1.41 The five priority areas
As a result of the review of the implementation of the Policy and subsequent work on prioritization, IDLG has identified five priority areas for policy implementation. These areas are:
-
Clarifying the basic functions and relationships of provincial and district entities;
-
Making PGOs more effective organizations;
-
Building the institutions for planning and implementing service delivery at provincial level;
-
Increasing provincial-level accountability;
-
Strengthening the municipal service delivery cycle.
This implementation framework outlines a set of outputs, targets and deliverables falling within these priority areas, using the “Develop, disseminate and support” framework outlined in the previous section. The work needed in each of the five priority areas is described in the next section, and specific outputs, deliverables and targets are given in section 2.
1.42 Activities under the five priority areas 1.421 Basic functions and relationships of provincial and district entities
The first priority area is basic functions and relationships of provincial and district entities. Activities in this area are aimed at ensuring that the roles and responsibilities of the SNG entities and their inter-relationships with other agencies at the local level are clear, understood and effective, consistent with the TORs and the descriptions of key relationships provided in the SNGP. Specific areas of intervention under this priority area include:
-
Creation and dissemination of legal framework for basic structures and functions of provincial and district entities. IDLG will ensure that the Local Administration Law is enacted and fully communicated to relevant SNG stakeholders including Governors, line departments, elected councils, central ministries and donor agencies. As part of the communication programme, there will be presentations of the law to all relevant provincial officials and public discussions in each province. This will ensure that the basis for local governance is established and understood.
-
Establishment of clear, detailed and agreed norms for the relationship between Provincial Governor and key external provincial offices. Under this area of work, IDLG will partner with relevant central Ministries to provide specific guidance to subnational agencies on how Governors should interact with other provincial agencies such as courts, the police, prosecutors, Mustufi and the regular line departments with regard to service delivery. IDLG will work with the relevant central agencies to develop practical operational guidelines based on current successful practices being used in the field, for example working with the Ministry of the Interior to develop guidelines for Governor interaction with Provincial Police. Once this guidance is developed and jointly approved, IDLG will ensure that each agency disseminates the guidance to its provincial offices and that there communication and training events in each province to ensure that there is full awareness and understanding of the guidance amongst all stakeholders. While the guidance will help Governors to engage with line departments in respect of ongoing operations of the Government, it will also provide a basis for them to engage in respect of special responsibilities that emerge from time to time, for example nationally important initiatives such as Transition and Peace & Reintegration.
-
Management effectiveness of provincial coordination and decision-making structures. Under this area of work, IDLG will ensure that both the Provincial Administrative Assembly and the Provincial Development Committee are effective bodies for joint planning, decision-making, mutual accountability and follow-up. IDLG will ensure that the procedures for these bodies such as agenda management, internal meeting procedures and for dissemination and follow-up of decisions are well-defined and implemented, and that there are human resources in place to ensure that these committees are properly supported. IDLG will work with the Ministry of the Economy to ensure that this work is done in the case of the PDC. This activity will include provision of improved IT to allow management of agendas and tracking of decisions, and events in each province to disseminate improved PDC and PAA procedures.
1.422 Organizational effectiveness of the PGO
The second priority area is organizational effectives of the Provincial Governors’ Office. Activities under this priority are aimed at ensuring that Provincial Governors’ Offices have the systems, staff and structures needed to discharge their mandates, as outlined in the SNGP. Specific areas of intervention under this priority area include:
-
Implementation of fiscally sustainable upgrades to infrastructure and equipment in PGOs and DGOs. IDLG will work to narrow the gap between the current levels of infrastructure and equipment in PGOs and DGOs and the standards specified in the SNGP and by the Afghanistan Local Governance Facilities Development Programme (ALGFDP). IDLG will pool contributions from the Ministry of Finance and from donors and will assist Governors’ Offices in planning and implementing upgrades, using ALGFDP to provide assistance on planning, procurement and implementation. IDLG will also ensure that all upgrades are fiscally sustainable, and do not generate Operations & Maintenance liabilities which cannot be met in the future.
-
Establishment of professional management of internal systems and procedures in PGOs. IDLG will improve internal systems such as HR, financial management, reporting and delivery of administrative services through the PGO such as civil registration. IDLG will work with relevant partners in the Government to develop clear procedures and guidelines, and will disseminate them to the PGOs. There will be workshops in each province to ensure that each new set of procedures is understood.
-
Implementation of appropriate organizational designs for PGOs. IDLG will launch a participatory organizational design process to develop new designs for PGOs, which include a level of flexibility and responsiveness to provincial circumstances. Once designed, IDLG will work with all 34 PGOs to help them select a new design and implement the design. This will include extensive field work in all provinces.
