(revised) project document - af.undp.org · (revised) project document enhancing legal and...

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(Revised) PROJECT DOCUMENT

ENHANCING LEGAL AND ELECTORAL

CAPACITY FOR TOMORROW – PHASE II (ELECT II)

JANUARY 2012 – DECEMBER 2015

United Nations Development Programme Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

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Programme Period: January 2012-December 2015 Key Result Area (Strategic Plan): IEC’s capacity strengthening and support to conduct of 2014 and 2015 elections Atlas Award ID: 00063078 Start date: January 2012 End Date: December 2015 PAC Meeting Date: Management Arrangements: National Implementation

Project Title

Enhancing Legal and Electoral Capacity for Tomorrow - Phase II (ELECT II)

UNDAF Outcome(s):

UNDAF Outcome 1: Stabilization process is strengthened through effective integrated UN support to Government and communities;

UNDAF Outcome 2: The institutions of democratic governance are integrated components of the nation state.

Expected CP Outcome(s):

CPAP Outcome 4: The state and non-state institutions are better able to promote democratic participation and be accountable to the public.

Responsible Party: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Implementing Agency: Afghanistan Independent Election Commission (IEC)

Agreed by IEC:

Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan Chairman, Fazel Ahmed Manawi Agreed by UNDP:

United Nations Development Programme Country Director, Alvaro Rodriguez

YYYY AWP budget: _________ Total resources required _________

Total allocated resources: _________

Regular _________

Other: o Donor _________ o Donor _________ o Donor _________ o Government _________

Unfunded budget: _________

In-kind Contributions

Brief Description

ELECT-II will comprise a two-pronged support to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan: long-term assistance focusing on institutional strengthening and supporting the IEC to conduct the Presidential and Provincial Council election in 2014 and Parliamentary elections in 2015. The overarching objective of ELECT-II is to support the national electoral institutions to plan and administer Afghan-led credible elections with reduced external support. This will be achieved through the following 7 outputs: Output1 Sustainability of the IEC is enhanced via both its institutional and staff capacity development Output 2 A sustainable, long-term approach to voter registration in Afghanistan, which also promotes maximum

participation of eligible citizens in the 2014 and 2015 elections, is developed and implemented Output 3 The IEC’s engagement and informational outreach with key stakeholders, including the electorate, is

enhanced Output 4 The IEC’s operational management functions, and the project support services, are strengthened Output 5 The conduct of key electoral operations for the 2014 and 2015 elections by the IEC is improved Output 6 The electoral dispute resolution mechanism is enhanced Output 7 The media regulatory mechanism for the electoral process is enhanced

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................. 5

2. CONTEXT ................................................................................................................................................... 6

3. INTRODUCTION TO THE EXTENDED PROJECT ........................................................................................... 8

4. FRAMEWORK OF OUTPUTS AND ACTIVITIES .......................................................................................... 15

5. MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... 41

6. CONSULTATION AND ENDORSEMENT .................................................................................................... 46

7. BUDGET PLAN .......................................................................................................................................... 47

8. MONITORING FRAMEWORK AND EVALUATION ..................................................................................... 49

9. LEGAL CONTEXT ...................................................................................................................................... 51

10. ANNEX I: RESULTS RESOURCES FRAMEWORK (2012-2015) ................................................................ 52

11. ANNEX II: MONITORING FRAMEWORK (2012-2015) ............................................................................... 64

12. ANNEX III: ELECT II ORGANIGRAM ............................................................................................................ 78

13. ANNEX IV: IEC PERMANENT (tashkeel) STAFF ........................................................................................... 79

14. ANNEX V: CONDUCT OF 2014 PRESIDENTIAL AND PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS: ........................... 81

COST BREAKDOWN BY OUPTUT ...................................................................................................................... 81

15. ANNEX VI: CONDUCT OF 2015 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS: .................................................................. 83

COST BREAKDOWN BY OUPTUT ...................................................................................................................... 83

16. ANNEX VII: RISK LOG ................................................................................................................................. 83

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List of Acronyms ANA Afghan National Army ANDS Afghanistan National Development Strategy ANP Afghanistan National Police ANSF Afghanistan National Security Forces CTA Chief Technical Adviser CPAP Country Programme Action Plan DPA Department of Political Affairs EAD Electoral Assistance Division ECC Electoral Complaints Commission ELECT Enhancing Legal and Electoral Capacity for Tomorrow EU European Union HR Human Resources HQ Headquarters IEC Independent Election Commission IFES International Foundation for Electoral Systems ISAF International Security Assistance Force LOA Letter of Agreement MDG Millennium Development Goals MOI Ministry of Interior MP Member of Parliament PC Polling Centre PECC Provincial Electoral Complaints Centre PESG Post-Elections Strategy Group PS Polling Station STA Senior Technical Advisor SNTV Single Non Transferable Vote SRSG Special Representative of the Secretary General TA Technical Assistance UN United Nations UNAMA United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework UNDP United Nations Development Programme VR Voter Registration

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 2010, Afghan electoral management bodies assumed responsibility for all major decisions associated with the electoral process, including the planning and implementation of the 2010 Wolesi Jirga elections, or lower house of the National House – henceforth referred to as parliamentary elections. This marked a milestone for Afghanistan, a nation for whom years of conflict have made the establishment of electoral institutions and practices a particular challenge. With the technical and operational support of the United Nations Development Program Enhancing Legal and Electoral Capacity for Tomorrow (UNDP ELECT, 2006 – 2011), Afghan electoral management bodies sought to fulfill their mandates, in accordance with the law including attempting to address fraud and impunity. The outcome was challenging, but the last round of elections saw Afghan institutions developing more technical capacities, policies and procedures, enhancing their ability to implement electoral activities. However, there still existed inadequate financing and technical expertise; and political and operational events have undermined the credibility of the electoral process - indicating that progress is tenuous and could effectively be reversed without continued support.

At the same time, 2014 will mark the initiation of a complex transition process in Afghanistan which will entail significant draw down of security forces followed the by presidential elections in April 5. This is to be followed by the 2015 Parliamentary elections, and then what has been referred to as a ‘Decade of Transformation’ running from 2014 to 2024. This therefore underscores the need to strengthen the political and electoral processes, including ensuring the engagement of voters, followed by significant investment to rebuild the social contract and broaden the democratic focus from institution building to state building. The 2014 presidential elections and the need for it to be an Afghan-led, credible process is of paramount importance at the cusp of such a transition.

The Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework also reiterated the Government of Afghanistan’s commitment “to conduct credible, inclusive and transparent Presidential and Parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2015 in accordance with the Afghan Constitution, in which eligible Afghan citizens, men and women, have the opportunity to participate freely without internal or external interference and in accordance with the law.”

Afghanistan’s primary electoral management body, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) has welcomed the possibility of further UNDP-managed support. This began as a two year project (2012-2013) that focused on strengthening the capacity of IEC for enhanced electoral administration. However, at the request of the GoIRA, the project was extended to the end of 2015 to support, in parallel to the capacity development, the conduct of the Presidential and Provincial council elections in 2015 and the parliamentary elections in 2015. The objectives of the project will be achieved through the following outputs: Output1 Sustainability of the IEC is enhanced via both its institutional and staff capacity

development Output 2 A sustainable, long-term approach to voter registration in Afghanistan, which also

promotes maximum participation of eligible citizens in the 2014 and 2015 elections, is developed and implemented

Output 3 The IEC’s engagement and informational outreach with key stakeholders, including the electorate, is enhanced

Output 4 The IEC’s operational management functions, and the project support services, are strengthened

Output 5 The conduct of key electoral operations for the 2014 and 2015 elections by the IEC is improved

Output 6 The electoral dispute resolution mechanism is enhanced Output 7 The media regulatory mechanism for the electoral process is enhanced

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2. CONTEXT

Years of conflict have damaged Afghanistan’s economic, political, physical, social and institutional structures. According to the human development index, Afghanistan ranks 174 out of 178 countries, globally. GDP per capita is USD 9641. The national average for school attendance among children six to thirteen years of age is estimated at 37%. However, enrollment in rural areas may be as low as 1%2 and just 23.5% of the adult population is able to read. According to one survey, adults cited as main sources of information: radio, friends and family, community meetings and sermons at the mosque.3 Additional cultural and security constraints on movement mean that education level and literacy rates are even lower among women. High fertility, tendency to work within the home and discrepancies in male and female income mean that women generally have less access to information and experience less freedom in making political decisions and expressing their opinions. Moreover, conflict-related Afghan civilian casualties rose significantly between 2009 and 20104. A secure environment with credible leadership and in which the rule of law is enforced is a necessary precondition for peace, reconstruction and development. Due to the absence of baseline data, extremely low capacity and the loss of the whole of the 1990s in terms of development, the Afghan Government endorsed the Millennium Declaration only in March 2004; and the country’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets were set for 2020, rather than 2015. Each of the MDGs is reflected in one or more of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS 2008/9 – 2012/13) pillars: Security; Governance and Rule of Law; and Economic and Social Development. More than any other instrument, the ANDS is fundamental to guiding and monitoring efforts to achieve the MDGs by 2020. Political will, policy commitments and transparent public information services are central to MDG progress. Social contracts between the government and the public, systems of accountability and capacity to deliver services are both necessary to restoring confidence in government and critical in post-conflict situations. On 20 July 2010, the Government of Afghanistan hosted5 the Kabul Conference, envisaged as a renewed commitment to the Afghan people. The conference marked a milestone in the Kabul Process of transition to full Afghan leadership and responsibility, building on previous international commitments, including the London Conference. In this forum, Government presented an Afghan-led plan for improving development, governance and security; including a realistic national agenda, with reform components, and a view to realise tangible results. In order to support the Government to implement its agenda, the need for sustained and coherent capacity development support at national and sub-national levels is a priority. The International Bonn Conference on Afghanistan on 5 December 2011 pledges sustained international support for Afghanistan for another decade. The renewed partnership between Afghanistan and the international community entails firm mutual commitments in the areas of governance, security, the peace process, economic and social development, and regional cooperation.6

1 http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi/

2 Afghanistan Human Development Report, 2007

3 Police Perception Survey, 2009: The Afghan Perspective

4 Ivan Simonovic, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights

5 Co-chaired by the United Nations

6 Final conclusion of the International Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, 5 December 2011

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The Afghan Government reaffirms its commitment to:

“a stable, democratic society, free of the scourge corruption and in which the rights of all citizens are protected […] and to strengthening its institutions and the rule of law, ensuring a fully transparent electoral process, and also recognizing the importance of civil society participation in this regard.”7

The United Nations Development Program Enhancing Legal and Electoral Capacity for Tomorrow project (UNDP ELECT, October 2006 – December 2011) shared and contributed to the goals set out in the Afghan National Development Strategy8. Throughout its duration, project priorities evolved9 to accommodate Afghanistan’s changing needs, challenges, capacities and assistance framework. Specifically, Afghan electoral institutions assumed progressively greater responsibility as international assistance was systematically decreased. The most recent Afghan elections, the 2010 Wolesi Jirga Elections were strictly Afghan-led. Afghan electoral management bodies assumed responsibility for all major decisions, engaged frequently and directly with stakeholders, and acted as both national and international spokespeople. UNDP deliberately reduced its presence, drastically reducing the number of international staff and limiting the scope of its assistance to technical and operational support. Despite considerable ongoing pressure, the Afghan electoral management bodies sought to fulfill their Constitutional mandate to deliver a technical sound election. The commitment of electoral authorities to confront fraud and inconsistencies, in spite of threats and pressure from external parties, is testament to the will to develop credible electoral processes in Afghanistan. The need for transparency is essential to ensure public trust.

2014 will mark the initiation of a complex transition process in Afghanistan which will entail significant draw down of security forces followed the by presidential elections in April 5. This is to be followed by the 2015 Parliamentary elections, and then what has been referred to as a ‘Decade of Transformation’ running from 2014 to 2024. This therefore underscores the need to strengthen the political and electoral processes, including ensuring the engagement of voters, followed by significant investment to rebuild the social contract and broaden the democratic focus from institution building to state building. The 2014 presidential elections and the need for it to be an Afghan-led, credible process is of paramount importance at the cusp of such a transition.

The Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework reiterated the Government of Afghanistan’s commitment “to conduct credible, inclusive and transparent Presidential and Parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2015 in accordance with the Afghan Constitution, in which eligible Afghan citizens, men and women, have the opportunity to participate freely without internal or external interference and in accordance with the law.”

In this context, UNDP has been supporting the Independent Election Commission (IEC) through a capacity building project Enhancing Electoral and Legal Capacity for Tomorrow-phase II (ELECT II)-2011-2013- that looks into strengthening the institutional capacity of the IEC to conduct electoral administration. However, the request of the government has been to support the IEC in undertaking an Afghan-led, credible electoral administration. It is based on this request and the recommendations from the subsequent UN Needs Assessment Mission that ELECT II is being extended till 2015 to support the two upcoming elections in 2014 and 2015.

It should be noted that ELECT II is situated within the Legitimate and Inclusive Governance Cluster of UNDP Afghanistan, and as such is intended to contribute to national governance in Afghanistan, along with

7 Statement by H.E. Dr. Zahir Tanin Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan at the Briefing on Outcome of International Bonn conference on Afghanistan (8 December 2011) 8 Articulated in the United Nations Development Framework in Support to the Afghan National Development Strategy (UNDAF); Country

Program Action Plan (CPAP); and UNDP Strategic Plan for 2008 – 2011 9 2006, 2008, 2009

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strategies on Sub-National Governance and Rule of Law, and in close coordination with the strategies on Gender, Capacity Development and Sustainable Development.

3. INTRODUCTION TO THE EXTENDED PROJECT

ELECT II was formulated as a two-year project designed to build the capacity of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to implement elections in line with Afghanistan’s international electoral commitments and the national electoral legal framework. With an original envisaged end date of December 2013, the project was not designed or intended to provide direct support to either the 2014 Presidential and Provincial Council elections, or the 2015 Wolesi Jirga elections. However, on 31 October, 2012 the IEC requested a United Nations Electoral Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) to be deployed to Afghanistan to assess whether the United Nations would also provide electoral assistance for the conduct of the 2014-2015 elections. The UN Department of Political Affairs-led NAM deployed to Afghanistan in two phases between November 2012 and February 2013, and, in line with UN electoral assistance policy, the NAM final assessment report recommended “whether UN electoral assistance should be provided (or in some cases continued), and if so what form it should take and the parameters and modalities governing such assistance.”10

The NAM Final Report recommended that “as the focus of international assistance moves towards the 2014 and 2015 electoral operation, the UNDP ELECT II Project must be reformulated to provide the necessary support for such operations. The current project (due to end in December 2013), focused largely on capacity-building and technical assistance, will have to be extended and enhanced to complement the work of the IEC on all electoral operational and logistical needs.” In discussions with all funding partners to ELECT II, during the course of the NAM, the ELECT II Mid-Term Review (February and April 2013), and the project formulation extension mission (19 March – 3 April, 2013), there was also consensus that extending ELECT II, and expanding its outputs, was the most expedient manner for partners to continue supporting the sustainable development of the IEC’s institutional and staff capacity, as well as supporing the 2014-2015 elections.

For the purposes of project implementation, this document, therefore, replaces the the ELECT II Project Document – Revision following 21 November 2012 Project Board meeting, and will essentially serve as the third revision on the project document. As such it includes a full description of outputs and activities over the four years of the project – including those activities already implemented in 2012 and up to the date of the approval of this project extension. In particular, the new Framework of Outputs and Activities modifies and expands ELECT II’s support to the Afghan electoral process to: a) ensure compliance and consistency with the final assessment report and recommendations of the NAM; b) take into account the findings and recommendations of the Mid-Term Review process, and; c) encompass the international community’s support for the 2014 and 2015 Afghan elections. The project, therefore, retains its original objectives, related to the support for sustainable capacity development of the IEC, but also adds additional objectives related to the implementation of the 2014 and 2015 elections. Specifically, the expanded and extended ELECT II aims to support the IEC to:

improve and consolidate its institutional capacity;

improve and consolidate the professional and electoral skills of its staff via a skills transfer from ELECT II personnel;

Increase its capacity to implement elections so that technical assistance will not be required in the medium-to-long-term;

Sustain and develop its facilities, management and information systems and infrastructure;

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The “Guideline on UN Electoral Needs Assessments” was approved by the UN Under-Secretary for Political Affairs, as UN Focal Point for Electoral Assistance, on 11 May, 2012.

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Encourage broader democratic participation;

Mainstream the importance of gender equality across all its activities. The project extension and expansion, however, will also allow the project to:

Support the IEC in implementing its voter registration strategy for ensuring maximum participation in the 2014 and 2015 elections;

Build the foundations for the eventual, long-term, sustainable generation of data for the voter register from the e-tazkira database;

Develop procedures and mechanisms to improve governance and administration of the 2014 and 2015 elections;

Provide a mechanism for the international community to finance large elements of the 2014 and 2015 elections due to the limited financial resources of the Afghan state;

Directly support the IEC in its implementation of the 2014 and 2015 elections.

