1

Monthly PROGRESS REPORT

April 1 – 30, 2017

AFGHANISTAN WORKFORCE

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (AWDP)

May 2, 2017

This report was produced by Creative Associates International for review by the United States Agency

for International Development (USAID).

AFGHANISTAN WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (AWDP)

MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT

April 1 – 30, 2017

Cover Page Credit: Creative/AWDP Financial Management training session facilitated by

Creative/AWDP grantee, Credence Auditors & Advisor (CAA) for mid-career/semi-professional job

seekers and employees of private/semi-public entities in Kabul City, April 18, 2017.

This Weekly Report was prepared for the United States Agency for International

Development, Contract Number: AID- 306-C-12-00007, Afghanistan Workforce

Development Program.

Submitted to:

U.S. Agency for International Development/Afghanistan

Tariq Waizy, COR

US Embassy, Great Massoud Road

Kabul, Afghanistan

Submitted by:

Creative Associates International, Inc.

5301 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Suite 700

Washington, DC 20015

DISCLAIMER:

The author’s views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the

United States Agency for International Development of the United States Government.

ACRONYMS

AHEAD Assistance for Health, Education and Development

ALMC Afghan Leading Management Consultancy

AMRAN Afghan Mobile Reconstruction Association

APPF Afghan Public Protection Force

AWDP Afghanistan Workforce Development Program

BAFO Best And Final Offer

CoR Contracting Officer’s Representative

FAA Fixed Amount Award

FM Financial Management

GAALO Green Afghanistan Agriculture &Livestock Organization

ICT Information and Communication Technology

LECA Lynx Eyed Consultancy Company

MToT Master Training of Trainers

P-3 Private-Public Partnership

PCR Proposal Competition Record

PM Project Management

PMIS Performance Management Information System

PSE Private Sector Entity

QPR Quarterly Progress Report

RSSAO Reconstruction & Social Services for Afghanistan Organization

SEO Society Empowerment Organization

Youth Youth Training for Employment

AFGHANISTAN_WORKFORCE

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (AWDP)

Summary of the Month: During the reporting period (April 1 – 30, 2017) Creative/AWDP completed in-depth review of six

grant applications from the following applicants:

1- Afghanistan Center for Excellence (ACE) and Reconstruction & Social Services for

Afghanistan Organization (RSSAO) in Sales and Marketing sector;

2- Green Afghanistan Agriculture & Livestock Organization (GAALO) in Hotel and Hospitality

and Media and Communication sector; and

3- Kawun Institute of Higher Education (KAWUN) and Society Empowerment Organization

(SEO) in ICT sector.

Subsequently the Creative/AWDP team conducted Best And Final Offer (BAFO) meetings with the

aforementioned applicants, to discuss the main technical observations in their grant applications and

to allow them further improve those applications. All the six grant applications packages have been

made ready to submit them for review and concurrence of Creative/AWDP Contracting Officer’s

Representative (COR) at USAID on May 1, 2017.

During this period, Creative/AWDP M&E team conducted 54 training observations to grantees’

training sites in Kabul, Herat, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif cities. Findings of these observations have

been shared with Creative/AWDP program team for its relevant actions. Most of the training

observations conducted in Kabul (41) Herat (5), Mazar-e-Sharif (6) and Jalalabad (2).

Creative/AWDP attended a meeting at USAID on April 18, 2017 to discuss about USAID’s India-

Afghanistan Export, Trade and Investment Fair New that is planned to take place in September 2017

in New Delhi, India. Implementing Partners of USAID (CHAMP, ATAR, RADP-S, RADP-E, RADP-N,

and AWDP) that will take part in preparation and organizing of the expo were invited to this

meeting. During the meeting, it was agreed that AWDP would be required to lead the capacity

building and training elements of USAID’s support for the expo. Participants also discussed the

tentative agenda for the trip that was presented by USAID.

Creative/AWDP conducted two coordination meetings with its grantees in regards to preparation

and organizing three job fair events in Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif within May 21 – July, 2017.

They assigned a committee that will be responsible to coordinate and follow-up on assignments each

grantee.

Creative/AWDP grantees started a total number of 71 training sessions for 748 trainees (368

employees of Private/Semi-Public Sector Entities, 380 job seekers, including 186 female trainees with

the breakdown below, classes are still ongoing:

- A total number of 17 sessions started in Financial Management (FM) Sector for 87 trainees.

