team will assist MoWA
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 29
in preparing for the event launch. MoWA agreed to publish and disseminate the report to the
public (e.g. in print and online).
2.2.2 Train Project Interns to Support Implementation of the Recommendations from the
GIRoA Partnership Assessment Report and the Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and
Recommendations Report
With the launch of the Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and Obstacles Report by MoWA, the
project will support MoWA in developing a follow-up mechanism for the recommendation part
of the report. Moreover, the project will apply the recommendations from the Workplace
Obstacles: Analysis and Recommendations Report and the Partnership Assessment Report to
train project interns. The training they will receive will support the implementation of the
recommendations from the GIRoA Partnership Assessment Report and the Workplace
Obstacles: Analysis and Recommendations Report. Interns will gain a deeper understanding of
the workplace obstacles in government and will work together with their mentors to gain support
and seek advice if they face any challenges during their practicum period or employment in the
future.
Project Result 3: Local Stakeholder Support for Women in Civil Service Increased
PIR 3.1: Plan to Communicate
with Individuals who may
Influence Public or Private
Opinions about Women in
Government Designed and
Implemented
The formative research completed
in Year 1 identified socio-cultural
and other barriers to women
working in government and the
tools and channels needed to
address those barriers through behavior change outreach and communication activities. Results
of the formative research has laid the groundwork for producing and broadcasting radio and
television series (and other media communications). The project has sought regular input and
vetting from the content advisory group on behavior change communication, such as scripts,
themes, messaging, and media options and has also collected continuous feedback from
viewers/listeners and shared this with the content advisory group.
To further inform media and outreach activities, a media habit survey was conducted to
determine trends in people’s media consumption. The survey reviewed people’s preferences
between TV and radio programming, different times of the day they are engaged in listening or
watching programs, and the types of programs they prefer to watch or listen to. Results of the
survey found no differences in people’s media habits based on gender and age, which means
messaging could resonate with audiences from all age groups and gender. However, there were
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
Radio series reviewed by CAG and aired
through Radio Azadi
Carried out multimedia internship recruitment
campaigns to attract internship applicants.
Developed Communications Strategy
Developed Champions Strategy
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 30
slight differences in media habits in the provinces. Respondents in Kandahar, Jalalabad, and Mazar
preferred both TV and radio programs, while respondents in Herat preferred only TV programs.
Respondents noted they watch TV on a daily basis and across provinces. Respondents also noted
their interest in women-focused programs. EA will work with local radio and television entities
identified through the media habit survey to maximize the reach and influence of the target
audience.
In addition to this, EA developed a Communications and Outreach and strategy for Component
3. The purpose of the Communications and Outreach Strategy is to clearly define the various
activities and outputs to reach the outreach and communications goals of the project. The
strategy outlines a number of activities and outputs to change the attitudes and behaviors of the
primary and secondary target groups and other project stakeholders, as identified in the gender
analysis. Additionally, the strategy includes relevant outreach templates for recurring outreach
and communications activities.
3.1.1 Hold Stakeholder Workshop
The Stakeholder workshop has been put on hold and will be evaluated for implementation in the
next quarter.
3.1.2 Establish and Convene a Content Advisory Group
The project team established and convened a Content Advisory Group (CAG) comprised of
government representatives from the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE),
and media representatives from the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), Radio Azadi, the
United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Afghanistan Independent Bar Association, the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Equal Access Afghanistan office. The group
meets to review the content of the weekly radio programs to ensure the content of the program
aligns with Islamic law and other national laws. During the second year of the project, the group
reviewed and finalized the scripts of the 18 episodes for the ongoing weekly radio program called
“One Village, a Thousand Voices.”