-
Improved staffing and recruitment of PGOs. IDLG will assist all PGOs to improve the quality and quantity of staff. In addition to ensuring that all PGOs can complete hiring of positions from grades 3-8 on their authority, IDLG will support a rolling recruitment programme in each province in order to reduce provincial vacancy rates.
1.423 Institutions for planning and implementing service delivery
The third priority area is Institutions for planning and implementing service delivery at local level. Activities in this area are aimed at ensuring that services are being planned and implemented at the local level, consistent with the approach to Subnational Planning and Finance outlined in the SNGP. Specific areas of intervention under this priority area include:
-
Completion of policy framework for strengthening planning and implementation of service delivery. IDLG will partner with other central-level stakeholders in local planning (e.g. MRRD, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy) to finalize the policy framework for local planning. This will ensure that existing planning processes such as the District Delivery Programme (DDP), District-level planning by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development’s (MRRD) District Development Assemblies, Provincial Development Planning by the Provincial Development Committees (PDCs) and Provincial Budgeting by the Ministry of Finance are linked to one another and are made to properly reflect the objectives set in the Province’s Provincial Strategic Plan (PSP). It will also provide guidance on how these planning processes can be mainstream initiatives such as Transition and Peace & Reintegration. IDLG will also help Ministries to develop policies for delegation of responsibility, which will provide frameworks for increasing the scope of provincial planning and provincial budgeting.
-
Implementation of improved planning practices. IDLG will complete the roll-out of PSP, and then assist each province to conduct Provincial Annual Planning based on the PSP and reflecting priorities such as Transition and Peace & Reintegration. Once the first set of provincial budgets is approved, IDLG will provide technical support to each PDC and PC in supervising the implementation of the annual plan. Again, this will require a series of workshops in each province, throughout the planning cycle.
-
Implementation of agreed reforms to provincial budget planning. IDLG will work with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that the scope of the Provincial Budgeting Pilot is progressively widened, as previously agreed between IDLG and the Ministry of Finance (MoF). IDLG will play the role of providing consultation, supporting MoF in dealing with donors, mobilizing Governors to support reform and encouraging/persuading MoF to maintain momentum.
-
Implementation of agreed reforms to provincial budget allocation. IDLG will work with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that formula-based/norms-based budget allocation is rolled out from sector-to-sector, as previously agreed. As with the provincial budget planning, this is primarily an MoF output, which IDLG will support and encourage.
-
Implementation of agreed reforms to provincial budget execution. IDLG will work with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that the procurement and expenditure authorities of line departments are expanded to match the planning authority, as previously agreed between the two agencies. This is another area where IDLG will play a supporting role.
1.424 Accountability at the provincial level
The fourth priority area is accountability at the Provincial level. Provincial Councils (PCs) need to have the information, capacity and relationships required to make other provincial agencies accountable, as outlined in the TOR for the provincial council and the description of mechanisms for accountability and M&E contained in the SNGP. Specific areas of intervention under this priority area include:
-
Creation and dissemination of legal framework for accountability at provincial level. IDLG will play its role in ensuring that the Provincial Council Law and the Access to Information Law are enacted and disseminated. This will include workshops and public discussions in each province to ensure awareness and full understanding.
-
Improved access to and usage of performance information by Provincial Councils. IDLG will work with key central ministries and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that more and better quality information about service delivery activities, expenditure and outcomes is collected and disseminated to provincial level and to PCs specifically, so that they are able to exercise their Monitoring & Evaluation duties more effectively. This will include policy and technical work at the central level to agreed systems for collecting and disseminating data, and support to each of the 34 PCs to ensure that they can interpret the information and take action based on it. There will be an emphasis on ensuring that performance information is easily communicated and understood, for example using mechanisms such as performance league tables, Citizens’ Scorecards, and so on.
-
Establishment of clear, detailed and agreed norms for the relationship between Provincial Councils and other provincial agencies. IDLG will work with key central agencies to develop clear guidelines on how provincial agencies should interact with PCs, for example what kinds of requests the agencies should respond to, and how they should respond. They will then ensure that the guidance is jointly disseminated and that there are follow-up events in each province to ensure that the guidance is understood not only by the PCs but by the major line departments and the PGO. This will result in a higher level of cooperation between PCs and other provincial actors, and more clarity about how the oversight and M&E role of the PC should be operationalized.
-
Creation of an effective Public Grievances system under the supervision of the Provincial Council. IDLG will ensure that each PC office has a system for receiving formal complaints and grievances, following up with the relevant authorities, reporting outcome back to the complainant and reporting on the overall process and effectiveness of grievance resolution. The system will be designed based on evaluation of current practices, and then staff and budget will be obtained through the budget and Tashkeel revision process. Once budget and staff are deployed, the system will be launched and there will be public presentation and discussion of the system in all 34 provinces to ensure that it is widely used.