The NAM Final Report, however, also recommended support “for areas beyond the competence of the IEC, in particular, support to the eventual electoral dispute resolution mechanism.“ Thus a key objective of the expanded project will be to support, in the pre-electoral, electoral and post-electoral phases, the EDR mechanism, the ECC. Finally, the NAM report recommended support to the media regulatory mechanism, specifically “the media commission, the functions of which fall under the authority of the IEC.”11

These objectives will be achieved through the following modified and expanded outputs, which consist of the original four outputs (revised) as well as three additional outputs, as follows:12 Output1 Sustainability of the IEC is enhanced via both its institutional and staff capacity

development – This output will continue to focus on the development of both the IEC’s institutional capacity, and the capacity of its staff. This is the output that thus focuses primarily on the long-term sustainability of the electoral administration.

Output 2 A sustainable, long-term approach to voter registration in Afghanistan, which also

promotes maximum participation of eligible citizens in the 2014 and 2015 elections, is developed and implemented – – This output supports the IEC in the rollout of its voter card issuance plan in advance of the 2014 elections, but also addresses and prioritises the long-term sustainability of the voter registration system. This will be achieved by assisting the IEC to systemise its cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior in its rollout and management of the e-tazkira system, so that e-tazkira can become the long-term basis for confirming identity of the voter and establishing eligibility for inclusion in the voter register.

Output 3 The IEC’s engagement and informational outreach with key stakeholders, including the

electorate, is enhanced – This output assists the IEC to establishing systematic and sustainable consultation fora for the IEC to engage with key electoral stakeholders, including both electoral contestants and civil society, so that confidence in the legitimacy of the electoral process, through stakeholder engagement, is enhanced. It also assists the IEC’s citizen participation campaign, via its voter and civic education messaging.

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The NAM report recommended that “support to other areas of the process, such as campaign finance monitoring, domestic observation training, support to the security sector, training of candidates or candidate agents, support to the media sector on responsible reporting of the electoral process, or design and implementation of voter and civic education campaigns by civil society, can be supported bilaterally by funding partners and implemented by other agencies.” 12

The Mid-Term Review (pg. 4) recommended that options for the project extension formulation should include “reviewing the project outputs themselves.”

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Output 4 The IEC’s operational management functions, and the project support services, are strengthened – This output focuses on the efficient and effective management of project resources, through the operation of the Project Management Unit.13 The terms of reference of the PMU include management of the project procurement, finance and administration functions, as well as recruitment and payment, etc., of project advisors. As the project is nationally implemented under the National Implementation modality, however, and as some management tasks have been traditionally beyond the capacities of the IEC, the IEC has delegated some administrative tasks (such as international procurement of sensitive electoral materials such as indelible ink and the top-up of non-Tashkeel salaries) back to UNDP, via the Project Management Unit.

Output 5 The conduct of key electoral operations for the 2014 and 2015 elections by the IEC is

improved – This output represents the primary international community support for the 2014 President and Provincial Council elections and the 2015 Wolesi Jirga elections. Via technical, financial, procurement, logistical and operational support, ELECT II will assist the IEC in the implementation of the elections. Throughout the course of the design and execution of the IEC’s Electoral Operational Plan, skills transfer from ELECT II advisors to IEC personnel will be prioritized.

Output 6 The electoral dispute resolution mechanism is enhanced – This output deals with the

establishment of the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC). The ECC has to be constituted according to the Art. 61 of the current Electoral Law at least one hundred twenty days prior to election date. This output represents the international support for both establishing and advising the ECC, so that it can meet its terms of reference.

Output 7 The media regulatory mechanism for the electoral process is enhanced – Under the

electoral legal framework, the Media Commission will adjudicate on media complaints and address the issue of access to the media by electoral contestants. This output will represent the international support for the Media Commission.

The modified and expanded outputs will be facilitated by the following revised activities, each with its own expected results. Although there is a specific activity related to support to the IEC’s gender structures, gender equality will be prioritised and mainstreamed across the implementation of all activities, and outputs will be evaluated against how they achieve gender equality. Secondly, reflecting the overall project objective to build sustainable capacity of the Afghan electoral administration, sustainability will be the overarching principle informing the design and implementation of all activities to meet the achieved outputs.

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The PMU is headed by the project Operations Manager.

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As a guide to understanding how the outputs and activities have been modified the following table maps the transition from the previous framework to this revised framework:

Output and activities titles, previous ProDoc, November 2012

Output and activities titles, revised ProDoc, April 2013

Comment on change

Output 1 – Institutional, operational and technical capacity of the IEC is developed to ensure well organised, future Afghan-led electoral processes.

Output 1 – Sustainability of the IEC is enhanced via the development of both its institutional and staff capacities.

Output title more clearly focused on sustainable development of IEC institutional and staff capacity.

1.1 Support the IEC in strengthening its institutional capacity.

1.1 Support the IEC in sustainable strengthening of its institutional capacity, via its Strategic Plan and upgrade of its knowledge, information, decision-making and data management systems.

The activity title is now more targeted, and more focused on the sustainability of the institution.

1.2 Review and refine IEC regulations and policies for Afghan elections. 1.3 Review and improve electoral procedures and guidelines.

1.2 Support the IEC’s engagement in legal reform and improvement of its regulatory framework.

New activity 1.2 merges former activities 1.2 and 1.3.

1.4 Support the development and implementation of strategies to promote gender mainstreaming in electoral administration.

Former activity 1.4 now merged with gender activity in output 3, focusing on promotion of gender equality both internal to the IEC and externally. Participation of women as candidates, voters and electoral administrators is thus prioritised.

1.5 Strengthen field operations, communication and coordination.

Former activity 1.5 merged into new activity 1.1, focusing on institutional capacity development.

1.6 Construct permanent infrastructural facilities to accommodate IEC provincial offices and warehouses.

1.3 Support the upgrade of the IEC’s physical infrastructure and security at HQ and in the provinces

Activity title now more focused.

1.7 Develop capacity of the IEC to systematically manage information in order to monitor progress and build institutional memory.

Former activity 1.7 now merged into new activity 1.1, institutional capacity development.

1.8 Strengthen IEC administrative, procurement and financial systems.


1.9 Support the IEC in the logistical planning and maintenance of fixed assets, equipment, supplies and services


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for recurrent IEC functions.

1.10 Support operational costs of the IEC and provide salaries and other emoluments required for the IEC to retain essential staff and to function efficiently at its current level.

As the former activity 1.10 has task has been delegated back to UNDP, this activity has been moved to Output 4, implemented by the PMU.

1.4 Support the professional training and development of IEC permanent and temporary staff

IEC staff capacity development now prioritised via its own activity.

Output 2 – The quality of the voter registry is improved to support future electoral operations

Output 2 – A sustainable, long-term approach to voter registration in Afghanistan, which also promotes maximum participation of eligible citizens in the 2014 and 2015 elections, is developed and implemented

The output title is changed to reflect the desire to assist the IEC in a sustainable, long-term solution to voter registration in Afghanistan, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior.

2.1 Assess the relevance and potential use of the current voter registry database in future elections

2.1 Support the IEC in the implementation of its voter registration operational plan

The current voter database is obsolete and serves no purpose, and thus the previous activity 2.1 was obsolete.

2.2 Support and advise the IEC in their evaluation of the suitability of various alternatives for the improvement of the voter registry. 2.3 Support the IEC in the improvements of the voter registry database and system.

2.2 Support the IEC in synthesising its work with the Ministry of the Interior so that the e-tazkira database becomes the long-term solution for the generation of voter registration data.

The revised activity 2.2 represents the agreed outcome of developments and consultations throughout 2012 and 2013, and allows for e-tazkira to be prioritised as the long-term solution for generation of data for the voter register.

Output 3 – Capacity of the IEC to encourage broader democratic participation is strengthened

Output 3 – The IEC’s engagement and informational outreach with key stakeholders, including the electorate, is enhanced

The output title is now more focused, reflecting the dual importance of the IEC’s mandate of engaging with key stakeholders such as electoral contestants, and educating the electorate and wider Afghan public on participation in the electoral process.

The activity is now much more focused, centering on the IEC’s voter and civic education mandate.

3.1 Support the IEC in promoting public discussion on electoral governance and broader democratic participation. 3.2 Support the IEC in developing its capacity to plan and implement its voter education campaigns.

3.1 Support the development and implementation of the IEC’s public outreach campaign and activities.

The former activity 3.1 is now merged into activity 3.2, fully under the implementation of the Public Outreach Department.

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3.3 Support the IEC in its relationships with external stakeholders.

3.2 Support the IEC’s structured engagement with key stakeholders, including political parties, and the IEC’s strategic media communication.

The activity is more focused, naming both one of the key external stakeholders, as well as acknowledging the important of media communications. The subject of this activity is fully under the responsibility of the External Relations Department (ERD).

3.3 Support the IEC’s management and implementation of the candidate registration process.

As the candidate nomination process is fully under the responsibility of the External Relations Department in the IEC, support in this area is more appropriate under this output, along with the other ERD tasks.

3.4 Support the IEC’s Gender Unit and the Public Outreach Department gender focal point in promoting gender mainstreaming in the electoral process, as well as in institutional practices.

Gender equality is mainstreamed throughout all activity under ELECT II, but specific support for the IEC gender structures is provided by this activity, which allows for a focused targeting of support to women as voters, electoral contestants and electoral administrators.

Output 4 – Project Management Support

Output 4 – The IEC’s daily operations and its operational management functions, as well as the project support services, are strengthened.

The output becomes a proper output, with activities and results, and also encompasses both the project management functions, as well as the IEC administrative tasks delegated back to UNDP.

4.1 Support the operational costs of the IEC as well as the enhancement of the IEC’s operational management systems and procedures.

4.2 Conduct efficient and effective management of project resources.

4.3 Provide direct operational support to electoral activities.

Output 5 – The conduct of key electoral operations for the 2014 and 2015 elections by the IEC is improved

NEW output encompassing international support to the 2014 and 2015 electoral operations

5.1 Support the development and implementation of the IEC’s electoral operational plan and procedures, and provide

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direct implementation support to the 2014 and 2015 elections.

5.2 Support the IEC’s design and implementation of a robust, secure, and timely results management system that enjoys the confidence of key electoral stakeholders.

5.3 Support the IEC in completing a credible distribution of polling centres and an accurate boundary delimitation process (where required by law).

Output 6 – The electoral dispute resolution mechanism is enhanced

NEW output encompassing international support to the EDR mechanism

6.1 Provide effective support to the electoral dispute resolution mechanism

Output 7 – The media regulatory mechanism for the electoral process is enhanced.

NEW output encompassing international support to the Media Commission during the 2014 and 2015 elections

7.1 Provide effective support to the Media Commission so that it can implement its terms of reference.

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4. FRAMEWORK OF OUTPUTS AND ACTIVITIES This section expands on the outputs to provide more detail on the scope, focus and most importantly the organization of the key activities that comprise these outputs.

OUTPUT 1 – Sustainability of the IEC is enhanced via the development of both its institutional and staff capacities.

The first output that will contribute to meeting the expected project outcomes focuses on development of the institutional and staff capacities of the IEC. The 10 activities, approved in the November 2012 Project Board meeting have been reduced to five more clearly focused activities. Each activity has its own expected results that have been informed from findings of the mid-term review process. Full implementation of the activities will:

Support sustainable strengthening of the IEC’s its institutional capacity, via implementation of its Strategic Plan and upgrade of its knowledge, information, decision-making and data management systems (1.1);

Strengthen the IEC’s ability to influence, anticipate and adapt its processes and procedures to changes in the electoral legal framework, and draft operational plans and procedures fully in line with the prevailing legal framework (1.2);

Significantly support and entrench the IEC’s physical presence in the provinces (1.3);

Build individual staff capacities, via skills transfer from ELECT II personnel (1.4).

As the ELECT II project envisages Afghanistization of the electoral process IEC personnel will be taking the lead in the conduct of election and ELECT II international staff providing a background supporting role through the provision of technical advice and capacity building. ELECT II will also have significantly less international advisors than ELECT I in 2009 and 2010 with the general target of international personnel at any one time being around 60.

To further realize sustainable, long-term capacity development, (and taking into account one of the findings of the Mid-Term Review), the ELECT II staff structure will mirror more closely that of the IEC. ELECT II staff members will be embedded in each of the core function areas of the IEC, employing a ‘counterpart’ structure. ELECT II advisers will thus support both departmental and individual development, and IEC staff will be able to exercise new and developing skills, with ready support, via skills transfer from their ELECT II advisory counterparts. The Mid Term Review process also recommended a more robust evaluation system for ELECT II advisors and a greater commitment to working with interpreters so that meetings with a wider IEC staff audience can be convened so as to widen the capacity building net for counterparts not having the necessary language skills.14

In implementing its staff capacity development programme, ELECT II will work in line with the current IEC Secretariat organisational structure (CEO, 2 Deputy CEOs, 10 department heads, a specialist gender unit and 34 provincial offices). Over time, however, in partnership with the IEC, the IEC will be assisted in its transition to its new proposed structure (including the pay and grade reforms), on the basis of the 2012 proposal of the Civil Service Commission (to the extent that there is final agreement between the CSC and the IEC).15 In the event that the pay and grade reforms are suspended until after the 2015 elections, a large focus of the post-elections support will be centred on assisting the IEC to adapt to this new structure.

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MTR report, pg. 6 ““it is recommended that ELECT II make greater use of interpreters and translators to facilitate working in Dari and Pashto. It is also recommended that as a matter of course, the IEC be involved and consulted in decisions over advisors (even if ELECT II retains ultimate recruitment authority), and as routine, IEC counterparts are asked to qualitatively assess the work of advisors.” 15

The final report of the electoral Needs Assessment Mission recommended a suspension of implementation of the pay and grade

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Activity 1.1 Indicative Activity Results

IEC institutional capacity development – Support the IEC in sustainable strengthening its institutional capacity, via its Strategic Plan and upgrade of its knowledge, information, decision-making and data management systems as well as its premise security arrangement.

The IEC is a well-functioning organisation with proper internal plans, procedures and policies appropriately implemented on managerial, departmental and unit level and an updated and accurate management information system;

A sound management information system is in place to collect , systematize and archive data of past and future elections.

One of the key strategic goals of the IEC is “proving itself as one of the best institutions in the country”. To become a well-functioning organization, the IEC needs to regulate its institutional, organizational, operational and administrative work from top to bottom. Implementing its current Strategic Plan, and planning for its future Strategic Plan, will assist the IEC in defining its vision. This will be the basis from which annual work plans can be developed, further broken down at departmental or issue-based level with corresponding outlines, guidelines, policies and standard operating procedures specified and incorporated. To achieve this ELECT II will continue to assist the IEC with the implementation of its Strategic Plan and its annual work plans for the calendar years 2013/2014/2015. This assistance will be coordinated primarily by the CEO’s office, with the day-to-day support coordinated by the Deputy CEO in charge of administration and finance. Each ELECT II Advisor will support his or her counterpart with the development and implementation of departmental plans and/or issue-based policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to enhance the institutional capacity of the IEC and promote self-sustainability for a future with even less international technical advisory support. SOPs will be developed with support from ELECT II advisors cover such areas as staff performance and evaluation mechanisms.16 Furthermore an SOP on the role and functioning of international advisors will also be developed. The project will support the undertaking an annual training plan by department, which will be developed based on two processes:

capacity development assessment and action plan

an annual staff assessment

The assessments are expected to identify capacity gaps and expectations of staff on terms of their capacity enhancement. Training plan by department will therefore be developed accordingly. ELECT II will continue providing support and build capacity through mentoring, advice and training (identified in annual training plan). An on-going activity to support IEC staff members in their efforts to gain higher education degrees will be continued in order to enable them to apply for their current position once the Civil Service Commission (CSC) pay and rank reform materializes. This support is of particular importance with regard to retaining staff and to mitigate potential loss of capacity and institutional memory due to a large turnover as a result of the implementation of the CSC reform. Towards quarters 3 and four of 2015, the project will retain a consultant to help IEC HR department chalk out a clear transition plan to the civil service commission recommended structure.

The IEC has recently established an overall Gender Unit in its organizational structure, which functions under the direct leadership of the IEC Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). Separate to this Unit, a Gender Unit

reforms until after the 2015 elections. 16

The Mid Term Review recommended “Further actions by ELECT II to work with the IEC in strengthening its human resources department and systems across the organisation would further bolster the argument for the IEC’s independent management of staff selection. It would also increase the likelihood of improved staff capacity and project implementation. This could include looking at trying to establish a transparent system of merit based recruitment and regular staff evaluations.

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also exists within the IEC Public Outreach Department with a specific function of incorporating gender concerns in the public outreach work. Through ELECT II support and as part of institutional strengthening the IEC Gender Unit will be mainstreaming gender within the IEC policy and procedural planning. There is a need for a systematic approach to the gender work within the IEC, which includes addressing the structural issues, as well as putting systems in place to ensure that gender mainstreaming efforts are based on solid foundations, and institutionalized. The Gender Unit exists as a temporary entity within the IEC structure so far, however, the new proposal on the structure of the IEC incorporates the Unit as a permanent structure. Moreover, the Unit‘s work is yet to be based on a formally approved mandate.