- A total number of six sessions started in ICT Sector for 131 trainees.

- A total number of nine sessions started in Marketing Sector for 130 trainees.

- A total number of 39 sessions started in Project Management (PM) Sector for 400 trainees.

Creative/AWDP continued with providing technical support to its 21 grantees. By the end of this

reporting period, 18 grantees had submitted their second milestone completion documents to

Creative/AWDP that 11 of them have been cleared and their relevant payments released.

Please see the table below for AWDP’s achievements as of April 30, 2017:

INDICATOR

Number of people completing

USG-funded market-driven

programs (TRAINING)

People gaining employment

or better employment as a

result of participating in

USG-funded workforce

development programs

(EMPLOYMENT)

DISAGGREGATION Completed Female Male Completed Female Male

COMPONENT and SECTOR 28,834 10,452 18,382 18,207 6,469 11,738

Business Education and Skills Training

(BEST)

18,817 7,822 10,995 12,286 4,992 7,294

Business Communication and ES 1,082 280 802 756 156 600

Financial Management 6,448 1,732 4,716 4,234 1,054 3,180

Marketing 2,430 738 1,692 1,321 411 910

Project Management 5,043 1,496 3,547 3,555 1,008 2,547

Women in Private Sector 3,416 3,416 - 2,315 2,315 -

Youth Training for Employment 398 160 238 105 48 57

Technical and Vocational Education and

Training (TVET)

10,017 2,630 7,387 5,921 1,477 4,444

Construction 1,892 310 1,582 1,616 289 1,327

Employment Related Services 2,768 721 2,047 470 139 331

ICT 5,357 1,599 3,758 3,835 1,049 2,786

LOCATION 28,834 10,452 18,382 18,207 6,469 11,738

Herat 5,125 1,943 3,182 2,932 1,041 1,891

Jalalabad 3,424 879 2,545 2,128 549 1,579

Kabul 13,684 5,342 8,342 8,931 3,484 5,447

Kandahar 1,567 411 1,156 862 252 610

Kunduz 526 146 380 393 80 313

Mazar-e-Sharif 4,508 1,731 2,777 2,961 1,063 1,898

EMPLOYMENT STATUS 28,834 10,452 18,382 18,207 6,469 11,738

Employee 16,946 5,844 11,102 13,198 4,429 8,769

Jobseeker 11,888 4,608 7,280 5,009 2,040 2,969

Creative/AWDP Total 28,834 10,452 18,382 18,207 6,469 11,738

AWDP On-Budget Training and Placement Achievements

DISAGGREGATION All Female Male All Female Male

COMPONENT and SECTOR 5,406 1,917 3,489 4,083 1,487 2,596

Both (BEST and TVET) 1,664 592 1,072 1,375 516 859

Job Placement 501 169 332 357 117 240

Master Trainers Training 801 264 537 760 247 513

Public Private Partnership 362 159 203 258 152 106

Business Education and Skills Training 1,261 409 852 718 231 487

Grants Activities by Sectors:

Creative/AWDP grantees continued implementation of their First and Second Milestones with the

following activities:

Project Management Sector:

Grantees in this sector completed 36 training sessions. The grantees visited 93 PSEs/Semi-Public

Entities, and a total number of 25 curricula have been developed/adapted.

Financial Management Sector:

Grantees in this sector completed 17 training sessions. The grantees visited 47 PSEs/Semi-Public

Entities, and a total number of 17 curricula have been developed/adapted.

(BEST)

Financial Management 630 169 461 355 87 268

Project Management 631 240 391 363 144 219

Technical and Vocational Education and

Training (TVET)