-
Improvement of Provincial Council access to resources and operational support. Under this activity, IDLG will combine core contributions and donors’ funds for PCs and then allow Provincial Councils to conduct their own budget planning within pre-defined budget ceilings.
1.425 Municipal service delivery
The fifth priority area is municipal service delivery cycle. Provincial municipalities need to continue to increase revenue collection, get better and using it to deliver the services that people want, and so in a way that is transparent and consistent with good governance, as described in the section on Municipalities in the SNGP. Specific areas of intervention under this priority area include:
-
Creation and dissemination of legislative framework for municipal governance. IDLG will play its role in ensuring that the municipal governance law is enacted and disseminated to all relevant stakeholders. This will include workshops to communicate the law to each provincial municipal administration and public discussion of the law in each provincial municipality.
-
Establishment of improved systems for municipal revenue collection. IDLG will develop improved, standardized guidelines on Revenue Improvement Action planning, disseminate them to the provincial municipalities and then provide technical support to each of the 33 provincial municipalities during the planning of the next year’s revenue collection. IDLG will also ensure that the Information Technology used for Revenue Administration is upgraded in all of the provincial municipalities.
-
Establishment of improved systems for municipal financial management, execution and reporting. IDLG will develop improved, standardized procedures, regulations and guidelines for all aspects of financial management for the municipalities, including budgeting, accounting, procurement, payments and reporting. The guidelines will be disseminated to all municipalities, and there will be one workshop and additional implementation support for the new procedures in all provincial municipalities. This will be done in partnership with MoF.
-
Establishment of improved systems for planning, implementation and evaluation of municipal service delivery. IDLG will provide assistance to each of the 33 provincial municipalities to go through the entire cycle of public service delivery. Each municipality will be assisted in conducting public consultations to identify what service should be provided, and then will be assisted to plan and budget the service using its own funds. Finally, each municipality will be provided with technical and management expertise in order to implement the service once planned.
-
Implementation of improved organizational designs for Provincial Municipalities. IDLG will conduct a participatory process to develop new organizational designs for Provincial Municipalities, and then will assist each of the municipalities in selecting and implementing one of the designs.
-
Provision of selected equipment and furnishings for Provincial Municipalities. IDLG will assist each of the 33 provincial municipalities to plan and implement an upgrade of their facilities, equipment and furnishings from a resource enveloped provided by development partners. IDLG will assist the municipalities to procure the upgrade services using their own systems in a completely transparent fashion and in compliance with regulations, and then reimburse them from the resource envelope.
1.43 Terminology
To facilitate management, for each deliverable in the implementation framework, the lead unit within IDLG (‘IDLG focal point’ or ‘IDLG FP’) and the lead external agency (‘external focal point’ or ‘external FP’) are given.
The following table lists the Internal Focal Points for the various deliverables in the framework:
Abbreviation
|
Full name of IDLG focal point
|
P&P
|
Directorate of Policy & Planning
|
CLPD
|
Directorate of Coordination and Local Programme Development
|
Finance
|
Directorate of Finance
|
Admin & Fin
|
Finance & Administration Directorates of IDLG
|
ASP
|
Afghanistan Local Governance Facilities Development Programme
|
HR
|
General Directorate of Human Resources
|
LCA
|
General Directorate of Local Council Affairs
|
Capacity
|
Capacity and Institutional Development Directorate
|
GDMA
|
General Directorate of Municipal Affairs
|
TABLE 1: LIST OF IDLG FOCAL POINTS
The following table lists the External Focal Points for each deliverable:
Abbreviation
|
Full name of external focal point
|
Parliament
|
Parliament
|
MoJ
|
Ministry of Justice
|
M. Economy
|
Ministry of Economy
|
MoF
|
Ministry of Finance
|
CSC
|
Civil Service Commission
|
MRRD
|
Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development
|
TABLE 2: LIST OF EXTERNAL FOCAL POINTS
To provide additional information, each deliverable is also classified according to the overall implementation channel. The channels are
Abbreviation
|
Full name of channel
|
Legislation
|
Legislation
|
Procedure
|
Policy, procedure, regulations and guidance
|
Budget
|
Budget reform
|
PAR
|
Civil service and Public Administration Reform
|
Support
|
Field support, capacity development and Technical Assistance
|
Investment
|
Investment and capital formation
|
TABLE 3: LIST OF IMPLEMENTATION CHANNELS
Share with your friends: |