In order to address some of these issues, ELECT II will support the development and adoption adoption of a terms of reference that will provide much needed clarity and confidence to the Gender Unit in carrying out its function. The ELECT II will also be supporting the Unit in developing a gender strategy for the electoral operations, focusing on promoting women’s participation as voters, candidates, electoral administrators, and observers. The Unit will be supported to work and contribute on gender, as part of a member in the various working groups set up within the IEC. The Unit will be further advised in developing gender tools and systems that will support sustainability and institutionalization of the gender efforts in the electoral processes, and within the structure of the IEC. Enhancing the operational capacity of the IEC in addition to the functional capacity also falls within the overall purview of the institutional strengthening of the IEC. However, these are dealt with under output 4 (specifically under activity 4.1) The IEC has not traditionally had a comprehensive system of collecting, systematizing and archiving election related data. Access to data of past elections is difficult, both for IEC staff, as well as other stakeholders. Often, valuable planning documents were kept on the computers of individual IEC staff, without proper file naming systems or use of shared drives resulting in formation of information silos. In addition some key planning documents are often drafted first in English, to the detriment of IEC staff that do not speak good English. Such ad hoc data management systems weaken the build-up of institutional memory and hamper comparison with previous elections. Promoting easy access to important files or methods to ensure that relevant staff members are aware of the purpose and location of key files is one of the key factors building institution capacity of the IEC. Linked to the development of proper standard operating procedures, therefore, ELECT II will assist the IEC to develop a more structured approach to management information systems. Furthermore in order to have an updated and reliable management information system in place, the IEC should be able to record and monitor information and progress indicators for output areas on a regular basis, noting that this includes the establishment of an effective monitoring and evaluation system. Aside from enabling the IEC to chart progress and trends, consistent monitoring and evaluation will allow the institution to adapt its approach, as necessary and ultimately to achieve its goals more swiftly and efficiently. In order that this information and progress charting is useful both in the short and long-term it is important to process and archive it systematically. To ensure that stored information is transparent, user-friendly and easily accessible, soft copies and regular updates will be made available on the IEC intranet and where appropriate on the internet via the IEC webpage. In addition, it is recommended that the IEC intranet provide a portal for IEC staff at different levels and locations to access information from the archive. The process would help the IEC to ensure that progress made and lessons learned in each election are retained for future reference and that institutional memory will be updated and maintained. The availability and sharing of documents with other stakeholders would increase transparency as well as confidence in the IEC and the election process in general. ELECT II has been requested to fully support the establishment of this management information system, with proper M&E components, and thus technical assistance advice will continue to be provided, on top of

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the preliminary work done in 2012, to assist in the development of the MIS. This support will primarily be provided to both the CEO’s office, but, more intensively, to the Deputy CEO in with responsibility for administration and finance. Commitment to advising on monitoring and evaluation is in line with the Mid-Term Review recommendation that “It is recommended that a stronger focus be placed on supporting the IEC in undertaking monitoring activities, particularly of its work in the provinces”.17 The management system will include information such as the polling centre database and geographical locations, the logistical and assets management support requirements for each location, each polling centre’s risk factors, security profile, staffing needs, and voter and candidate data, as well as additional information of use to stakeholders (accessibility by observers, etc). This will be crucial for the planning, budgeting and decision-making of all future (field level) electoral operations and processes. The polling station database will be produced based on historical data from recent elections and expanded with updated polling centre information. All this information of polling centre level can be congregated into district and provincial field information. Updated properly before, during and after the 2014/15 elections, this database will, in a sustainable way, retain valuable information to prepare any future electoral field operation. ELECT II will also make greater use of translators in order to feed advisory documents on the implementation of the MIS to the widest possible cohort of IEC staff. This is in line with the recommendation of the MTR which said that “it is recommended that ELECT II make greater use of interpreters and translators to facilitate working in Dari and Pashto.”

In addition, ELECT II will assist the IEC to conduct an annual staff survey that will essentially measure various dimensions that include employee satisfaction, perceived business process efficiency etc. and will serve as indication of progress, in line with the strategic plan, towards the IEC’s goal of excellence as an institution

Building on the work done so far ELECT II will assist the IEC in its efforts to increase the HQ premise security by establishing an enhanced security regime which includes establishment of an IEC guard force, improving security procedures and upgrading of the physical parameter of the IEC HQ compound (construction activities are included in Activity 1.3)


Legal reform – Support the IEC’s engagement in legal reform and improvement of its regulatory framework

Provisions of the revised Afghan law are coherently and harmoniously translated into IEC regulations and policies, and are updated as required for future electoral processes.

Where appropriate, electoral procedures, guidelines, and code of conducts are revised and updated as required for future electoral processes.

The electoral legal framework for the 2014 Presidential and Provincial Council elections and the 2015 Wolesi Jirga elections is as of June 2014 undergoing ongoing reform. A new electoral law is expected to be enacted in the Spring/Summer of 2013, while the structural law has recently reverted back to the parliament after being rejected by the president.18

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This is consistent with DFID Due Diligence Assessment Report, (November 2012) which notes that “Specific consideration should be given to hire and train local staff to perform monitoring activities at Provincial Level.” 18

On 13 April, 2013, the WJ/MJ Joint Committee approved the revised draft of the Law on the Structure, Duties and Authorities of the IEC and ECC and sent it to the President for endorsement. President officially rejected the bill on 28 April, 2013, alluding

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The IEC is currently updating its existing electoral policies, procedures and codes of conduct based on the existing legal framework. Once the above laws have been enacted, ELECT II will support the IEC to swiftly implement any amendments to the existing framework in line with its own electoral regulations, concerning all aspects of the electoral process, including candidate nomination, polling, counting, tallying and the observation process. The IEC will also review and assess the tally process of 2009 and 2010 to identify ways to improve efficiency and reduce the time required before the announcement of results, without sacrificing transparency and accuracy. ELECT II will thus continue to support the IEC on matter related to interpreting the legal framework in its operational procedures. In addition ELECT II will via the provision of further legal and technical advice:

Assist the IEC (primarily the External Relations Unit) with the preparation and conduct of stakeholder consultation sessions concerning the topic of the electoral framework – (ELECT II will advise the IEC, and will provide technical assistance and procurement support towards, the work of consultative fora such as a political parties liaison committee and a civil society liaison committee, which could be the key fora for engagement with these key stakeholders on disparate matters such as the monitoring of the rollout of key operational tasks such as voter registration and candidate nomination. These activities are elaborated under Output 3, Activity 3.2)

Provide comparative models of electoral administration (primarily to the IEC Commissioners and to both the CEO’s office and to both Deputy CEO’s offices, once appointed, as well as to the Training Department, via day-to-day technical advice) that, from a legal standpoint, include focus on universal principles, international standards and best practices for democratic elections.

ELECT II will furthermore continue to assist the IEC (primarily the CEO’s office, the Deputy CEOs once appointed, and the Commissioners, via day-to-day technical advice) to develop a set of regulations that frames the electoral administration and the electoral process in general, such as with regards to electoral policies, procedures and codes of conduct.

This cumulative legal advice will strengthen the IEC’s ability to influence, anticipate and adapt its processes and procedures to changes in the electoral legal framework, and to draft operational plans and procedures fully in line with the prevailing legal framework.


IEC physical infrastructure –Support the upgrade of the IEC’s physical infrastructure and security at HQ and in the provinces

By the time of the 2014/15 elections, the IEC owns fully established, well-functioning, security-enhanced offices and warehouses at both the central and provincial levels.

Institutional capacity not only refers to human resources and skills. It also encompasses the presence of sufficient infrastructure, equipment and assets in a manner that allows the institution to fulfill its mandate. In Afghanistan, electoral offices at the provincial level have tended to be merely regarded as an ad hoc necessity during times of elections. However, past experiences have indicated that a permanent presence at provincial level is essential for the IEC with regard to staff retention and in order to carry out such tasks as to:

dissatisfaction with the provisions regarding the establishment of ECC and the selection committee for the chairmanship of IEC Commissioners, citing that these were not deemed constitutional. Therefore after sending to the Independent Commission overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution and receiving the legal advice on unconstitutional provisions of the draft bill, it was officially rejected and sent back to WJ for review and/or development of a new draft. The WJ on 22 May 2013 adopted a draft electoral law which will be forwarded to the MJ.

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Facilitate voter registration;

Implement proper storage of electoral materials;

Increase its public outreach across the country.

Furthermore, in contrast to renting office space, ownership of offices overcomes any potential political or electoral conflict of interest with a landlord.

As part of the institution building process (and recommended from lessons learnt during the previous electoral operations), the IEC plans to build its own provincial facilities. Purpose-built facilities at provincial level will:

Reduce long term cost;

Produce a more sustainable field infrastructure;

Allow for easy inventories of materials and supplies in stock from previous electoral operations;

Ensure a uniformity of operations across all provinces;

Allow for a higher degree of quality control on operations, and;

Reduce opportunities for financial corruption.19

Every effort will be undertaken to ensure that, where possible, existing infrastructure will be used in coordination with the Government of Afghanistan and UN agencies. Other avenues could include handover to the IEC of vacated ISAF or PRT facilities or infrastructure where available. The IEC has already indicated its willingness to share its facilities where possible. It is important to note that once these facilities are established, they become government property and therefore responsibility for maintenance and upkeep passes to the government. This will go a long way to reducing the need for continued donor support and enhancing the sustainability of the IEC as an institution.

ELECT II has been requested to support the establishment of facilities at central and provincial level. Preliminary, preparatory work was conducted in 2012. The project foresees not only the construction, but also security upgrades and logistical enhancements at all premises (including IEC HQ). In addition, ELECT II supports the construction of a centralized training centre at HQ that will allow, in a structured way, the capacity development of all IEC core staff, as well as temporary personnel that will be recruited and requiring training for specific electoral purposes. In 2012/3, ELECT II conducted the recruitment of engineers to support the IEC with the construction and/or enhancement of all premises. This team will assist the IEC (specifically the Engineering Unit) with the architectural design, provide guidance for the bidding process of local construction firms, and advise the IEC on quality control measures before, during and after construction. All on-going or planned constructions are on land which has been formally provided (with legal title of ownership) by the government to the IEC. The majority of the estates are allocated in the newly designated municipal development areas. All planned construction works at central and provincial level shall be completed, with premises well secured and proper functioning before the 2014 Presidential and Provincial Council elections.


IEC staff professional development – Support the professional training and development of

IEC permanent and temporary staff are enhanced in their professional

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In addition to enhancing the field presence and corporate image of the institution, construction of provincial offices and warehouse facilities would help the IEC to avoid repeating 2005 experience when, following the elections, procured election assets were lost and not properly maintained, due largely to lack of available and adequate facilities.

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IEC permanent and temporary staff

performance and career development;

Staff retention levels in the IEC are increased due to improved staff capacities, greater focus on staff professional development, and greater options for staff career advancement

The IEC is responsible for guaranteeing capacity development of its staff during the entire electoral cycle in order to ensure the retention and capacity of its skilled and experienced staff. Staff retention and capacity development also contributes to the sustainability of the institution. A significant lesson learnt at the start of the ELECT I project was that, after the 2005 elections, maintenance and development of capacity of Afghan electoral officers was not given sufficient attention during the post-election and early inter-election period. In anticipation of the 2009 and 2010 elections much of the efforts of ELECT I had to be put in rebuilding staff and institutional capacity. The electoral operations of 2009 and 2010, who were more Afghan led than the 2004/5 elections, allowed the IEC to develop a visible and strong level of skill and experience. Retaining staff that were employed for the 2009 and 2010 elections has thus been an important strategy of the IEC in maintaining institutional memory and capacity. The current IEC Strategic Plan emphasizes the importance of staff development as a key pillar in the IEC’s goal to become a “centre of excellence.” This process has already been initiated both at headquarters and provincial levels, with functional departments and their staff identifying their own roles, functions and relationships to others, and the development of a comprehensive training and capacity building plan covering the inter-elections period of 2012-2013. In this respect, throughout the duration of the project, ELECT II aims to support sustainable staff development measures in order to maintain and further enhance existing IEC staff capacity. This is important as ELECT II international technical assistance has reduced compared to support provided in previous electoral cycles and IEC staff will be taking on more responsibilities for elections in 2014 and 2015. It is also essential that during the inter-election period experienced staff remain motivated rather than seek professional advancement elsewhere. The IEC has requested ELECT II to support it with its staff retaining and capacity development measures, and thus the following technical assistance actions are envisaged:

An IEC capacity development assessment has been undertaken. This report essentially highlights existing capacity gaps within the IEC as well as the gaps that exist in regulations, procedures and business processes. Building on this assessment a CD Action Plan will be developed for the period 2013-2015.

Support for the implementation of the capacity development action plan in order to provide tailored professional training to address existing capacity development gaps, which will assist the IEC in the implementation of its capacity building plan

Customized personnel and staff development training programmes will then be identified to help IEC strengthen its institutional, organizational and individual capacities. Staff members and advisors have already identified in 2012 the following two areas for development: management arrangements; and skills, technical expertise and knowledge at institutional, intradepartmental, departmental and individual level. Both short and long term programmes will be instrumental in developing staff skills, helping the IEC to establish a dedicated team of professional, experienced and well educated Afghan electoral officers that would require only a minimum level of international technical support.

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High-level support (e.g. from a senior former commissioner from elsewhere) to IEC Commissioners to strengthen their decision-making and day to day management and policy functions. This represents compliance with the recommendation from the Mid-Term Review that “a key area to support commissioners on is the transparency of their actions, as to date their decision-making is not routinely made publicly available. Again the focus should be on development of systems, rather than individual support (improving the effectiveness of collective decision-making and interface with the secretariat).”

The IEC has decided, as a result of the review of the IEC carried out by the Civil Service Commission, to adapt to future government decisions with regard to staff salary scales.20 However, to avoid a large scale attrition of staff before and during the crucial 2014 and 2015 elections, ELECT II funding for the IEC to retain its essential staff is therefore also critical to maintaining institutional capacity. Whereas salaries for IEC permanent staff on the Tashkeel system are borne by Afghan governmental funds; those for essential, but temporary, staff are borne by international support (currently via ELECT II) over recent electoral cycles. Staff emoluments are thus another staff retaining tool, and permanent staff are provided allowances or ‘salary top-ups’ by ELECT II. Inherited from previous phase of the project (and allegedly from similar practices in other institutions running development programmes funded through international support), this is intended as a medium term mechanism to retain staff while the information and experience they have is institutionalised. (The effective processing of staff emoluments will fall under activity 4.1 “Support the operational costs of the IEC as well as the enhancement of the IEC’s operational management systems and procedures.”) Since this salary top-up issue cross-cuts across a number of UNDP projects, a strategy to phase this out will be put in place by UNDP within 6 months from the endorsement of this project document. The National Technical Assistance (NTA) salary scale has recently been endorsed by the government to harmonize pay grades and levels of all temporary staff in government institutions. In this context, the NTA scale is being rolled-out within the IEC. This is expected to contribute significantly toward the streamlining of professional categories and capacities within the organization. In implementing its staff capacity development programme, ELECT II will work in line with the current IEC Secretariat organisational structure (CEO, 2 Deputy CEOs, 10 department heads, a specialist gender unit and 34 provincial offices). Over time, however, in partnership with the IEC, the IEC will be assisted in its transition to its new proposed structure (including the pay and grade reforms), on the basis of the 2012 proposal of the Civil Service Commission (to the extent that there is final agreement between the CSC and the IEC). ELECT II will continue to provide support and build capacity through mentoring and advice supporting by training. An on-going activity to support IEC staff members in their efforts to gain higher education degrees will be continued in order to enable them to apply for their current position once the CSC pay and rank reform materializes. This support is of particular importance with regard to retain staff and to mitigate potential loss of capacity and institutional memory due to a large turnover as a result of the implementation of the CSC reform. As skills transfer and staff capacity development are fundamental objectives of ELECT II, on-going IEC staff capacity assessment will be conducted. Various methodologies for assessing staff capacity development will be proposed and discussed with the IEC, including the possibility of structured interviews with staff once a year. Other methods may include agreed retreats/workshops with the IEC, at both Commissioner and Secretariat level, at set points to analyse and assess the level of skills transfer, and any additional measures that can be taken to improve this critical element of the ELECT support.

OUTPUT 2 – A sustainable, long-term approach to voter registration in Afghanistan, which also promotes maximum participation of eligible citizens in the 2014 and 2015 elections, is developed and implemented

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The IEC also, however, has taken the position of requesting postponement of implementation of some of the findings of the CSC assessment until after the 2015 elections.

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The second output of the revised ELECT II project focuses on establishing a long-term, sustainable approach to voter registration in Afghanistan.