3.1.3 Create Interactive Feedback Loop
Since the beginning of the project’s radio program, the project team continues to receive
feedback on the topic discussion of the radio program series “One Village, a Thousand Voices”
from the listeners. Their feedback is received through the Facebook page of the Radio Azadi and
the IVR system and later discussed during CAG meetings to be considered during the design,
production, and implementation of radio program. The script writers address the listeners’
feedback while developing scripts for the radio program. The team created this mechanism for
continuous feedback, incorporating into the content development, thus ensuring messages are
timely, relevant, and culturally sensitive to address concerns, perceptions, and beliefs about
women’s contributions to the public sector. For summaries of the radio questions and
discussions, please refer to section 3.3.4
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 31
PIR 3.2: Champions for Women in Government Identified and Empowered
3.2.1 Develop and Implement Champions’ Strategy
The project partner Equal Access developed a champions’ strategy, which will identify, empower,
and reward female and male champions in government, promote male champions, and create an
award ceremony to acknowledge selected champions. The Champions’ Strategy aims to identify
and empower champions in government and increase their visibility as models for the positive
behavior change, reward champions through an awards ceremony to recognize their efforts,
create and strengthen a positive image of reformer and supports of women in government and
promote male champions through production of a series of change maker videos focused on men
working outside the government, scholars, religious, leaders, and fathers who support women’s
participation in the Afghan civil service. The strategy is now finalized and the team will begin
implementation it in year three of the project. The strategy recommends a mixed approach to
identify qualified champions. That is, individuals may nominate themselves or may be nominated
by another person or organization. This approach is useful for attracting large numbers of
applications from which qualified champions will be selected by the selection committee. A set of
criteria is also set for selecting champions. The project outreach and communications team also
met with the civil society networks and Musharikat to seek assistance for strategy development
and implementation, involving the champion identification and selection process. Both task orders
discussed how they could work in close collaboration on the implementation of this strategy,
especially by identifying women’s rights activists in its Issue Based Coalitions (IBCs) as potential
candidates for champions of the year. Musharikat can also support the project by informing
relevant people about the champions’ award, as well as circulating our champions’ related
announcements to their coalition members through their Musharikat Mobile Platform (MMP).
3.2.2 Identify and Empower and Reward Champions
After the finalization of the Champion’s Strategy, the project team will identify Deputy Ministers
and other senior staff who support women’s rights and will encourage them to set clear
expectations for their staff on how to treat women in the workplace. The project will provide
additional training, such as harassment-free workplace training, which will teach participants how
to identify, report, and address harassment in appropriate and culturally sensitive ways.
3.2.3 Promote Male Champions
No activities were undertaken this year. This activity is linked to 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 above.
PIR 3.3: Innovative Media Campaigns to Encourage Behavior Change Designed and
Supported
3.3.1 Identify Local Media Partners to Deliver Messaging
Project subcontractor Equal Access identified popular and relevant national and local media for
the internship recruitment campaign PSAs. Equal Access identified these media channels based
on their M&E findings, report recommendations for regional and Kabul-based communication
strategies, stations’ popularity, and coverage. Equal Access also considered the primary and
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 32
secondary target groups for the internship recruitment campaign in the provinces. EA team works
closely with the various media channels in provinces. The team having the experience based
information on radio channels, know the specific popular media in the relevant target provinces
and developed a list of those media channels. Based on their previous experiences and recent
research findings, Equal Access has developed a solid understanding of media channels and
communications tools used at the national and sub-national levels in Afghanistan.
3.3.2 Develop and Implement a Multimedia Campaign
With the findings from the GIRoA partnership assessment and gender analysis conducted under
Component 1, the communications and outreach team utilized EA’s experience developing
multimedia campaigns, conducting formative research, and integrating input from stakeholders to
create effective, customized content starting in Quarter 3.
The establishment of the multi-stakeholder Content
Advisory Group has also played a critical role in developing
appropriate outreach content. Through these multimedia
campaigns, the project has reached conservative and
progressive audiences, including potential interns, male and
female government employees, and the general public.
Campaign messages have aimed to break down stereotypes
about women, change behavior toward women, and
improve attitudes about women in government. To
gradually change the behaviors and attitudes about women
working outside the home, and particularly in government,
the project team works through multimedia campaigns such as the ongoing radio program and
the development of the champions’ strategy to recognize and award those supporting women’s
work. The team created an overall communications work plan for the contract period and
individual work plans for each media activity to ensure that all media activities are executed
smoothly and are aligned with Component 1 and 2 activities.