2,481 916 1,565 1,990 740 1,250

Construction 1,265 297 968 1,007 222 785

ICT 1,216 619 597 983 518 465

LOCATION 5,406 1,917 3,489 4,083 1,487 2,596

Faizabad 126 66 60 120 63 57

Mazar-e-Sharif 1,502 631 871 1,104 473 631

Bamyan 50 22 28 49 22 27

Ghazni 47 33 14 34 27 7

Herat 723 360 363 501 222 279

Shiberghan 50 28 22 49 28 21

Kabul 1,505 539 966 1,137 462 675

Kandahar 434 23 411 301 22 279

Khost 48 28 20 30 15 15

Kunduz 447 89 358 437 88 349

Jalalabad 430 76 354 280 43 237

Gardez 44 22 22 41 22 19

EMPLOYMENT STATUS 5,406 1,917 3,489 4,083 1,487 2,596

Employee 3,498 1,211 2,287 2,827 1,033 1,794

Job seeker 1,908 706 1,202 1,256 454 802

On-budget Total 5,406 1,917 3,489 4,083 1,487 2,596

Grant Total both Creative/AWDP

and On-budget

34,240 12,369 21,871 22,290 7,956 14,334

Marketing Sector:

Grantees in this sector completed six training sessions. The grantees visited two PSEs/Semi-Public

Entities, and a total number of eight curricula have been developed/adapted.

ICT Sector:

Grantees in this sector completed eight training sessions. The grantees visited 10 PSEs/Semi-Public

Entities, and a total number of 3 curricula have been developed/adapted.

AWDP Departments

Programs & Grants:

Creative/AWDP

Continued updating grants tracker (Vetting Tracker, Target Job Seekers and Employees

Tracker, Target Geographical Location Tracker, BAFO Tracker, Budget Tracker, and Master

Tracker).

Compiled and filed the applicants review forms and documents (Form-B, Form-C, Form-D,

Fixed Amount Award (FAA) Entity Eligibility Checklist, Proposal Competition Record

(PCR) and Negotiation Memo).

Uploaded the required data of 21 ongoing first tranche grants and 6 second tranche

potential grants into the IDMS.

Completed the reference check for six grant applicants.

Completed the pre-award assessment visits for 34 shortlisted grant applicants in Kabul,

Herat, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif cities.

Grantees continued with uploading their demand assessment forms and curricula to PMIS

for review and approval of Creative/AWDP team.

Communications and Outreach:

Prepared, Finalized and submitted to COR the Creative/AWDP Quarterly Progress Report

January 1 – March 31, 2017.

Assessed with preparations for participation of Creative/AWDP team at USAID’s “Women

Empowerment Fair” led by USAID-Funded Women’s Leadership Development (WLD) at

Government Media and Information Center (GMIC).

Continued providing support to Creative/AWDP grantee the areas of Communication and

Outreach.

Updated Creative/AWDP Fact Sheet and submitted to AWDP COR for his review and

concurrence.

Provided photo coverage to grantees training sessions.

M&E:

Reviewed 1395 trainees registration form, 1321 training exit forms, 469 job placement

forms, and 249 demand assessment forms for the following grantees: AMRAN in PM, ACE-

PM, ACE-Marketing, ACHRO-FM and AMRAN-ICT.

Continued modifying the PMIS system according to revised M&E tools.

Conducted performance evaluation for the second milestone of ACHRO-FM, TENTO-PM,

UNIMARS-FM and PM, ACE-Marketing and AHEAD-PM.

Conducted phone verification for AMRAN-PM and ICT, ACE-Marketing and PM, ACHRO-

PM and FM, TENTO-PM, UNIMARS-FM and PM, and AHEAD-FM and PM, the result has

been shared with program team for taking necessary actions.

Security:

The Creative/AWDP Movement Matrix level continued remaining at RESTRICTED.

Threat reports continue of kidnapping potential to be high, especially in the Quallah Fatulla

PD 4. Threats upon the Ministry of Defense, Ministry or Interior and Serena Hotel of

complex attack being planned.

Risk assessment for Mazar-e-Sharif has increased, partly due to Taliban attack upon 209

Corps on April 21, 2017.

Conducted 123 road missions within Kabul City during this reporting period.

The APPF conducted weapon handling tests to high standard.

Plan for the Month of May 2017

AWDP Departments

Programs & Grants

Creative/AWDP:

Will send regret letter to rejected applicants that did not meet the minimum requirement of

Creative/AWDP’s Request For Applications (RFAs).

Will sign the grant agreement with six grant applicants.

Will feed the 64 rejected applications required data into IDMS.

Creative/AWDP is planning to conduct two mega Job Fairs in July and September 2017.

During this reporting period, a job fair toolkit will be finalized that will serve as a guideline

for conducting job fairs.