For almost a decade, voter registration programmes and supplementary exercises have been conducted to attempt to produce voter lists for Afghanistan’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections. These programmes have been affected by lack of sufficient demographic data (via a census or accurate population projections), an underdeveloped civil registry, difficult geographical terrain, but most of all, the effects of the on-going conflict. None of the previous efforts therefore (of either the JEMB or the IEC) have managed to produce an accurate voter register, and in particular, a polling centre-specific voter register that would tie voters to one specific polling centre, thus assisting in the prevention of voter fraud. All previous efforts have cost substantial sums of money. In all electoral cycles implemented since 2001, voters have voted with voter cards issued by the JEMB/IEC in previous voter registration drives carried out in advance of elections. Although the voting population is assumed by the IEC, to be approximately 13-14.5 million, around 17 million voter cards are assumed to exist in the country, including those issued by the IEC and the significant, albeit unknown, number of fake and/or multiple cards. A central voter registration database was compiled during previous registration drives, but the different database records were either not compatible or the data (such as the 3.5 million records from the 2008/9 VR drive) were never completely processed. Subsequently the names on the database are not linkable with specific voter centres. Thus the external evaluation of the UNDP ELECT I project recommended support to the “development of a comprehensive and sustainable voter registry. A realistic effort is needed to help solve the complex issue of creating a comprehensive, accurate and sustainable voter registration database linked to a proper boundary delimitation process and allowing for the holding of elections at the district and local levels. This process should start with an in-depth assessment of the current register, systems and register needs. Such an assessment should recommend options regarding the types of systems that are the most appropriate for the Afghanistan context, including one which the IEC could maintain over the long term.” As a means to address this recommendation, ELECT II worked intensively with the IEC on voter registration matters throughout 2012, and fielded a voter registration feasibility study in June 2012. After consultation with all key stakeholders, the study concluded that the existing voter registration database could serve no useful purpose and should be abandoned. The study thus recommended that a new voter register be constructed in 2013 via an active voter registration exercise. If implemented successfully, this would have tied all registrants to individual polling centres, and, for the first time in Afghanistan, would have resulted in an extensive register of voters (in areas not affected by the ongoing security crisis). The success of this proposed success, however, was not guaranteed, due to technical, financial, and political issues. A decision of the Council of Ministers of 17 September rejected the IEC’s plans for a new voter register, favouring instead the rollout of the new e-tazkira national ID card programme which could be used as proof of eligibility to participate in the elections. The decision also instructed the IEC to purge the existing voter register of double registrants, while also removing fake or multiple voter cards from circulation. In response to the Cabinet decision, a second version of the IEC’s plan was drafted, with ELECT II assistance, in October and November 2012. As both purging the existing database of double registrants, and removing fake/multiple cards from circulation, are impossible, the revised IEC plan sought not to conduct a nationwide VR, but to ‘revalidate’ existing voter cards, while issuing new cards to persons not in possession of voter cards. On 2 January, 2013, this plan was also rejected, via a letter received by the IEC from the Office of the Presidential Administration. A third plan of the IEC, therefore, was also drafted with ELECT II assistance, and approved by the IEC Commissioners in January 2013.21

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The voter registration plan was approved, pursuant to the articles 15 and 66 of the Election Law, by the Independent Election Commission, on 22 January 2013.

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Events in the voter registration area described above, therefore, have overtaken the original plans for implementation of activities under this output, and achieving a sustainable long-term solution to registration in Afghanistan will now centre on two activities: one that relates to maximising participation in the 2014 and 2015 elections (via prioritized use of e-tazkira cards and complementary issuance of IEC voter cards), and one that address the long-term sustainability by extracting the Voter Registry from the e-tazkira system managed by the Ministry of the Interior.


Maximising participation in the 2014 and 2015 elections via issuance of voter cards – Support the IEC in the implementation of its voter registration operational plan and utilizing the e-tazkira cards in the upcoming elections.

Maximum participation of eligible citizens in the 2014 and 2015 elections is facilitated through issuance of IEC voter cards and through use of e-tazkira in areas where it has been issued.

Maximum coordination between the IEC and the MoI is achieved to ensure nationwide issuance of either e-tazkira or IEC voter cards.

ELECT II will supplement the advisory work that it has carried out with the IEC throughout 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 on voter registration, with continued technical advice as well as implementation support for the voter registration update exercise that will commence in 26 May, 2013. While taking into account the security and other realities on the ground, the plan will issue new voter cards to citizens that:

1. Have not yet received an e-tazkira card 2. Have become eligible to vote since the last card issuance exercise; 3. Have recently returned to the country; 4. Have moved from one electoral constituency to another; 5. Have lost their old VR cards; 6. Whose old VR cards are damaged in such a way that specifications of the voters may not be visible; 7. Eligible voters who have not obtained VR cards in the past, for any other reason.

The plan will first (26 May 2013 – 25 March 2014, 41 VR centres each for men and women) target provincial capitals, expanding later (27 July 2013 – 26 September 2013, 440 VR centres each for men and women) into the district capitals. Assistance in implementation of the plan includes:

Technical assistance advice provided to develop and monitor implementation of the plan (such as the development of the VR operational plan, voter registration centre procedures, temporary voter registration staff training plan, voter registration procurement plan, etc.);

Support for the IEC’s public outreach strategy to engage voters to participate in the plan and receive the voter card that will allow them to vote at any polling centre during the 2014 elections (via an electronic media campaign, billboard campaign, face-to-face voter engagement, etc.);

Support for operational implementation of the plan including procurement of the voter registration equipment (voter cards with enhanced security features such as microtext, holograms, etc., forms to document card issuance, etc.), recruitment and payment of temporary registration staff, delivery costs for transport of VR materials, etc.

Furthermore, ELECT II will advise and assist the IEC in the development and implementation of an emergency voter card issuance plan in the days leading up to the elections, particularly in areas that have either not been covered by e-tazkira distribution or by the 2013 voter card issuance process. The former might be needed due to the likelihood that neither e-tazkira nor new IEC cards would have reached the whole of the population by the time of the April 2014 elections. The latter is possible due to major security

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challenges, in particular in large parts of the south and east of Afghanistan. In the event that security-challenged polling centres are in a position to open for polling day, and the related communities have not been reached by e-tazkira rollout or have not been able to utilise district Voter Registration Centres during the 2013 voter card issuance drive, the IEC may open polling centre locations in the days leading up to the elections in order to issue voter cards to citizens so as to allow them to cast their ballots on polling day. ELECT II will advise and support the IEC on:

Development of the emergency voter card issuance plan (including pre-conditions for establishing centres and linkages with electoral operation planning);

Monitoring issuance of e-tazkiras and voter cards so as to make an informed decision on the necessity of deploying the emergency voter card issuance plan;

Liaison with the Afghan security forces on the decision whether to deploy the emergency voter card issuance plan;

Procurement of any additional materials necessary to implement the plan;

Logistical support in the distribution of materials required for the plan;

Identification, training and deployment of staff required to implement the plan.


Voter registration sustainability – Support the IEC in synthesising its work with the Ministry of the Interior to create an enabling environment for the e-tazkira to emerge as a solution to future voter registration process.

Support IEC in providing collaborative assistance to the MoI to facilitate E-tazkira to become basis for generation of voter registration data in Afghanistan.

The basis of the Afghan civil registration system, the tazkira (the primary identification document issued to all citizens) has suffered two major handicaps over the years. Firstly, it is a paper document that deteriorates over time and is not suitable for long-term use by Afghan citizens, and secondly (and far more important and problematic), the tazkira records are not computerised. No searchable database of tazkiras exists, therefore, which would greatly ease verification of the accuracy of the tazkira data, would allow for the updating of data, and would allow for more accurate socio-economic planning by the Afghan authorities.

In 2009, therefore, the Afghan authorities approved the development and implementation of a project to replace existing paper tazkiras with electronic tazkiras (or ‘e-tazkiras’). The e-tazkiras will be issued to all Afghan citizens, on a family registration basis, and will take the form of a hard, plastic national ID card with an embedded smartchip, that can contain a number of data fields. The e-tazkira rollout plan issued by the MoI on 24 March, 2013, states that the e-tazkira database will contain population registration data, driving licence data, vehicle registration data, and voter registration data.22 During the course of issuance of the e-tazkira, two biometric features of citizens will be captured that will be kept in the e-tazkira database: 10 digital fingerprint(s), and a scan of both irises. A digital photo, as well as the applicant’s digital signature, will also be captured. Initial rollout of the data gathering phase of the e-tazkira project (the first step, before data enrolment, in the three step plan for e-tazkira issuance) commenced on 24 March, 2013. The e-tazkira project has the potential to bring benefits to both the Afghan state and its citizenry. E-tazkira is, moreover, accepted as the long-term solution to the generation of data for voter registration in Afghanistan, by both major national and international partners, including the IEC. The IEC has also agreed that possession of either an e-tazkira or an IEC-issued voter card will be sufficient to confirm identity and eligibility to vote in the 2014 elections, and thus the IEC has also committed to coordinate fully with the MoI in order to avoid unnecessary issuance of voter cards in areas of the country completely covered by

22

An earlier presentation by the MOI in Autumn 2012 mentioned that other data fields such as ethnicity and criminal record could also be included in the e-tazkira database.

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the Ministry of the Interior distribution of e-tazkiras.23 In these particular areas, e-tazkiras will be the only accepted tool for voter identification. ELECT II will thus assist IEC in maximising cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of the Interior (where responsibility for the rollout and long-term management of e-tazkira sits) so as to ensure as coherent planning as possible in the plan to generate voter registration data from the e-tazkira system and database.24 For the 2014 (and possibly 2015) elections, however, e-tazkira coverage is likely to be insufficient to mandate it nationwide as the only acceptable proof of both identity of the voter and eligibility to participate in the elections (hence the decision of the IEC, supported by the Afghan authorities, to rollout the voter card issuance plan). ELECT II will advise the IEC (primarily the CEO’s office, the Deputy CEO for operations and the Field Operations Unit) on linkages with the e-tazkira project (in order to both synergise activities for the 2014 and 2015 elections, as well as map out the long-term, permanent extraction of the Voter Registry from the e-tazkira database), as follows:

Facilitate the discussion and coordination between the IEC and the MOI, including the drafting and signing of an MoU between the two institutions, to govern cooperation;

Establish mechanisms for decision-making between the two institutions

Establish clear joint visions of long-term responsibilities, scope, parameters and implementation modalities for long-term data-sharing between the two institutions (including on the types and formats of data fields, security measures, regularity of data exchange, protection of data against both third-party use and internal misuse, etc.). This would include the distribution of key tasks such as the allocation of voters to polling centres, for example, which could be done automatically by MOI, with IEC oversight, on the basis of MOI analysis of address data of citizens and cross-mapping of polling centre data received from the IEC, or done on the basis of deployment of IEC staff to premises of the MoI’s Population Registration Directorate at district level in order to conduct manual allocation on a regular or annual basis, etc.

Discuss required legal changes, if any, in order to facilitate data sharing and division of labour in the generation of voter registration-relevant data

Discuss necessary cooperation with third party external agencies (such as the statistics agency regarding the official list of villages, etc.)

Agree on the full set of legal and technical conditions necessary for generation of data for the production of accurate, polling-centre specific voter lists

OUTPUT 3 – The IEC’s engagement and informational outreach with key stakeholders, including the electorate, is enhanced.

Output 3 relates to the IEC’s communication and public outreach in two key areas: to promote voter and civic education to the Afghan public and voters; and to engage with key stakeholders such as civil society organizations and political parties/independent candidates in a two-way structured dialogue. This dialogue should focus on issues of mutual interest in the implementation of the IEC’s mandate, as well as rights and responsibilities of electoral participants. Both the Public Outreach Department and the External Relations Department of the IEC have key responsibilities in this regard, with the latter also charged with the primary responsibility for the nomination of candidates. Both units also have a responsibility to promote greater women’s’ participation in the electoral process. ELECT II will build on work commenced in 2012 and advise

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Article 1 of the voter registration approved by the IEC in January 2013 states that voters shall be allowed to cast their ballot on election day by presenting either a valid VR card issued by the Commission in the past, a valid VR card to be issued through the Voter Registration process in 2013 and 2014, or an e-tazkira. 24

A letter was sent from the IEC CEO to the Council of Ministers on 13 March, 2013, requesting reversal of an earlier decision on 15 October 2012 requesting:“ Omission of date of birth according to Gregorian calendar, polling center, and the repeated place of birth from the proposed forms of the Ministry.” the e-tazkira application questionnaire. This request was granted by the Council of Ministers in advance of the rollout of the e-tazkira data gathering phase on 24 March.

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and assist both Departments, including the IEC Gender Unit, as well as the gender focal point in the Public Outreach Department, in the implementation of their mandates so as to achieve this output.


IEC public outreach - Support the development and implementation of the IEC’s public outreach campaign and activities

The IEC is supported to conduct effective nationwide civic and voter education campaigns, at various stages of the electoral process, to promote the fundamental right to participate in elections;

Marginalized segments of the electorate are sensitized to electoral participation by the IEC’s targeted voter and civic education campaigns.

It is a fundamental responsibility of the IEC to provide the necessary information to the electorate that ensures a general understanding of the electoral process and the right to vote. For both the 2014 and 2015 electoral process, the IEC will strive to deliver a comprehensive civic and voter education campaign to enhance voter understanding of both the democratic process in general and the specific electoral procedures (voter registration, candidate nomination, voting process, etc.). The IEC campaign will also address both voter rights and responsibilities, with an emphasis on civic responsibility. This will attempt to ensure broader engagement in the process, including an awareness of community efforts concerning fraud mitigation. This campaign will be implemented across Afghanistan, in Kabul, the other major cities, and across the 34 provinces (in as many districts and villages as is feasible given security conditions). Voter education activities will target the greatest number of citizens, taking into account the demographic balance between urban and rural populations and will be conducted in the two official languages of Dari and Pashto. There will also be an emphasis on specific segments of the electorate that have not had their voting rights sufficiently supported in the past due to cultural impediments and/or an information deficit and have therefore been somewhat marginalized in the electoral process. This particularly refers to women (see also Activity 3.4), but also includes minorities, youth and disabled persons. The IEC plans to expand on the outreach mechanisms used in the previous electoral cycle and channel its public outreach activities through various modalities: such as direct messaging through engaging civil society groups and community leaders (i.e. seminars with religious leaders and village elders), face-to-face sessions with CSO networks (including seminars), and mobile theatre for largely rural and illiterate populations. In addition, multi-media messaging will include: TV and radio public service announcements; broadcast of radio dramas; and printed materials (i.e. brochures, billboards, pole signs); and website/SMS messaging initiatives). Primary data will be gathered to inform the public outreach campaign through a survey and stakeholder assessment, which will assist in developing a targeted messaging campaign calibrated to reach different segments of the electorate. The IEC is also commencing communication meetings to explore possible outreach synergies with other government agencies, and governmental and non-governmental organisations, such as the Ministry of Ha-jj, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, as well other UN agencies and national/international non-governmental organisations. ELECT II has been requested to assist the IEC with the development and implementation of this civic and voter education public outreach campaign for the 2014/15 elections. ELECT II, subsequently, will support the IEC’s public outreach effort in two ways:

First, it will provide expert technical assistance advice that will assist the IEC in designing and implementing its voter and civic education strategy. This will involve IEC convened coordination meetings including civil society groups and other key stakeholders such as religious and community

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leaders at national and provincial levels. This may then result in the establishment of both a national voter education committee (NVEC) and Provincial Voter Education committees (PVEC). At the national level, the NVEC could be a forum for key engagement with the IEC Public Outreach Department on the design, implementation and monitoring of voter and civic education campaigns. PVECs would include the same members, at provincial, and whose focus would be the adaptation of generic national-level VE materials to local contexts.

Second, it will support implementation of the civic and voter education public outreach campaign via the procurement of voter education materials (including media airtime, the production of TV spots, etc., as well as the production of printed materials, including banners, posters, brochures, etc.)


IEC external relations – Support the IEC’s structured engagement with key stakeholders, including political parties, and the IEC’s strategic media communication.

Key stakeholder groups (political parties, candidates, CSOs and media) are regularly engaged in a two-way dialogue with the IEC, receiving electoral updates and offering feedback.

Effective, informative and strategic media communication mechanisms are established within the IEC, including strengthening the role of the IEC spokesperson and enhancing press availability.

In an electoral context as complex as Afghanistan’s, with enormous challenges related to the integrity of previous electoral processes due to security and fraud-related issues, it is vital that key electoral stakeholders such as political parties/independent candidates, civil society and the Afghan public are included in - and enjoy a sense of ownership - of the process. An inclusive electoral process must rely on the broader stakeholder community to promote awareness, participation, transparency and engagement in the process. In other words, it is necessary for the broader stakeholder community to assist in raising levels of civic responsibility and community engagement necessary to enhance the credibility of the process. Improving the reputation of the IEC as a credible and responsive institution depends on a sense of engagement between the IEC and key stakeholders, and a growing perception of the IEC by the broader public as a professional, independent, neutral and responsive institution. The IEC’s External Relations Department (ERD) is the principal arm of the IEC mandated to build and maintain relations with national and international stakeholders, including electoral contestants, political parties, civil society groups (for non-public outreach-related matters), the media, and domestic and international observer organisations. The ERD is also responsible for technical aspects of planning, organizing, coordinating and implementing the key operational task of candidate nomination, as well as the accreditation of observers (both domestic and international), the media and party/candidate agents. In order to promote coordination and information sharing among its key stakeholders, the IEC with support from ELECT II, will further develop a structured and regular two-way dialogue through its ERD to keep key stakeholders informed, and to receive their regular feedback and input. Key to building trust with both political parties and civil society organisations (including domestic observers), is to regularly meet with relevant stakeholders via IEC-organised consultative fora. ELECT II will thus advise the IEC, and will provide technical assistance and procurement support, towards the work of a political party/candidate liaison committee. This body, to which parties/candidates nominate members, will meet at both national and provincial level on a regular basis (e.g. monthly and then more regularly leading up to key electoral events). This will provide an ongoing forum where parties/candidates and the IEC discuss and share positions on various aspects of the planning and implementation of key electoral tasks, which the IEC could thereafter consider in its decisions on IEC policy and operational planning.