3.3.3 Broadcast Nationwide Radio and TV PSAs
The communications and outreach team produced radio and TV PSAs to recruit the pilot
interns as well as interns for Cohorts One to Five. The TV PSA was broadcasted in Dari and
Pashto through two popular TV stations (Tolo and 1TV channels). The radio PSAs were
broadcasted in Dari and Pashto through Arman FM. 98.1, Killid Radio, and Nawa Radio in
Kabul; and 23 local radio stations in targeted provinces Kabul, Baghlan, Samangan, Kunduz,
Bamyan, Balkh, Sarepul, Herat, Badghis, Farah, Ghor, Kapisa, and Parwan. For information
regarding the approach for identifying these TV and radio channels, please refer to 3.3.1.
3.3.4 Weekly Interactive Radio Series
The weekly radio series is an awareness-raising and behavior change activity that targets rural
communities to promote women’s work outside the home and to change negative perceptions
regarding women working in government. USAID Promote: Women in Government-related
topics were integrated into the ongoing weekly radio drama called “One Village, a Thousand
Voices (OVATV). The CAG functions to review the content and language of the radio program,
Tolo TV PSA
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 33
provide technical input, and approve before broadcasting. The CAG members include
representatives from the Supreme Court, Radio Azadi, BBC, Equal Access, MoHE, the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and CSOs. During this reporting period, the project
produced and aired 18 episodes with different topics relevant to project objectives. For details
on the weekly radio programs, please refer to Annex I.
3.3.5 Conduct Workshops and Public Forums
While no specific activities were undertaken during
this reporting period, the project team identified
the activities and deliverables beginning under the
third Task Order of the project partner EA in
November 2016.
3.3.6 Conduct Media Trainings
While no specific activities were undertaken during
this reporting period, the project team identified
the activities and deliverables beginning under the
third Task Order of the project partner EA in
November 2016.
PIR 3.4: Campaign to Recruit Interns Developed and Implemented
Project partner EA launched a multimedia internship recruitment campaign for cohorts one to
five in Kabul, Parwan, Kapisa, Baghlan, Samangan, Kunduz, Bamyan, Balkh, Sarepul, Herat,
Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces. The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness among
recent female university graduates and their families about the internship program.
Office of Provincial Council, Samangan Province
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 34
The internship recruitment efforts included developing and disseminating thousands of flyers in
Dari and Pashto, developing and broadcasting radio
and TV PSAs, and posting advertisements on the
ACBAR and Promote websites. Recruitment flyers
were posted at various governmental and non-
governmental organizations to reach various
audiences (see text box). During the reporting
period, the project disseminated 5,000 flyers for
cohort one, 5,000 for cohort two, and 24,000 for
cohorts three to six. The TV and radio PSAs were
also aired via Tolo TV and Radio Arman in Kabul,
Radio Najrab in Kapisa, and Radio Sulh in Parwan.
3.4.1 Identify Key Influencers and Messaging
While no specific activities were undertaken during
this reporting period, the project team identified the
activities and deliverables beginning under the third
Task Order of the project partner EA in November
2016.
M&E Activities
Indicator Progress Summary - September 2015 to September 2016
Ind.
No.
Indicator Name Baseline Target
Life of
Project
Year 2
Target
Achievement Definition / Notes
1.4.1. Number of mentors
who report increased
capacity to manage
and mentor staff at
the conclusion of U.S.
government
supported
training/programming
(Output)
0 150 20 7 mentors
participated in U.S.
government
supported
training/programming
and reported
increased capacity to
manage and mentor
the 16 pilot interns
during their
practicum period”
and now are enabled to provide
constructive
feedback, mentor
interns and support
as required.
USAID Promote: Women in
Government will train a cadre of
mentors who work in
government ministries to
supervise, support, and guide the
USAID Promote: Women in
Government interns. It is
assumed that these mentors will
work with 1-10 mentees in each
set of interns. This indicator will
measure the total number of
mentors who report following completing this training that they
feel they have gained an increased
ability to manage and mentor
their prospective mentors.
Internship recruitment flyers
disseminated and posted at:
Governmental and non-
governmental offices
CSOs
Public and private universities
DoWA and MoWA government
offices
Provincial governors’ offices and
provincial council offices
Independent Administrative
Reform and Civil Service
Commission
Governmental institutes for
teacher training
Public locations with high
visibility
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 35
1.4.2. Number of mentors
who participated in
professional
development growth
planning for their
interns at the
conclusion of mentor
training (Output)
0 150 20 6 mentors
participated in U.S.
government
supported training/
programming.