Will follow-up with grantees to submit their third milestone documents.

Will conduct second round of BAFO meetings with potential grantees.

Continue providing technical assistance to the current grantees.

Preparing and conducting a Job Fair in Kabul City with the tentatively date of May 21 – 22 ,

2017 for 2,000 participants (Job seekers, Private/Semi-Public Sector Entities, Fresh/Students

of Last Semester of Private Institutes of Higher Education, Government Officials and

Creative/AWDP Grantees).

Conduct kick-off meeting with second tranche of Creative/AWDP grantees.

Continued with Procurement process for contracting a Master Trainers Certification

Institute that will be completed during the next reporting period.

Communications and Outreach:

Continue supporting the grantees in the areas of communication and outreach.

Will prepare updated version of Creative/AWDP brochure for printing.

Will prepare Communication and Outreach tools for Creative/AWDP Mega Job Fair in

Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif.

Will collect information from Creative/AWDP former trainees for drafting success stories.

M&E:

Continue modifying the PMIS according to the revised M&E tools.

Conducting field visits to grantees in Kabul, Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif

cities.

Continue verifying grantees second and third milestone documents.

Reviewing trainee’s registration forms, training exit forms, job placement forms and demand

assessment forms for the second milestone of grantees.

Continue second milestone phone verification of grantees.

Cost-Extension – First Round Grants

# Name of Grantee Sector Training

Target

Placement

Target

Geographic

Coverage Submitted

for COR

approval

COR

Approval

Date

Grant

Agreement

Signed

Milestones Progress

of Grantees

Kab

ul

Mazar-

e-

Sh

ari

f

Hera

t

Kan

dah

ar

Jala

lab

ad

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Assistance for Health,

Education and

Development (AHEAD)

Project

Management (PM) 300 210

November

10, 2016

December

1, 2016

December

4, 2016

2 AHEAD Financial

Management (FM) 300 210

November

13, 2016

December

1, 2016

December

4, 2016

3 Afghanistan Center for

Excellence (ACE) PM 303 212

November

14, 2016

December

1, 2016

December

4, 2016

4 ACE Marketing 313 219 November

14, 2016

December

1, 2016

December

4, 2016

5 Society Empowerment

Organization (SEO) PM 360 252

November

17, 2016

December

1, 2016

December

4, 2016

6 SEO ICT 360 252 November

17, 2016

December

1, 2016

December

4, 2016

7

Afghan Mobile

Reconstruction

Association (AMRAN)

ICT 370 259 November

20, 2016

December

1, 2016

December

4, 2016

8 AMRAN PM 360 252 November

20, 2016

December

1, 2016

December

4, 2016

9 Afghan Community and

Health Rehabilitation

Organization (ACHRO)

FM 360 252 November

28, 2016

December

20, 2016

December

21, 2016

10 ACHRO PM 360 252 November

28, 2016

December

20, 2016

December

21, 2016

11 Trustful Empowerment

and Nestle Tact

Organization (TENTO)

PM 330 231 November

29, 2016

December

20, 2016

December

21, 2016

12 Pul Consultancy Services

Co (PUL Consulting) PM 375 263

December

1, 2016

December

20, 2016

December

21, 2016

13 Credence Auditors &

Advisors (CAA) FM 285 200

December

3, 2016

December

28, 2016

December 29,

2016

14 CAA PM 285 200 December

3, 2016

December

28, 2016 December 29,

2016

15

Paiwand-Emroz Social

and Cultural

Organization (PESCO)

FM 340 238 December

3, 2016

December

28, 2016 December 29,

2016

16 PESCO Marketing 336 235 December

7, 2016

December

28, 2016 December 29,

2016

17

Afghanistan Leading

Management

Consultancy-ALMC

FM 330 231 December

7, 2016

January 02,

2017

January 03,

2017

18 ALMC PM 330 231 December

7, 2016

January 02,

2017

January 03,

2017

19 Uni Mars Business

Group FM 220 154 December

14, 2016

January 02,

2017

January 03,

2017

20 Uni Mars Business

Group PM 240 168 December

14, 2016

January 02,

2017

January 03,

2017

21

Emerging Leaders

Consulting Services

(ELCS) PM 250 175

January 08,

2017

January 14,

2017

January 17,

2017

Not started

In progress

Completed