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A civil society liaison committee could serve a similar function, again at both national and provincial level. Such a committee would be a useful forum for the IEC to engage with civil society on disparate matters such as the plans for domestic observation application procedures, or monitoring of the rollout of key operational tasks such as voter registration and candidate nomination. Both committees may be convened jointly. ELECT II will continue to provide expert technical assistance advice to the External Relations Department on the implementation of its mandate, including key technical assistance advice on the establishment and terms of reference of consultative fora. ELECT II will, where required, support such fora via operational and procurement support. Furthermore, with regards to the IEC’s strategic communications, ELECT II will continue to provide expert technical assistance advice and procurement support to the IEC on the design and implementation of its external relations strategy, including:

Drafting and disseminating timely, accurate and informative press statements/releases/responses to inquiries;

Organization of regular press conferences and media interviews with responsible IEC representatives (including maximizing the role of the spokesperson);

Managing (including regular updating) of the IEC website (in conjunction with building in-house capacity within the IT department to implement these activities without international assistance).

Throughout the lifespan of the project, the external relations work implemented by the IEC, with the support of ELECT II, will be conducted in Kabul and throughout the provinces and districts to ensure as wide a coverage of the population as possible.


Candidate nomination – Support the IEC’s management and implementation of the candidate nomination process.

The constitutional right for Afghan citizens to stand for elected office is ensured through effective candidate nomination procedures (including the capture of required data for the accurate production of ballot papers).

Candidates are registered for both elections in a manner that maintains the trust of key stakeholders (including the candidates themselves), in the IEC.

Prior to the Presidential and Provincial Council elections in 2014 and the Wolesi Jirga elections in 2015, a transparent, accountable, responsive, informative and effective candidate nomination process will need to take place. This is the process which will provide citizens of Afghanistan to fulfill their constitutional right to be registered as candidates for elected office. Over the course of the 2014 and 2015 elections, the IEC is expected to register anything up to 5,000 plus candidates. ELECT II will advise and support the IEC in the design and implementation of the candidate nomination process, including the procurement of equipment required for the process.

Persons wishing to register themselves as presidential candidates must submit their nomination papers to the IEC HQ in Kabul. Persons wishing to register themselves as Wolesi Jirga and provincial council candidates must present their nomination papers to the IEC provincial office. In order to stand as a candidate, a person must:

Fulfill the candidate eligibility criteria;

Meet the conditions of candidacy;

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Fulfill the application requirements;

Appear in person at the respective IEC Nomination Office. The IEC’s responsibilities in the candidate nomination process include:

Drafting plans for the nomination process, including selecting venues where candidate nomination should take place, designing and procuring materials required for the nomination process (forms, computers for candidate profile data entry, etc.), etc.

Training IEC provincial staff on the implementation of the nomination process;

Recruitment of temporary staff for data entry and forms processing;

Liaising with political parties on the measures required for parties to confirm the candidacy of registrants claiming to represent the various parties;

Addressing matters related to selection of colours, emblems and the procedures for the ordering of candidates on the ballots;

Checking the legitimacy of the nomination applications, including checking the accuracy of the details of those that sign support statements for candidates (Article 43 of the election law);

Processing nomination data and confirming the nomination of each individual candidate;

Publishing the lists of registered candidates;

Role of the IEC in the candidate vetting process.

ELECT II will advise and/or support the IEC to deliver its responsibilities with regards to the design and implementation of the candidate nomination process, including: drafting plans for the nomination process, including selecting venues where candidate nomination should take place, designing and procuring materials required for the nomination process (forms, computers for candidate profile data entry); training IEC provincial staff on the implementation of the nomination process; recruitment of temporary staff for data entry and forms processing; liaising with political parties on the measures required for parties to confirm the candidacy of registrants claiming to represent the various parties; addressing matters related to selection of colours, emblems and the procedures for the ordering of candidates on the ballots; checking the legitimacy of the nomination applications, including checking the accuracy of the details of those that sign support statements for candidates (Article 43 of the election law); input Candidates’ bio-data into the database through a custom designed software which will be used to generate preliminary and final candidate lists as well as for production of ballot papers; processing nomination data and confirming the nomination of each individual candidate; publishing the lists of registered candidates; IEC’s role on the vetting committee.


Gender – Support the IEC’s Gender Unit and the Public Outreach Department gender focal point in promoting gender mainstreaming in the electoral process, as well as in IEC institutional practices.

Consideration of gender perspectives are effectively and consistently incorporated in IEC regulations and procedures for the conduct of elections, as well as personnel policy and public outreach initiatives.

The IEC pays special attention to engaging women in the electoral process, and is committed to contributing to an electoral environment conducive to women’s participation. The overarching objective is to ensure that women are aware of all aspects of the electoral process in order to maximise their participation in the process as voters, candidates, election officials and civil society activists, including domestic electoral observers. The IEC has a specific gender focal point within its Public Outreach Department, dedicated to ensuring that gender is prioritized in the IEC’s external public outreach campaigns, and that the IEC’s focused efforts reach their targeted audience. There is also a specific Gender Unit, responsible for gender mainstreaming throughout the IEC’s national and provincial structures, through pro-active and responsive policies and

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procedures.25 The Gender Unit also mainstreams gender awareness into all planning and operational activities of the IEC. The unit will require continual support in developing mechanisms in order to institutionalise past and current gender-related initiatives within the institution, as well as to retain and further develop experienced staff. A key element of ELECT II will be to encourage the recruitment of qualified women in decision-making positions at the IEC, as well as in public interfacing roles. The Gender Unit plays a role in promoting and supporting this recruitment through reaching out to various women’s groups and organizations informing of the various vacancies that come up at the IEC. In addition, the unit ensures the shortlisting and interviewing of women for key positions. ELECT II’s gender work, therefore, will build on the work carried out in 2012 and will focus on both technical assistance advice and procurement support. ELECT II will provide technical assistance support to the Gender Unit in developing, updating and implementing an IEC Gender Strategy. This will provide the IEC with a strategic direction in ensuring that gender issues are sufficiently considered and addressed both internally and externally. This includes during all phases of electoral preparations, as well as within the institutional structure at all levels. In terms of the IEC’s public outreach and external relations, ELECT II will work with:

The Gender Unit in order to mainstream gender perspectives into internal IEC administrative/personnel policies and electoral operational planning and regulations;

The IEC Public Outreach Department (and the specific gender focal point within the POD), in the design and implementation of its voter and civic education campaigns;

The External Relations Department, in its engagement with key stakeholders such as political parties, candidates and CSOs.

Furthermore, ELECT II will assist the Capacity and Training Department, in its planned training for temporary voter registration and polling staff at both IEC HQ and in the provinces, on incorporating gender-sensitised content.

To allow for better reporting on gender targets and indicators, a bi-monthly (once every two months) gender report will be circulated that will provide details and disaggregated data on related activities.

Much work has been done in analyzing women’s participation in the Afghan electoral process, including research funded by UN Women in 2012, which made a series of recommendations on methods to increase women’s empowerment in the electoral process, both as candidates and voters. In its gender work, ELECT II plans to cooperate with the Afghanistan Country Office of UN Women in the design and implementation of its technical assistance activities to ensure complementarity and to identify areas of potential collaboration of the two programmes. This may includie assisting in the development of gender-sensitive training curricula for IEC staff; mainstreaming gender perspective in public outreach/external relations initiatives; and input to various consultations, seminars and fora on the issue of gender and elections at national and provincial levels or any other area that emerges during the course of this project. 26

OUTPUT 4 – The IEC’s daily operations and its operational management functions, as well as the project support services, are strengthened.

Output 4 relates to both the daily operational support for the IEC’s functioning that ELECT II provides, and the management of the project’s own resources mobilized to support the IEC. The former is broken down into services that- as per agreement between UNDP and the IEC- ELECT II provides for the IEC, and funds that ELECT II provides for the daily operations of the IEC that are managed directly by the IEC.

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The IEC Gender Unit operates directly under the IEC Chief Electoral Officer, and aims to address gender issues within the institution, and the promotion of employment and professional development for women within all levels of the IEC. It is important to note that currently the IEC is significantly over-represented by male employees, including both permanent and temporary staff. 26

“Equal Rights, Unequal Opportunities – Women’s Participation in Afghanistan’s Parliamentary and Provincial Council Elections,” Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit Synthesis Paper, March 2012.

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This output will have a three pronged focus:

Enhancing the operational capacity of the IEC through advisory support in the areas of such as

Finance, procurement, HR, administration etc.

Proper management of project resources

Providing support for electoral operations

One of the key focus of this activity is to provide advisory services to the relevant IEC operation department and units similar to the TA model for the other IEC departments. Therefore, while the project supports the operations of the IEC to the degree that it prevents key processes from failing there is a clear capacity strengthening element as well.


IEC operations - Support the operational costs of the IEC as well as the enhancement of the IEC’s operational management systems and procedures.

The IEC operational management systems function efficiently with daily operations ensured.

IEC’s capacity to handle and account for increasing operational funds is progressively improved via capacity development mentoring and advice.

IEC’s capacity to conduct procurement according to national and international standards is developed.

Currently, a significant share of the IEC’s financial requirement is funded by the international community since the IEC largely depends on international funding for its daily operations. Without this funding, the future of the institution would be precarious and all investments and efforts to build a credible electoral institution would most probably be lost. In this context, continued financial support to the IEC’s daily operations is critical. UNDP, through the ELECT II project, manages the international funding of the IEC under the National Implementation Modality (NIM). Within this framework, the IEC accesses these resources, as agreed with the Ministry of Finance, through a combination of both on-budget (e.g. Tashkeel staff salaries) and off-budget treasury mechanisms. ELECT I was previously a Direct Implementation Modality (DIM) project, under which UNDP has the primary responsibility for the conduct of project activities using UNDP rules and procedures. In order to facilitate greater ownership and the development of a strong administrative and financial infrastructure or expertise, a change of implementation modality was proposed in 2012. A move to a more sustainable model, as NIM is, will also include exploring the option of funding electoral authorities through government mechanisms, planning and budgeting within the parameters of the government budget and developing procurement capacity in line with government standards. Therefore it is essential to ensure that the IEC develops and strengthens its expertise and capacities to administer funds, to be able to conduct procurement according to international and national standards and to be accountable to both national authorities and international donors. ELECT II will assist the IEC in this regard and will also support the IEC in ensuring compliance with government finance mechanisms and sustainable government funding. As part of strengthening the HR systems, towards the third and fourth quarters of 2015, the project will help the IEC to prepare a staffing projection/assessment of permanent staff for the 2016-2020 period. This will be informed by the elections lessons learnt exercise. The project will retain a consultant to assist the IEC HR department in refining its HR policy framework. Based also on the transition plan to the civil service commission recommended structure as mentioned earlier in the document (part of the same consultancy), the permanent staffing need assessment will be undertaken as an element of this HR framework.

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In supporting the IEC finance department, the project will retain a consultant to help the department in undertaking a basic assessment for the O and M of provincial offices and in strengthening and enhancing the IEC’s budget submission process for the upcoming financial years. This process will eventually include budgeting for additional resources in areas such as electoral support costs, O and M costs and other areas the IEC is expected to take greater ownership over. The project will assist the IEC in the preparation for its request to the National budget for 2014 and beyond with a focus on increasing the contribution provided through the national budget.

As part of assessing operational capacity enhancement of the IEC, micro-capacity assessments of the IEC will be undertaken at the end of both 2014 and 2015.

On a daily basis, ELECT II assists the IEC in strengthening its financial, procurement and assets management systems. The advisory element to this support is provided primarily under Activity 1.1 (strengthening the institutional capacity of the IEC), but the financial element of this support falls under this activity. Support for the organization’s operational costs is also provided in order to function efficiently at headquarters and at the provincial offices. These costs include rent, utilities, maintenance, facilities management, travel, security, communications, supplies, and emoluments for staff.

Activity 4.2 Activity Results

Project management - Conduct efficient and effective management of project resources.

Project resources are managed effectively and efficiently.

In terms of project support services, UNDP is responsible for the recruitment and management of ELECT II national and international staff, as well as for monitoring and handling its own project related finance, procurement, logistics, assets management, and other project management activities - in accordance with the appropriate Standard Letters of Agreement (SLA) between the IEC and UNDP. ELECT II comprises a Senior Management team that provides strategic policy direction for the overall project implementation, and specifically an Operations Manager, who oversees and supervises the Project Management Unit (PMU).27 The PMU ensures appropriate implementation of ELECT II operations, according to standard operating procedures and compliance of operations with UNDP rules, regulations and policies, as well as implementation of corporate operational strategies in the following areas: Financial Resources Management: Proper planning, expenditures tracking and audit of financial resources in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations; organization and oversight of project cash management processes and timely accounting and reconciliation of all transactions. Human Resources Management: Strategic human resource management focusing on project compliance with corporate human resources policies and strategies; optimal staffing of the project; oversight of recruitment processes and performance management systems. Efficient Procurement, Logistical Services and Assets Management: Delivery in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations focusing on procurement strategies; sourcing strategy; supplier selection and evaluation; quality management; and overall proper management of UNDP assets, facilities and logistical services. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Management: Maintaining a secure, reliable infrastructure environment for ICT; promotion of systems and applications for optimal content management and information provision; and adequately planning for disaster recovery.

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The Mid-Term Review (pg. 5) found that some key positions in the PMU were vacant at the time (February and April 2013) and “it is recommended that the recruitment and deployment of both the Operations Manager and additional PMU personnel be completed as soon as possible. Project partners should be kept up to date on the status of recruitment and this should be a standing item at all project Board and Technical Working Group (TWG) meetings.”

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Translation: Provision of translations of official and non-official documents in Dari, Pashto and English in a timely and accurate manner for the ELECT II advisors as well as the IEC to guarantee a flowing exchange of translated information. The translation unit in addition also provides simultaneous interpretation services on conferences and meetings of ELECT II (improvements in this system were recommended in the Mid-Term Review). Transportation: Provision of dispatch coordination and movement services to ELECT II national and international staff according to UNDP security guidelines. In this respect, together with the UNDP programme support offices, the PMU ensures efficient and effective management of the project resources, in particular (but not limited) the proper execution of the budget, the full compliance with monitoring and evaluation plans, and a maintained unqualified audit report, as well as the implementation of the project as foreseen in the governance arrangements. Looking forward, and respecting the need to build the capacity of the IEC in administrative, finance and procurement arrangement, ELECT II will respect the recommendation of the Mid-Term Review that PMU recruitments (in the area of finance, administration, human resources and procurement) be assigned an advisory role within IEC, on top of their PMU commitments (as noted above, this advisory element is also described in more detail in activity 1.1).


Direct electoral operational support - Provide direct operational support to electoral activities

Key operational tasks delegated to ELECT II by the IEC are implemented smoothly and efficiently

Part of the services the Project Management Unit provides is direct operational support for electoral activities, in particular with regards to international procurement, direct financial payments and translation. Procurement of sensitive electoral equipment such as ballot papers and indelible ink, for example, requires international procurement, that, in the case of indelible ink, is only supplied by a small number of specialist global firms. The UNDP Procurement Support Office in Copenhagen has extensive experience in supporting EMBs, via UNDP Country Office Direct Implementation electoral assistance projects, in the procurement of specialist electoral equipment. In the case of a NIM project such as ELECT II, the IEC delegates the authority back to UNDP to conduct such procurement, on the IEC’s behalf, that PSO can assist with. Another example is where ELECT II provides translation services to the IEC. This support will continue throughout the remaining life of ELECT II, as per agreements between the IEC and UNDP. To ensure timely and smooth procurement of goods and services for the electoral operations phase, certain measures have been put in place based on the lessons learnt from previous electoral supports. These include:

Enhanced, more structured and regular engagement between UNDP CO, IEC and ELECT II

procurement units.

Detailed procurement timeline have been developed for all upcoming procurement processes

A procurement tracking table have been developed for constant tracking of ongoing procurement

activities

Enhanced oversight on operations from the UNDP Country Office side. Discussions are currently on regarding the possibility of putting electoral assistance ‘on budget’. While discussions continue among the MoF, the IEC and other stakeholders in detailing and negotiating these aspects out, UNDP, in preparation will be fielding a high level mission that looks into developing a draft Grants Agreement. The grants agreement will in essence detail out all the steps and mechanism that will

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take the project “on-budget”. In this context, if and when the transition takes place, the grants agreement will be annexed to the ELECT II project document.