USAID Promote: Women in
Government will train a cadre of
mentors who work in
government ministries to
supervise, support, and guide the
USAID Promote: Women in
Government interns. It is
assumed that mentors will work
with multiple intern groups, and
with a 1:10 mentor/mentee ratio.
As part of the trainings, mentors
will be taught how to conduct
professional development growth
planning. Professional
development growth planning
refers to providing training and
resources to interns to
successfully attain their goals of
GIRoA employment
Following the end of the training,
a follow-up survey will be conducted to measure the
frequency of mentors utilizing the
professional development growth
planning process with their
assigned mentees.
3.4.1. Number of applicants for the internship
program who applied
due to exposure
through Women in
Government media
campaigns (Output)
0 50% 5% 4% This indicator measures the percentage of the interns in the
USAID Promote: Women in
Government internship program
that were influenced to apply and
enroll in the program due to
exposure to the USAID Promote:
Women in Government media
campaigns.
Mentors’ Pre- and Post-test Data Collection: The M&E team conducted pre- and post-tests
of the mentors’ training. The team collected the data from seven mentors from different
ministries. The collected data responds directly to indicator 1.4.1. (Number of mentors who
report increased capacity to manage and mentor staff at the conclusion of USG-supported
training/programming). The team identified that 86 percent of mentors “strongly agreed” that the
mentors’ training session was relevant to their work. Analysis of the changes between the pre-
and post-tests showed that mentors increased their understanding of the concepts and principles
of mentoring, including how to apply the GROW Model of mentoring,1 an internationally
recognized framework used to guide mentoring sessions. For results of the pre- and post-test
data, please refer to the below exhibit 1 and 2:
Exhibit 1: Mentor’s Pre-test Results
Pre-test Statements Strongly
Agree Agree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Disagree Strongly
Disagree
No
Response
1 The GROW model of mentoring and coaching involves four stages: 1) Goal setting; 2) Reality checking; 3)
Options; and 4) What is to be done?
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 36
1 I know what mentoring is. 0% 86% 0% 0% 0% 14%
2 I know what the GROW
Model of mentoring is. 0% 14% 43% 14% 29% 0%
3 I know what the principles of
mentoring are. 0% 71% 0% 29% 0% 0%
4 I know what key factors in
successful mentoring are. 29% 14% 43% 0% 14% 0%
5 I know what the effective use
of resources is. 14% 57% 29% 0% 0% 0%
6
I know what abilities are
required to work across
cultures.
14% 14% 29% 43% 0% 0%
7 I know what a mentor`s
responsibilities are. 28.5% 43% 28.5% 0% 0% 0%
8 I know what a mentee`s
responsibilities are. 28.5% 28.5% 14% 29% 0% 0%
9
I know what characteristics
successful mentors should
have.
0% 57% 14% 29% 0% 0%
Exhibit 2: Mentor’s Post-test Results
Pre-test Statements Strongly
Agree Agree
Neither
Agree
nor
Disagree
Disagree Strongly
Disagree
No
Response
1 I know what mentoring is.
86%
14%
0%
0%
0% 0%
2 I know what the GROW
Model of mentoring is.
71%
29%
0%
0%
0% 0%
3 I know what the principles of
mentoring are.
86%
14%
0%
0%
0% 0%
4 I know what the key factors in
successful mentoring are.
71%
29%
0%
0%
0% 0%
5 I know what the effective use
of resources is.
43%
57%
0%
0%
0% 0%
6
I know what abilities are
required to work across
cultures.
57%
43%
0%
0%
0% 0%
7 I know what mentor`s
responsibilities are.
86%
14%
0%
0%
0% 0%
8 I know what mentee`s
responsibilities are.
86%
14%
0%
0%
0% 0%
9
I know what characteristics
successful mentors should
have.
86%
14%
0%
0%
0% 0%
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 37
10
I learned from USAID
Promote: Women in
Government about the skills
to manage mentees' in my
Ministry/Agency
71%
29%
0%
0%
0%
0%
11
I feel more confident in
handling
responsibilities related to my
mentees
57%
43%
0%
0%
0%
0%
12
The training delivered by the
USAID Promote: Women in
Government team was high
quality.
86%
14%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Activity Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (AMEP): The M&E team participated in the IDIQ
meeting to learn about the proposed new indicators for the project. The team is currently
reviewing the old project AMEP to identify its relevance and applicability and provide comments
in comparison with the current project indicators.