OUTPUT 5 – The conduct of key electoral operations for the 2014 and 2015 elections by the IEC is improved.

This output represents the primary international community support for the 2014 President and Provincial Council elections and the 2015 Wolesi Jirga elections. Via technical, financial, procurement, logistical and operational support, ELECT II will assist the IEC in the implementation of the elections. Throughout the course of the design and execution of the IEC’s Electoral Operational Plan, skills transfer from ELECT II advisors to IEC personnel will be prioritized. ELECT II will thus advise and assist the IEC in the best possible implementation of its Operational Plan, as published in March 2013. This includes support to all the elements of electoral operations, including the primary tasks of opening of polling centres to facilitate the casting of ballots by Afghan voters, and the counting of ballots in these same polling centres. It also involves support to the tallying, processing and announcement of election results. In the event that the final electoral legal framework for the 2015 Wolesi Jirga elections involves the requirement for the drawing of electoral constituency boundaries at a lower level than the provinces or district, then ELECT II will also provide advisory and technical assistance in the delimitation of those boundaries.


Electoral operations planning and implementation – Support the development and implementation of the IEC’s electoral operational plan and procedures, and provide direct implementation support to the 2014 and 2015 elections.

The IEC electoral operational plan is robust, coherent and thorough;

The 2014 and 2015 elections are implemented in a manner that allows as many Afghan voters as possible (depending on security challenges) to participate and cast their ballots;

Ballots are cast, and votes are counted, under an integrity regime that both deters electoral fraud, and detects it where occurring.

On 5 April 2014, Afghan voters are expected to go to the polls to elect their next President, as well as members of the 34 Provincial Councils, followed, in 2015, by the elections to the Wolesi Jirga. In order to implement these elections in a manner that shows improvements over previous electoral polling days the IEC will be required to address three key operational challenges (on top of the various political challenges of maintaining stakeholder political “buy-in,” etc):

The likely failure of some polling centres to open due to insecurity, and other potential attacks on the operation of the elections

The likely efforts of some persons (potentially polling personnel, party agents, or persons linked to local tribal elites, etc.) to commit electoral fraud

Previous high error rates (malpractice) among election workers, coupled with inaccurate reporting of the polling station results

Thus, as a means to combat these challenges, and ensure that as many Afghan voters as possible are in a position to participate in the elections and cast legitimate ballots, the IEC will need to execute its Operational Plan that foresees as many security and ‘integrity threat’ eventualities as possible. The

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operational plan, for example, needs to mandate close IEC liaison with the Afghan security forces and Ministry of Defence, etc., and other key international partners, in order to:

Plan measures to secure the delivery of materials, storage and polling locations, IEC provincial offices, etc.

Conduct a comprehensive security risk analysis in order to make informed decisions on whether to open polling centres in security-challenged areas or not

With regards to polling and counting integrity, the IEC introduced strict measures in 2010 to enhance the integrity of the polling and counting process. The IEC has been working throughout 2012 with the technical assistance advice of ELECT II on designing robust integrity measures for polling, counting and tallying that can both detect, but more importantly, deter or reduce fraud. For the 2014 and 2015 elections the IEC will need to balance strong anti-fraud measures to combat likely attempts at electoral fraud such as ballot stuffing, with measures that encourage as much participation as possible (including the pre-election day effort to issue voter cards). To this end, based on the 2010 IEC fraud mitigation strategy, the IFES electoral fraud assessment study and the IEC electoral operations plan, a new anti-fraud mitigation strategy has been developed for the 2014 presidential elections.

Through continued expert technical advice, ELECT II will work closely with the IEC to advise on the design and implementation of its electoral operational plan for both Presidential and Parliamentary elections. Technical assistance advice from ELECT II, as well as the findings of the 2012 IFES electoral integrity assessment, will be also be used to draft counting and polling station-level procedures that enhance polling and counting integrity, reduce errors, improve reporting and deter or reduce fraud.

ELECT II will also undertake support measures that will utilise development partner funds to finance large parts of the electoral operations. Thus this activity will also finance:

The electoral equipment required to conduct the elections, including non-sensitive polling equipment such as ballot boxes and polling station kits, etc., and the sensitive electoral items such as ballot papers and indelible ink

The logistical costs for transport of materials, both the international freight costs for equipment arriving from overseas (such as ballot papers and indelible ink), and internal delivery costs (to transport polling materials from IEC HQ in Kabul to the provincial and district storage locations and eventually to the polling centres and back)

The cost of temporary polling personnel

As this activity represents the bulk of the electoral operations, it is by far the largest activity, in terms of budget, in the revised ELECT II project.


Results management – Support the IEC’s design and implementation of a robust, secure, and timely results management system that enjoys the confidence of key electoral stakeholders.

The results of both the 2014 and 2015 elections are tallied by the IEC, in a transparent, consistent and coordinated manner, so that the legitimacy of the provisional results is accepted by key electoral stakeholders;

The results of the 2014 and 2015 elections are announced in an expedient and transparent manner.

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Results management is a key area where if effectively implemented can increase the integrity of the electoral process. A transparent, accurate and timely system can build the legitimacy of the IEC and increase trust in the electoral process by contestants, observers, political parties and the Afghan public itself. However, establishing the right system for the Afghan context requires some critical thinking and key decisions from the IEC to me made that include:

Where to tally results, once counted at the polling station

How much processing and tallying authority, if any, to delegate and decentralize to the provincial and IEC structures

By what mechanisms to transmit electoral results from the provincial structures to the IEC tally centre (including, for example, strictly road/air transport, or electronic transfer via V-SAT internet connection, VPN, etc., followed by road/air transport)

In the event that some form of electronic transfer of results is chosen, determining the legal primacy of electronic and paper results data

What procedures should be established, by the IEC, for investigation into results forms (either individual polling station level or results forms tallied at the provincial levels) that appear suspect or which are inconsistent

What triggers should be applied to mandate investigation into inconsistent or suspicious results

Circumstances under which results from polling stations would be excluded from the final results tally by the IEC

Establishment of communication mechanisms and procedures for data sharing exchanges with the electoral dispute resolution bodies

ELECT II will work with the IEC to explore models of vote tallying, and will advise on a number of different models used in international settings, for eventual IEC endorsement. These models will include, for example, models that process and tally votes at the provincial level. This could have potential advantages of ‘bringing the results closer to the people’ and keeping returned ballots from polling stations physically close to the results as they are tallied and/or quarantined for investigation if established redlines adopted by the IEC are met. The models will also include models of national level only tallying and quarantine determination/investigation. The models will also explore the possibility of electronic transfer of both individual polling station results data and data tallied at the provincial level.

Current IEC operational planning envisages conducting counting at the polling station level with tallying of results at the HQ level (as is the current method). If the IEC decides to retain current practice, ELECT II will support the IEC to develop and refine procedures for the vote counting and tally processes based on lessons learned and best practices including the incorporation the EDR process in the operations.

Irrespective of the tally and announcement mechanisms selected following ELECT II technical assistance, ELECT II will provide both expert advice on the design and implementation of the results management system (advice and support on procedures drafting, training of IEC staff charged with the implementation of the plan, etc.) as well as the procurement of the necessary equipment required to implement the results management plan.


Boundary delimitation – Support the IEC in completing a credible distribution of polling centres and an accurate boundary delimitation process (where required by law).

Constituency boundaries for the 2015 Wolesi Jirga elections, where mandated by law, are drawn on the basis of best international practice;

Credible distribution of polling centres allows for maximum participation of voters in the electoral process.

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Ensuring an adequate distribution of polling centres across the territory of Afghanistan is a big challenge, as previous polling centre allocations in Afghanistan were done without having adequate GIS data or population data that would assist in fair and equal placing of polling centres in order to allow maximum access to voters. Thus polling centres were distributed in 2003/4 by JEMB/IEC officials at the local level in a purely ad hoc manner. ELECT II has worked with the IEC, throughout 2012, in carrying out up to date GIS analysis and mapping of polling centres in order to determine whether existing polling centres (used in previous elections) should be relocated, and where new polling centres (reflecting the growth in the number of voters and consultations with village representative) should be placed. Activity 5.3 will continue this expert technical advice, in line with the final electoral legal framework, in advance (in particular) of the 2015 parliamentary elections. Under the current electoral legal framework, there is no role for the IEC in boundary delimitation, as electoral constituencies are based on the provinces and districts. Nevertheless, some electoral law drafts being considered by the Afghan Parliament propose changes to the electoral system and the introduction of either a first past the post system (for Wolesi Jirga elections), or a mixed SNTV/PR system. In the event that electoral constituency boundaries, following enactment of an electoral law, require delimitation, ELECT II will support the IEC’s participation in liaison fora with key national bodies with a role in the boundary delimitation process and with whom there may be a requirement for coordination and linkages, including the Central Statistics Office, the IDLG, the DGC, and the Ministry of the Interior. ELECT II will also provide expert advice to the IEC on clarifying and resolving boundary delimitation issues pertinent to the conduct of elections. For the eventual conduct of district elections (depending on the final electoral legal framework), delimitation of both urban and rural district boundaries is essential, but as yet there are major issues to be resolved in this area. Issues to be resolved are the completion of the government’s village mapping project, decisions on the status of the nine temporary districts and correcting erroneous boundaries.

OUTPUT 6 – The integrity of the electoral process is enhanced through a fully-supported electoral dispute resolution and adjudication body.

The revised draft of the Law on the Structure, Duties and Authorities of the IEC and IECC, after being approved by the Joint Committee of the Wolesi Jirga and Meshrano Jirga on 13 April, 2013, was subsequently rejected by the Office of the Administrative Affairs and the Council of Ministers Secretariat since the provisions of the draft were not deem to be constitutional. Hence the Electoral Complaints Commission has to be established following the provisions of the current Electoral Law with structures in both Kabul and the provinces that would adjudicate complaints for the upcoming 2014 and 2015 elections. Thus provided the Commissioners are appointed in a timely manner an ECC structure is therefore envisaged at both national and provincial levels, with staff assisting Commissioners in meeting their terms of reference.


Electoral dispute resolution – Provide effective support to the electoral dispute resolution mechanism

The electoral dispute resolution mechanism is facilitated to execute its mandate through the provision of expert technical and operational assistance.

In light of the legal framework, therefore, there is a need to assist the ECC with support in two broad areas. Firstly, there is a need to build the institutional capacity of the ECC with the provision of work space, staff, vehicles, IT and communications equipment, etc., that will allow it to function.28 Secondly, there is a need

28

In the event that this support is provided, detailed inventories and handover procedures will be developed with the ECC in order to ensure that equipment, etc., supplied to provincial structures is accounted for.

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to provide expert technical advice, in both the design and implementation phase, on the modus operandi of the ECC and how it can meet its terms of reference according to the law. There is need for example, to design rules of procedures on how the ECC can adjudicate on the various types of electoral complaints. This second type of support will be under great focus and the political spotlight UNDP, national and international partners are conscious of the fact that as the primary support for ELECT II is addressed at the IEC, whose task is the administration of the elections, then providing similar support to the electoral complaints body to be established on temporary basis for the period of the elections, whose task in turn is primarily to adjudicate on matters related to the administration of the elections, may represent a conflict of interest. As such, therefore, and taking note of the conflict of interest issues, the preferred model on how that support could be provided to the ECC would involve ELECT II sub-contracting support to the complaints body to an external agency that specialises in providing support to electoral management bodies and/or electoral dispute resolution bodies (such as, for example, IFES)- particularly the technical aspect. This would address, to some degree, the conflict of interest issue, while at the same time reducing the administrative burden on the part of funding partners, in that the support would stay within the project, while at the same time maintaining UNDP’s responsibility for the management of the support provided. Within the aegis of this, the logistical and procurement support for the ECC could then be subcontracted to the UNOPS. This option is attractive for a number of reasons. Firstly, engaging UNOPS to provide the procurement and logistical support does not require any tendering procedures, and work on sourcing buildings, staff, etc., could commence as soon as the project extension document is signed, so that once the complaints body is appointed, both at national and provincial levels, there is immediately office space, equipment etc., available for them to use. Avoiding a potential tender process gains valuable time in the provision of support to the complaints body, which must be up and running by August 2013, provided that Presidential Office will appoint the Commissioners in timely manner

Budget planning

Human resources sourcing and recruitment

Office management

Logistics and transportation

Security

Coordination of international assistance to the complaint body, where other implementing organizations are able to make contributions

Technical and advisory assistance, based on the current 2010 law (Article 61), could include issues such as:

Procedures for accepting and adjudicating on complaints related to the list of candidates and voters, and the conditions and qualifications of the candidates presented during elections;

Procedures for accepting and adjudicating on electoral violations provided that the complaints are received before certification of election results.

Therefore the model for support to the ECC may entail two subcontracting arrangements- one, to an organization such as IFES for technical advisory support and one to an agency such as UNOPS for the logistics etc. A subcontracting proposal will be developed by the project, which will then subsequently be go through the agreement and approval process as per the project management arragements.

The nature of the electoral adjudication body is still not clear as the legislation has not been passed yet. However, as far as the project is concerned, the structure of the ECC- temporary or permanent- will not, in essence, affect the nature of support which is expected to continue till 2015 in either case. However, should the legislation render the ECC a permanent body, towards the last quarter of 2015, the project will help develop a ‘handover’ plan to the GIRoA.

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In the meantime, in preparation for the upcoming elections, the project has retained an expert to develop an action plan for various scenario. Action plans geared towards a temporary ECC, a permanent ECC or a special tribunal are being developed to prepare for any eventuality.

OUTPUT 7 – The integrity of the electoral process is enhanced through a fully-supported media regulatory body.

This new output will allow for direct support for the Media Commission. Sustainability of the assistance will be achieved by developing operating procedures for the Commission, etc., that can be utilised in future.


Media regulatory body – Provide effective support to the Media Commission so that it can implement its terms of reference.

The Media Commission is facilitated to execute its mandate through the provision of expert technical and operational assistance.

The current electoral legal framework envisages the establishment of a temporary Media Commission that will “oversee the reporting and fair broadcasting of the electoral campaign, and address violations relating to reporting and fair broadcasting of electoral campaign or other offenses related to the aims, policies and procedures of the mass media.” Some of the functions of the Media Commission include:

Accepting complaints on matters related to ‘fair reporting,’ which can be brought by any legal person

Adjudicate on complaints regarding complaints about a lack of ‘fair reporting’

Fining violators of the electoral law article regarding media and the role of the Media Commission (Article 60);

Fining and/or referring violators to the appropriate authorities

The draft law mandates the IEC to provide assistance to the Media Commission. As the legal framework mandates the IEC to assist the Media Commission, ELECT II and funding partners see no potential conflict of interest in the provision of this support. Thus ELECT II will provide full technical and operational assistance to the Media Commission. The type of support envisaged includes specialist technical assistance advice and operational assistance. The envisaged technical assistance advice includes:

Advice on the drafting of rules and procedures for the Media Commission to both receive and adjudicate on complaints related to the performance of the print and electronic media

Advice on referral procedures for media houses that violate the provisions of the law

Advice on the design of a media monitoring methodology for both print and electronic media

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5. MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

Based on good practices and lessons learnt during the first year of implementation of ELECTII, the

management /governance arrangement of the project will be based on a three-tier structure: The Project

Board, the ELECT II Technical Working Group and the ELECT II donor Group. The terms of reference of each

follows.

Meeting Purpose Chair Participants Level Frequency

ELECT II Project Board

Decision-making forum and Steering Committee for ELECT II Project

IEC Chairman/ UNAMA DSRSG I

ELECT II Donors, IEC, UNDP

Head of development agency/Deputy Amb.

Quarterly

ELECT II Technical Working Group

Technical discussion forum on ELECT II project related issues

IEC CEO/ELECT CTA ELECT II Donors, IEC, UNDP, UNAMA

Development adviser/political officer

Monthly, or as required

ELECT II Donor Meeting

Discussion forum for project related issues between ELECT II and its international partners

UNDP Deputy Country Director

ELECT II Donors, UNDP, UNAMA

Development adviser/political officer

Monthly or as required

1. ELECT II Project Board

An ELECT II Project Board will be formed to provide policy and strategic guidance to the project. This high-level oversight body will be guided by the country’s commitment to conduct credible, inclusive and transparent elections and will ensure that the project is responsive to the interests of all Afghans, as well as to the unfolding political and security situation.

1.1. Responsibilities of the Project Board

The main role of the ELECT II Project Board is to oversee that the project remains on track vis-à-vis the project document and approve the overall work plan as well as to provide strategic guidance to the implementation of the project.

While the ELECT II Project Board has an important quality assurance and strategic guidance function, it is not aimed at detailed technical oversight of the implementing party. A Technical Working Group will be established to perform a quality assurance function delegated by the Project Board and to provide advice to the Project Team. While having a standalone function, the TWG also serves as de facto sub-committees of the Project Board. A Donor group will also be formed for UNDP, as the agency implementing electoral assistance project, to discuss and gain consensus on various issues pertaining to the implementation of the project.