The M&E team is also working to identify a local M&E firm for the baseline and data collection
survey.
M&E Training: The M&E team conducted an orientation session on the fundamentals of M&E
for Component 1 and 2 team members. During the session, the team discussed the basics of M&E
and linked these fundamentals to project results. The team also reviewed and discussed the
project indicators in detail, helping the teams become more knowledgeable of the project
indicators. The team evaluated the training session at the USAID Promote: Women in
Government FY 2016, Quarter 3 Report. End and found that 88.9 percent of the participants
“strongly agreed” that the M&E training session was relevant to their work and 11.1 percent
“agreed.”
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 38
M&E Fundamental Training to 16 pilot interns: During the reporting period, the M&E team
also provided the M&E fundamental training to the 16 pilot interns to assist them with writing
their research projects after the completion of their practicum period. By attending this training,
the pilot interns learned how to identify and collect information on their research topic, analyze
data, and write up their research assignments.
Afghan Info Database: During the reporting period, the M&E team uploaded the fiscal year
2016 four quarters district spending data into the Afghan Info database. The team also oriented
the Component 1, 2, and 3 team members on Afghan Info data entry procedures. The project
team will document meetings and project activities in detail, including activity descriptions, start
and end dates, activity locations, Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, etc. The team
uploaded data for the last six quarters of project activities for Components 1, 2, and 3 to the
Afghan Info Database. The Year 1 Annual Report and monthly progress reports from September
2015 to September 2016 were also uploaded to the system.
S# Statements Strongly
agree Agree
Neither
agree nor
disagree
Disagree Strongly
disagree
1
The M&E training session was
relevant to my work 88.90% 11.10% 0% 0% 0%
2
Now I have better understanding
of project M&E activities 77.80% 22.20% 0% 0% 0%
3
the M&E training session
increased my
knowledge/understanding about
project indicators 77.80% 22.20% 0% 0% 0%
4
The contents of the presentation
were useful 77.80% 22.20% 0% 0% 0%
5
The training facilitation meets my
expectations 77.80% 22.20% 0% 0% 0%
6
The M&E training session was
well-organized 77.80% 22.20% 0% 0% 0%
7
Duration of the session was
lengthy 33.30% 33.30% 33.30% 0% 0%
8
Duration of the session was
short 11.10% 22.20% 44.40% 22.20% 0%
9
Overall I am satisfied with this
M&E training session 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 39
Planned Activities for Next Reporting Period
•Conduct Phase II of Gender Analysis
•Conduct Phase II of GIRoA Partnership Assessment Report
•Expand internship program to provinces
•Training Specialist will design and launch training and capacity building program
•Interns placement at partner ministries for practicum period
•Training Specialist will train mentors
Project Result 1: Women’s Entry into Decision –
Making Roles in Government Service
Facilitated
•Initiate MoUs
•Build relationships with relevant partner government staff
•Conduct Offeror's Conference
•Provide technical assistance to support policy reform measures
•Recommend solutions to address women’s obstacles
•Train USAID Promote: Women in Government interns to support implementation of the recommendations from the GIRoA Partnership Assessment and Workplace Obstacles Analysis and Recommendations.
•Finalize project Policy Reform Plan
Project Result 2: Hospitable Environment for Female
Staff in Government Encouraged
•Create interactive feedback loop to receive feedback on project outreach messeging
•Identify and empower champions
•Develop and implement a multimedia campaign
•Continue broadcasting nationwide radio and TV PSAs
•Interactive Radio Series
•Conduct workshops and public forums
•Conduct media trainings
•Continue developing and implementing campaign to recruit interns
•Identify key influencers and develop messaging
Project Result 3: Local Stakeholder Support for Women in Civil Service
Increased
• Develop a datasheet and begin data entry for indicator 1.1.1.
• Develop a financial budget for baseline RFP
•Collect the data of activities from 3 components for “Sit Section” of Afghan info Database.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Goal 1: A critical mass of women enter the Afghan
social and economic mainstream and influence
decision-making.
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 40
Annex I: Radio PSA Broadcast Schedule in 13 Provinces for Internship Recruitment
No Province
Name FM Station
16
Sep
17
Sep
18
Sep
19
Sep
20
Sep
21
Sep
22
Sep
23
Sep
Total
broadcast
Language: Dari & Pashto
1
Kabul
Arman x x x 4 4 4 2
x 14
2 Kilid x
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 28
3 Nawa x
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 28
4
Badghis
Nariman
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
5 Hanzala
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
6 Baghlan Adeeb
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
7
Balkh
Azad
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
8 Sutara
Sahar
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
9
Bamyan
Bamyaan
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
10 Paiwand
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
11
Farah
Faryaad
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
12 Dunya
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
13
Ghor
Sada e
Adalat
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
14 Feroz Ko
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
15 Hirat Ava
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 41
16 Faryad
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
17
Kapisa
Sada e
Nejrab
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
18 Bahar
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
19
Kunduz Roshani
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x 14
20 Zohra 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
21
Parwan
Kahkashan
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
22 Dunya
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
23
Samangan Shahrwand
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 x
28
24 Rustam 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
25
SarePull
Sada e
Bano
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
26 Bostan
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 x
14
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 42
Annex II: Project Success Stories:
Year 2015
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Year 2016
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Annex III. Environmental Monitoring and Compliance
The USAID Promote: Women in Government project’s activities within the Annual Report period
of performance fell largely under the Categorical Exclusion criteria per IEE OAPA-13-Oct-AFG-
0001 and its amendment OAPA-13-Jun-AFG0046. During the reporting period, the project’s
implementation under its three components complied with the IEEs’ Categorical Exclusion
Determination descriptions, as detailed below, per 22 CFR 216.2(c)(2)(i), (iii), (v) and (xiv).
The project is in the process of developing an Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan
(EMMP) to cover upcoming activities that fall under the category of Negative Determination with
Conditions.
Component 1: Women’s Internship Program
Relevant IEE Categorical Exclusion Activities
Activity 1. Training programs including business, vocational, women’s rights,
organizational and leadership training
Activity 2. Procurement of office equipment, lighting and heating systems, tables, desks,
chairs and stationary for Business/Employment Incubators and other program supported
start ups
Activity 3. Transportation and travel expenses, and stipends for women participants
Project Activities Implemented During the Reporting Period
Training of 127 interns in the five core functions of the Afghan civil service, along with
women’s empowerment training in coordination with the USAID Promote: Women’s
Leadership Development project.
Training of six civil service employees in the areas of communications, workplace
professionalism, and anti-harassment policies to build their capacity as mentors for interns
placed within their associated ministries.
For training of interns at the Afghan Civil Service Institute and Ministry of Rural
Rehabilitation and Development, the project procured chairs, tables, gas for heating
cylinders, and stationary.
Provision of monthly stipends to project interns for their participation in the internship
program.
Component 2: Policy and Research
Relevant IEE Categorical Exclusion Activity
Activity 5. Analyses, studies, research or project workshops and meetings intended to
develop the capacity of women participants
Project Activities Implemented During the Reporting Period
“Workplace Obstacles: Analysis and Recommendations” report to address women’s
USAID Promote: Women in Government Project Annual Progress Report 56
barriers to entry in the civil service and policy solutions to increase the number of women
working in government.
Drafting of a “Champion’s Strategy” to identify male and female champions to support
women interns in the government and serve as positive models for behavioral change.
Regular meetings with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA)
ministry counterparts to discuss employment opportunities for the Pilot Cohort interns and
training space and resources for upcoming internship cohorts.
Component 3: Outreach and Communications
Relevant IEE Categorical Exclusion Activity
Activity 4. Document and information transfers
Project Activities Implemented During the Reporting Period
Internship recruitment campaigns in Kabul, Herat, and Balk provinces to recruit for
Cohorts Two, Three, Four, and Five. The recruitment campaigns included flyer
distribution, radio public service announcements, and television public service
announcements.
During the reporting period, the project conducted one activity listed in the Negative
Determination with Conditions category as described in the IEE: Procurement of $355 of fuel to
support the ministry facility where interns are trained. While no EMMP was developed for that
activity, the project ensured that the fuel was stored on sealed surfaces to prevent soil
contamination, containers used were designed and intended for fuel storage, and there was no risks
of groundwater contamination.
The Project will develop an EMMP to cover future project activities that may fall within the
Negative Determination with Conditions category.
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