The Project Board provides high-level advice, retains overall management control of the project and is accountable for resource mobilization and overall expenditure. The Board will serve as the Project’s ultimate review body. Deliberations of the Project Board will be informed by input from the Technical Working Group and the ELECT II Donor Group. The ELECT II Project Board will:

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Provide general, high-level, strategic oversight to the project activities including financial oversight;

Provide high-level quality assurance for project results;

Approve changes and amendments to the existing project document;

Approve overall work plans previously reviewed by the Technical Working Group;

Reach consensus and take decisions on any change in the project work plan;

Provide input and advice to ongoing risk analysis;

Consider funding for emerging issues;

Receive regular progress reports submitted by the electoral management body and the ELECT II Chief Technical Adviser;

Monitor progressive achievement of project objectives and provide guidance on long term sustainability of the project’s achievements

In its work the ELECT II Project Board will be guided by its intention to

Promote the conduct of “credible, inclusive and transparent Presidential and Parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2015 in accordance with the Afghan Constitution, in which eligible Afghan citizens, men and women, have the opportunity to participate freely without internal or external interference and in accordance with the law” (Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework, 8 July 2012).

Advocate the promotion of the civic and electoral rights of the Afghan electorate, with a particular focus on groups that may be underrepresented in elections, in particular women.

1.2. Decision Making The Project Board will make decisions on the basis of (non-voting) consensus.

1.3. Co-Chairs The ELECT II Project Board will be co-chaired by the Chair of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General (DSRSG) of the United Nations in Afghanistan.

1.4. Membership In addition to the two Co-Chairs, the Membership of the ELECT II Project Board includes all the fund donors to the project and UNDP and UNAMA. The current donors to ELECTII are:

Donors / Development Partners: 1. Australia 2. Canada 3. Denmark 4. DFID 5. EU 6. Germany 7. Italy 8. Japan 9. Korea (republic of) 10. Netherlands

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11. Norway 12. Sweden 13. Turkey 14. US

All board members will strive for representation in board meetings at a level adequate for political guidance and decision making. Observers

The ELECT II Project Board may decide to invite key election stakeholders to participate in the meetings as observers

The UNDP Country Director or a person dedicated by him/her will represent UNDP at the Project Board meeting. The ELECT II Chief Technical Adviser or his/her delegate will report on behalf of the project to the ELECT II Project Board.

1.5. Frequency of ELECT II Project Board Meetings The Project Board will convene at least once every three months. Should there be an urgent requirement for a Board decision, it may be convened as and when necessary on an ad hoc basis including virtually. The Co-chairs of the Steering Committee may establish sub-committees to deal with specific tasks or needs.

1.6. Secretariat function UNDP in cooperation with the ELECT II project will provide secretariat services for the Project board by coordinating meetings, producing documentation and meeting minutes, managing correspondence, information management / dissemination and related tasks. Documents will be made available to Project Board members five working days before the meeting. Minutes of the meeting will be shared within five working days.

1.7. Minutes and Information Sharing Minutes of the meetings will be circulated by UNDP and prepared with support from ELECT II. Members of the Project Board can share information with non-member stakeholders.

2. ELECT II Technical Working Group (TWG)

The Technical Working Group is the key thematic review body for the project. It will be co-chaired by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) Chief Electoral Officer and the ELECT II CTA. The TWG will discuss and make recommendations, when necessary, to the Project Board for approval on issues on the basis of (non-voting) consensus. Members include the IEC, UNDP, UNAMA and representative of donor countries to ELECT II. The current donors to ELECT II include:

1. Australia

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2. Canada 3. Denmark 4. DFID 5. EU 6. Germany 7. Italy 8. Japan 9. Korea (republic of) 10. Netherlands 11. Norway 12. Sweden 13. Turkey 14. US

Additional participants may be invited by the co-chairs after consultation with the members of the group. The Technical Working Group will meet at least once a month (or as often as required). The Technical Working Group agenda is established by the IEC in coordination with ELECT-II and will include an update by the IEC and when and if necessary by other members such as the UNDP, development partners etc. The Technical Working Group

Will provide project technical oversight and quality assurance advice. In particular, the TWG will review progress updates and provide technical feedback.

Based on overall consensus, may identify and escalate any strategic or other issues for guidance, deliberation or decision by the ELECT II Project Board.

Will review the overall project work plans and give substantive guidance to achieve project results as well as monitor the achievement of results.

Will review policy matters pertaining to the project and the electoral process.

Will consider emerging issues and needs, and provide advice and feedback to the Project Board. The Technical Working Group will be supported by the IEC External Relation Department which will arrange meetings, produce background documents and meeting reports, manage correspondence and other related tasks as required. In performing this task the IEC will be advised and assisted by ELECT II. Minutes from TWG meetings will also be shared with the ELECT II Project Board. In order to enable sufficient consultation among represented partners before meetings, documentation will be submitted five days before a scheduled meeting. Meeting minutes will be shared within 3 working days

3. ELECT II Donor Group

The ELECT II Donor Group is the discussion forum for UNDP and its international stakeholder group regarding implementation of its electoral assistance project. The group is chaired by UNDP and will discuss issues pertaining to the overall implementation of the project and that of the electoral basket fund managed by UNDP. Subject to agreement by the IEC, the donor group will make recommendations, when necessary, to the Project Board for approval on issues on the basis of (non-voting) consensus. Members include the UNDP, UNAMA and representative of donor countries to ELECT II. The current donors to ELECT II include:

1. Australia

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2. Canada 3. Denmark 4. DFID 5. EU 6. Germany 7. Italy 8. Japan 9. Korea (republic of) 10. Netherlands 11. Norway 12. Sweden 13. Turkey 14. US

The ELECT II Donor group will meet as and when required. The Donor Group agenda is established by the UNDP based on relevant emerging issues. The ELECT II Donor Group

Will provide advice on the on-going and future direction of the project and based on consensus (and subject agreement by IEC) may propose issues for decision by the ELECT II Project Board.

Will serve as a forum to discuss specific donor priorities and/or concerns related to the implementation of the project.

Will discuss policy matters, emerging needs and issues pertaining to the electoral process that may have possible impact on the delivery and/or the achievement of results of the project

The ELECT II Donor Group will be convened and supported by UNDP which will produce/circulate relevant background documents and documents related to the meeting outcome, when applicable. In order to enable sufficient consultation among partners before meetings, documentation will be submitted five days before a scheduled meeting. Meeting minutes will be shared within three working days.

UNDP Country Office- Project Assurance

As per UNDP rules of programme and project management, the Project Assurance role supports the Project Board by carrying out objective and independent project oversight and monitoring functions. This role ensures appropriate project management milestones are managed and completed. This delegated role is undertaken within the UNDP Country Office by a dedicated focal point, often the portfolio manager of the thematic area. The project assurance role involves oversight over the operations processes, budget planning and finance management, donor coordination and tracking donor contributions and transfers.

Other Coordination meetings Over and above the mechanisms additional coordination meeting may be convened by the IEC or UNAMA at the political levels with donors and Heads of Missions as required.

Institutional Arrangements The project will be implemented under UNDP’s National Implementation Modality (NIM) with the Afghanistan Independent Election Commission (IEC) as the Implementing Partner. Through a Service Level Agreement (SLA), the UNDP country office will provide operations support in the areas of procurement, HR, Finance and Administration as the Responsible Party.

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6. CONSULTATION AND ENDORSEMENT Stakeholders have been consulted extensively when drafting this revised ELECT II Project Document. The project has been approved by the project board held on June 12, 2013, agreed upon by donors at the ELECT II Technical working group meeting of June 5, 2013 and by a local project appraisal committee (L-PAC) consisting of the IEC, UNDP Afghanistan, UNWOMEN and UNAMA on June 2, 2013.

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7. BUDGET PLAN

This table shows and indicative budget of the project annually from 2012-2013. Note the figures for the year 2012 denotes actual expenditure. Years 2013, 2014 and 2015 include costs that are indicative of both capacity development of the IEC and the electoral operations for the two elections.

ELECT II

Output Totals 2012* 2013 2014 2015 Total Output 01 Institutional Development

$ 2,516,952

$ 11,659,594

$ 8,940,104

$ 7,190,187

$ 30,306,836

1.1 Knowledge Management

$ 131,545

$ 1,280,321

$ 625,120

$ 311,210

$ 2,348,196

1.2 legal

$ 129,735

$ 289,034

$ 403,454

$ 222,769

$ 1,044,992

1.3 Infrastructure

$ 1,441,985

$ 8,856,244

$ 6,315,736

$ 5,426,398

$ 22,040,363

1.4 Capacity Development

$ 813,687

$ 1,233,994

$ 1,595,794

$ 1,229,811

$ 4,873,285

Output 02 VR

$ 48,021

$ 23,879,249

$ 2,538,206

$ 150,956

$ 26,616,431

2.1 VR operation

$ 48,021

$ 23,734,249

$ 2,393,206

$ 150,956

$ 26,326,431

2.2 E-Tazkera

$ - $ 145,000

$ 145,000

$ 145,000

$ 435,000

Output 03 Stakeholder Engagement

$ 133,531

$ 6,209,831

$ 20,286,037

$ 17,566,898

$ 44,196,297

3.1 POD campaigns

$ 68,871

$ 4,952,810

$ 16,724,465

$ 13,736,925

$ 35,483,071

3.2 External Relations

$ 3,265

$ 287,534

$ 2,767,648

$ 2,156,483

$ 5,214,931

3.3 Candidate Nomination

$ - $ 470,901 $ -

$ 1,020,659

$ 1,491,559

3.4 Gender

$ 61,395

$ 498,586

$ 793,924

$ 652,831

$ 2,006,737

Output 04 Project Management

$ 9,581,010

$ 19,949,731

$ 17,648,799

$ 12,986,487

$ 60,166,027

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4.1 IEC costs

$ 5,753,658

$ 12,739,411

$ 10,815,778

$ 9,155,193

$ 38,464,039

4.2 Management of Resources

$ 3,169,997

$ 6,373,642

$ 6,022,234

$ 3,311,942

$ 18,877,815

4.3 Election operational support

$ 657,355

$ 836,678

$ 810,787

$ 374,353

$ 2,679,173

Output 05 Election operations

$ 153,115

$ 2,627,237

$ 79,209,299

$ 50,668,743

$ 132,658,394

5.1 Election operations

$ - $ 2,435,547

$ 77,879,005

$ 49,570,061

$ 129,884,614

5.2 IEC Results system

$ - $ - $ 1,003,159

$ 906,353

$ 1,909,513

5.3 PC Distribution and Boundary Delimitation

$ 153,115

$ 191,690

$ 327,134

$ 192,328

$ 864,267

Output 06 EDR support

$ -

$ 6,338,846

$ 6,105,853

$ 5,639,867

$ 18,084,566

6.1 support to EDR

$ - $ 6,338,846

$ 6,105,853

$ 5,639,867

$ 18,084,566

Output 07 Media Commission

$ -

$ 434,840

$ 1,169,822

$ 853,534

$ 2,458,196

7.1 support to MC

$ - $ 434,840

$ 1,169,822

$ 853,534

$ 2,458,196

SUBTOTAL

$ 12,432,629

$ 71,099,327

$ 135,898,120

$ 95,056,672

$ 314,486,747

GMS

$ 935,789

$ 5,351,562

$ 10,228,891

$ 7,154,803

$ 23,671,046

GRAND TOTAL

$ 13,368,417.79

$ 76,450,889.72

$ 146,127,010.34

$ 102,211,475.10

$ 338,157,793

*Actual costs

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8. MONITORING FRAMEWORK AND EVALUATION Monitoring and evaluation will be integral to project implementation. As a joint IEC/UNDP/Donor exercise, the Project Board will assess progress and risks on a quarterly basis. The management team will monitor progress by tracking outputs and activity results against indicators and benchmarks for each planned activity. Qualitative measurements and assessments will include compliance with human rights principles, aid effectiveness principles, and the IEC’s own Codes of Conduct as appropriate. Monitoring and evaluation of the project will involve the following processes:

Within the annual project cycle

Project Progress Reports shall be submitted to the Project Board through the Programme Unit of the UNDP Country Office. As part of its obligation to quality assure all programming funded through UNDP, the UNDP Country Office will continually review project planning documents and undertake periodic monitoring and spot check missions in partnership with the IEC and donors as appropriate. The results of these quality assurance exercises will be used to support continuous strengthening of UNDP support to elections and will be reflected in the project reporting.

A Monitoring Plan shall be developed annually in line with the activities and also including the monitoring and spot check missions.

Monthly or fortnightly IEC/ELECT II project reporting will provide on-going activity updates and inform stakeholders in real time, about issues arising.

Internal weekly reporting within the project will help track activities and progress thereof.

An Issue Log shall be activated in Atlas and updated by the project management support unit to facilitate tracking and resolution of potential problems or requests for change.

A Risk Log, based on the generalised risk assessment provided in this document, shall also be activated in Atlas and regularly updated by reviewing the external environment that may affect the project implementation.

A Lessons Learnt Log shall be activated and regularly updated to ensure on-going learning and adaptation within the organisation, and to facilitate the preparation of the Lessons Learnt Report.

Financial Analysis will accompany all project progress reports that will include delivery ratesto ensure all UNDP and donor resources are being utilised in accordance with the project document and annual work plans/budgets. Further, the project shall be subject exclusively, to the internal and external auditing procedures provided for in the financial regulations, rules and directives of UNDP.

Internal Assessments

Quarterly Assessment shall be undertaken based on quarterly work plans, to determine progress.

Annual Project Review shall be conducted internally during the fourth quarter of the each year, or soon after, to assess the performance of the project, and appraise the Annual Work Plan for the following year. In the last year of the project, this review will be a Final Assessment. This review will be driven by the Project Board and may involve other stakeholders as required. It shall focus on the extent to which progress is being made towards outputs, and that these remain aligned to appropriate CPAP outcomes.

Independent Reviews and Evaluations

Mid-term review 1: UNDP has undertaken a midterm review in 2013 after the one year of project implementation. This mid-term review has served to inform the project extension process. The structure of this review was determined based on the interests, concerns and inputs of stakeholders. This review has also informed project progress towards stated objectives, issues arising, and lessons learned, and included recommendations to improve implementation.

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Mid-term review 2: With the project being extended beyond 2013, UNDP will initiate a second mid-term review in the third quarter of 2014 (August/September 2014). The structure of this review will be determined by UNDP but based on the interests, concerns and inputs of stakeholders. This review shall also inform project progress towards stated objectives, issues arising, lessons learned, and include recommendations to improve implementation.

Final Evaluation: A final evaluation of the project will be conducted at the end of 2015 at the end of the project. The structure of this evaluation will be determined by UNDP but based on the interests, concerns and inputs of stakeholders. This evaluation should inform objective, independent reports on project progress towards stated objectives, issues arising, lessons learned, and include recommendations to improve future implementation.

Third Party monitoring mechanisms:

Third party monitoring mechanisms will be used in this project. The details will be discussed and developed within the ELECT II Technical Working Group. Role of the Electoral Assistance Division (EAD) EAD support and coordination, at headquarters level, within the UN system will continue throughout the delivery of assistance. In order to facilitate this responsibility and to ensure the Focal Point is appropriately informed of UN electoral assistance, the UNDP Country Office, and/or UNDP ELECT II Project, will submit status reports on a quarterly basis to EAD, or more regularly especially during the operational phase of the elections, if requested by the Focal Point (as stated in the Revised Note of Guidance on Electoral Assistance, 2010). At the conclusion of the project EAD shall receive a final project report from the Resident Coordinator/Resident Representative/Country Director, and other UN entity where appropriate, within three months of the completion of the project. In order to maintain the UN electoral institutional memory other operational documents may also be requested from the project such as operational plans, budgets, timelines, staffing tables, etc. The Focal Point, through the Electoral Assistance Division of DPA (EAD), should be notified in a timely manner when project revisions or extensions that fall outside the parameters of the original needs assessment are envisioned. After consulting with the Resident Coordinator (or SRSG/equivalent), the Focal Point will determine whether a needs assessment is required and, if so, whether to send a needs assessment mission or do a desk review. The Focal Point may also determine that some changes or extensions are not significant enough to warrant a new assessment, in which case the project will simply be amended and implementation will continue. Project extensions of limited duration alone will not trigger a needs assessment. In line with its normal functions as part of DPA, and to support the focal point, EAD may, at any time, (in consultation with the UNCT) conduct a mission to review progress of a programme, assess the political situation, particularly with regard to the potential for violence, and/or offer support to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) or Resident Coordinator/Resident Representative.

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9. LEGAL CONTEXT This document together with the CPAP signed by the Government and UNDP which is incorporated by reference, constitute together the instrument envisaged and defined in the Supplemental Provisions to the Project attached hereto and forming an integral part hereof, as “the Project Document”

Consistent with the above Supplemental Provisions, the responsibility for the safety and security of the Implementing Partner and its personnel and property, and of UNDP’s property in the Implementing Partner’s custody, rests with the Implementing Partner. To this end, the Implementing Partner shall:

a) put in place an appropriate security plan and maintain the security plan, taking into account the security situation in the country where the project is being carried;

b) assume all risks and liabilities related to the Implementing Partner’s security, and the full implementation of the security plan.

UNDP reserves the right to verify whether such a plan is in place, and to suggest modifications to the plan when necessary. Failure to maintain and implement an appropriate security plan as required hereunder shall be deemed a breach of the Implementing Partner’s obligations under this Project Document *and the Project Cooperation Agreement between UNDP and the Implementing Partner]29.

The Implementing Partner agrees to undertake all reasonable efforts to ensure that none of the UNDP funds received pursuant to the Project Document are used to provide support to individuals or entities associated with terrorism and that the recipients of any amounts provided by UNDP hereunder do not appear on the list maintained by the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999). The list can be accessed via http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/aq_sanctions_list.shtml. This provision must be included in all sub-contracts or sub-agreements entered into under/further to this Project Document.

29

Use bracketed text only when IP is an NGO/IGO

https://intranet.undp.org/global/documents/ppm/Supplemental.pdf

http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/aq_sanctions_list.shtml

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10. ANNEX I: RESULTS RESOURCES FRAMEWORK (2012-2015)

UNDP ELECT II 2012-2015: Results and Resources Framework

Intended Outcome as stated in the Country Programme Results and Resource Framework:

The state and non-state institutions are better able to promote democratic participation and be accountable to the public

Outcome indicators as stated in the Country Programme Results and Resources Framework, including baseline and targets:

Level of public confidence that their votes determine the results of elections; Baseline : 2009 TAF survey; May 2009 International Republican Institute Survey; Target: Increase of public confidence by 20% by 2013 Proportion of population considering that Parliament is representing them and addressing the major problems of people in Afghanistan; Baseline: 65% (2008 survey); Target by 2013: 70%. Proportion of the population with confidence in the IEC; Baseline: 57% (2008 Survey); Target by 2015 65% (Source: TAF survey)

Percentage of people who believes elections are free and fair, Baseline: 49% in 2011 (TAF) Target: 65% by 2013.

Applicable Key Result Area (from 2008-11 Strategic Plan): Democratic Governance

Partnership Strategy Strong partnership between IEC, UNDP, UNAMA, and stakeholders will be ensured through technical working groups, stakeholders’ consultations, and regular project steering committee meetings and sharing of information.

Project title and ID (ATLAS Award ID): Enhancing Legal and Electoral Capacity for Tomorrow-Phase II (ELECTII), Award ID 00063078

INTENDED OUTPUTS

OUTPUT TARGETS FOR (YEARS) INDICATIVE ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE PARTIES

INPUT*

(GMS costs not included)

competencies, systems and facilities are improved

Indicator 1.1.a: Perception of IEC staff towards working with the IEC on the following dimensions (as measured through an annual staff survey):

- IEC as employer - Staff engagement - Business process efficiency

Baseline: 2013 staff survey

Indicator 1.1.b: Extent to which IEC uses the

1.1.a: (2013-2015): perception of staff towards the IEC on the specified dimensions increased from year to year

1.1.b: (2013) The database is developed and database populated

(2014-2015): IEC Electoral database is updated and maintained

(2015): 2015 election operations plan informed through effective data and trend analysis using the data management system. based on effective database system

Activity 1.1: Institutional capacity - Support the IEC in sustainable strengthening of its institutional capacity, via its Strategic Plan and upgrade of knowledge, information, decision-making and data management systems.

Action: development of Strategic Plan

Action: conduct annual staff survey

Action: development, upgrade and maintenance of an information management system consisting of

UNDP USD 30,306,836

53

data management systems and trend analysis to inform its planning and communication

Baseline: no structural database system established in the past to institutionalize a systematic way electoral data

Indicator 1.1.c. The extent to which institutional plans are developed and implemented (Strategic Plan and other cross-cutting-departmental plans), number of SoPs, developed

Baseline: No Strategic Plan in place.

SOPs

Indicator 1.1d. % of trained IEC staff who feel that they are more effective in their jobs because of training and capacity development opportunities

Baseline 1.4: individual staff development plans does not exist in 2011. A 2012 post-training survey will serve as baseline

Indicator 1.2.a: number of electoral regulations that are developed or revised in line with the electoral legal framework

Baseline 1.2.a: all existing electoral regulations are applicable for revision in case of a new electoral legal framework

Indicator 1.2.b: number of codes of conduct developed/revised in a consultative manner

Baseline 1.2.b: All relevant codes of conduct, regulations and procedures need revision.

with details of 2014 elections

1.1.c (2012): Development of IEC Strategic Plan; Training and Capacity Building Plan

(2013) engendered SOPs for all relevant business areas prepared and implemented

(2014) SOPs are updated based on past experiences; M&E plan corresponding to the IEC strategic plan.

(2015) SOPs are updated based on past experiences

1.1d(2012/2013/2014/2015): 70 % of the staff trained in 2013 feel that that they are more effective in their job because of the offered training and capacity building opportunities;

(2013/2014/2015) Training tailored and modified according to assessments and survey results

1.2.a: (2012): draft Electoral Law to the MoJ submitted as well as sound and timely input to the Government on revision of electoral laws provided upon request

(2013): updating of electoral regulations and procedures with regard to the revised electoral framework

(2013-2015): revision of electoral regulations and procedures for electoral operations related to 2014 and 2015 elections ; sample user reporting on usability on the day to day operations of the regulations undertaken.

1.2.b: (2013): codes of conduct for ethical/electoral Codes of Conduct for Electoral Officers, Observers, Media, Political Parties, Security Forces reviewed and finalized in a consultative manner; sample user reporting on usability on the day to day operations of the Code of conduct

wide range of data banks

Action: development of institutional and electoral plans and communication enabled through database system

Action: Support SOPs.and other institutional planning documents.

Activity 1.1.d: IEC staff development - Support the professional training and development of IEC permanent and temporary staff

Action: IEC capacity development assessment conducted

Action: support to IEC Training and Capacity Building plan developed, implemented and updated

Action: support to IEC annual post-training surveys

Activity 1.2: The electoral legal framework -

improvement of its regulatory framework

Action: technical input to the IEC of the draft of a Electoral Law

Action: advise to the IEC to provide electoral legal input to Executive and Legislative upon request

Action: review/refinement of IEC procedures, regulations, codes of conducts and policies, as well as electoral procedures

Action: development/revision of ethical/electoral Codes of Conducts for Electoral Officers, Observers, Media, Political Parties, Security Forces

Action: conduct of post-elections review of IEC regulations, codes of conducts policies

54

Indicator 1.3.a: number of IEC newly constructed well-functioning and secured provincial offices

Baseline 1.3.a: the IEC owns five offices and warehouses in the provinces

Indicator 1.3.b: number of additional (permanent) infrastructure construction works at HQ level

Baseline 1.,3.b: At HQ, the existing space for training centre and data centre is not useable anymore, security has to be upgraded

Indicator 1.3.c: the extent to which security at IEC premises (HQ / provinces) is established.

Baseline: Physical security of IEC premises weak at several provincial offices and need to be reviewed at HQ level; Weak security access SoPs; No IEC guard force exist. Access to IEC HQ controlled by ANP.

Indicator 1.4.a: ratio of female/male temporary and permanent IEC staff members for the following categories: a. fixed term staff+ long-term temporary staff, b. trainers, c. civic educators, d. district field coordinators (DFC), e. voter registration staff, f. polling day staff

Baseline: April 2013: a. fixed term staff+ long-term permanent staff: a) 57 women over 423

undertaken.

(2014-2015): review of codes of conduct based on experiences and lessons learnt from the 2014 elections

1.3.a: (2012): Security features of 10 IEC provincial premises upgraded (2013): Construction of first batch (9) of provincial premises (offices and warehouses) initiated reflecting gender specific needs. (2014): 9 provincial premises (first batch) are constructed (proper quality certification) and are well-functioning. Construction of second batch (15) initiated. (2015): 24 provincial premises are constructed (proper quality certification) according to plan and are well-functioning. (2014-2015) IEC supported to include O&M cost in the budget submission for successive years 1.3.b: (2013-2014) Construction of the training centre, data centre and security upgrades to the IEC HQ undertaken.

1.3.c: (2012) Security upgrades of 10 provincial offices

(2103) A 40 person IEC guard force is established and trained to control access to IEC HQ and to manage security in the inner parameter. Continued security upgrades at HQ and in different provinces.

(203-2015) Security related SOPs are established and implemented and continuously updated.

1.4.a: a. at least 20% of all fixed term staff + long-term temporary IEC staff are women by 2015; b. trainers : to be decided in annual M&E plans depending upon VR/elections plan ; c. at least 40% of all civic educators are women; d. at least 30% of all DFCs are women; e. at least 25% of voter registration staff are women; f. at least 35% of polling day staff are women

Activity 1.3: IEC infrastructure - Support the

and security at HQ and in the provinces

Action: support to the construction of IEC provincial offices and warehouses, IEC training centre and data centre at HQ, as well as necessary security upgrades through recruitment of ELECT II oversight and support (recruitment of engineers, design of premises, procurement assistance, financing, quality assurance)

Gender (1.4):

** The activities are detailed out in 3.4 (the same indicators as 3.4 have been reflected

55

men (11%);

2010 elections: c) no baseline data found; d) civic educators 31% women (besides 7% Kuchis); DFC 19% (besides 6% Kuchis); e, f,) no baseline data found.

Indicator 1.4.b: the extent to which gender mainstreaming is implemented in line with the strategic plan and the gender strategy

Baseline: no gender strategy in place

Indicator 1.4.c: the number of internal IEC thematic working groups that engage in a meaningful way gender issues and sensitivities

Baseline 1.4.c: NA

** Activity 4.1 also falls within the broader parameters of enhancing IEC institutional capacities. Therefore the indicators and targets for this section maybe read together with those in 4.1 to obtain a holistic view of IEC s institutional capacity enhancement (As per DFID s request)

Indicator 1.4.b: (2012) development of a gender strategy

(2013) gender issues such as setting up of separate registration centers for women, distributing information material targeting women to register, hiring of women registrations staff etc. are addressed and incorporated in the voter registration plan and campaign

(2014) ensuring gender issues such as hiring women trainers, polling center staff, provincial gender officers, DFC coordinator, data center are incorporated in the 2014 electoral operations plan and election operation


Indicator 1.4.c: at least 10 on an annual basis

56

Output 2: A sustainable, long-term approach to voter registration in Afghanistan, which also promotes maximum participation of eligible citizens in the 2014 and 2015 elections, is developed and implemented.

Indicator 2.1.a: Number of new eligible voters enfranchised with voter ID cards

Baseline 2.1.a: 500,000 new voter ID cards were issued during the 2009/10 top-up exercise; only conducted at provincial capital level and following a wide-scale registration campaign in 2008 that issued 4.5 million VR cards.

Indicator 2.1.b: Percentage of women registered as new voters

Baseline 2.1.b: previous voter registration campaigns appeared to have unreliable percentages of women

Indicator 2.2: the extent to which the IEC engages in on-going dialogues with MoI to make the e-tazkira long-term database as a long-term solution for the generation of a VR database

Baseline 2.2: to be defined once the e-tazkira project is established and implemented

2.1.a: (2013-2014) 2.5 million new voters are enfranchised with new VR cards (1.5m in 2013/ 1m in 2014)

(2013-2014) IEC supported in developing fraud mitigation plan for the 2014 and 2015 elections.

2.1.b. (2013-2014): 30 % of the newly registered voters are women

2.2: (2013-2015) to be defined upon establishing e-tazkira registration project

Activity 2.1: Voter registration - Support the IEC in the development and implementation of a gender responsive voter registration operational plan

Action: support to the IEC to conduct of a top-up voter registration campaign

Activity 2.2: Voter register - Support the IEC in synthesizing its work the Ministry of Interior so that the e-tazkira database becomes the long-term solution for the generation of a voter registration data base

Action: initiatives taken by the IEC to establish cooperation between the IEC and the MoI towards adopting the e-tazkira database as a long-term solution to generate VR data

UNDP

USD 26,616,431

57

Output 3: informational outreach with key stakeholders and the electorate is enhanced

Indicator 3.1.a:

Means of different public outreach methods developed and implemented by the IEC

Indicator 3.1.b:

Number of public outreach activities that specifically target women

Indicator 3.1.c:

Number of participants reached through direct public outreach activities

Indicator 3.1.d.:

Number of participants reached through indirect public outreach activities

Baseline 3.1.a-d: to be defined once the public outreach plan is finalized

Indicator 3.2.a: number of consultative dialogues, inclusive and across the country, that take place with all key stakeholders on relevant electoral issues and plans

Indicator 3.2.b: number of consultative dialogues that reflect women s perspective

Indicator 3.2.c: number of consultative dialogues with women groups on wide range of electoral issues and processes

Baseline 3.2.a-c: zero stakeholder interactions were in the past neither always systematically structured not consultative.

3.1.a: (2013-2015) targets to be determined separately for 2013 VR, 2014 elections and 2015 elections, based on related public outreach strategies. (ranging from: radio PSA, TV PSA, radio drama, TV/radio round table, call centre, sms, mobile theatre, printed materials)

3.1.b: (2013-2015) targets to be determined by the following three documents: 2013 VR outreach strategy, 2014 elections public outreach strategy and 2015 elections public outreach strategies.

3.1.c: (2013-2015) targets to be determined by the following three documents: 2013 VR outreach strategy, 2014 elections public outreach strategy and 2015 elections public outreach strategies.

3.1.d: (2013-2015) targets to be determined by the following three documents: 2013 VR outreach strategy, 2014 elections public outreach strategy and 2015 elections public outreach strategies.

3.2.a: (2012-2015) At least 10 consultative stakeholder meetings a year with all relevant partners, take place in Kabul and at all the regional centres (depending on the security).

3.2.b. (2012-2015) At least half of all the consultative stakeholder meetings include a gender component and include women s perspective.

3.2.c. (2012-2015) At least 3 stakeholder meetings with women groups on annual basis

Activity 3.1: IEC public outreach Support the development and implementation of the

Action: support to the IEC to develop public outreach strategy for 2013 VR, 2014 elections, 2015 elections

Action: support to the IEC of the conduct of a VR public outreach campaign

Action: support to the IEC of the conduct of a public outreach campaign for 2014 /2015 elections

Action: end-of-campaign catalogue after each public outreach electoral operation

Activity 3.2: IEC external relations Support ctured engagement with key

stakeholders including political parties and strategic media communication

Action: support to the IEC to develop an external relations strategic plan, including s significant gender component

Action: support to the IEC to organize regular, structured and inclusive stakeholder meetings, consultation and workshops in a consultative manner

Action: Support to the IEC to streamline strategic media communication

UNDP

USD 44,196,297

58

Indicator 3.3.a: establishment of vetting mechanism and procedures in advance of the launch of the candidate nomination process.

Baseline 3.3.a: NA

Indicator 3.3.b: Percentage of provincial IEC offices that are ready in a timely manner to roll out the candidate nomination process on the agreed date

Baseline 3.3.b: NA

Indicator 3.4.a: ratio of female/male temporary and permanent IEC staff members for the following categories: a. fixed term + long-term temporary staff, b. trainers, c. civic educators, d. district field coordinators (DFC), e. voter registration staff, and f. polling day staff

Baseline: April 2013: a. fixed term staff+ long-term permanent staff: 57 women over 423 men (11%);

2010 elections: b) no baseline data found; c) civic educators 31% women (besides 7% Kuchis); d) DFC 19% (besides 6% Kuchis); e,f,) no baseline data found.


Baseline: no gender strategy in place

Indicator 3.4.c: the number of internal IEC thematic working groups that engage in a meaningful way gender issues and sensitivities

Baseline 3.4: NA

3.3.a: (2013-14) the vetting mechanism and procedures are established in advance of the launch of the candidate nomination process, for the 2014 and 2015 election, respectively

3.3.b: (2013-2014) All provincial IEC offices (100%) are ready to roll out the candidate nomination process on the agreed date for the 2014 and 2015 elections, respectively;

(2014-2015) Number of complaints received by the ECC related to candidate nomination processes is reduced


Indicator 3.4.b: (2012) development of a gender strategy




Activity 3.3: Candidate nomination - s management of the

candidate registration process.

Action: support to the IEC to manage the candidate registration process for the 2014 and 2015 elections

Activity 3.4: Gender Gender Unit and the Public Outreach Department gender focal point in promoting gender mainstreaming in the electoral process, as well as in institutional practices.

Action: support to the IEC to mainstream gender issues in institutional as well as electoral plans, policies, regulations and practices

Action: stock taking of existing electoral and institutional gender practices and policies

Action: Gender mainstreaming incorporated in the voter registration process (including public outreach activities);

Action: Gender strategy and action plan that focuses on institutional and electoral gender needs and issues developed, implemented and institutionalized.

Action: Gender mainstreaming incorporated in the 2014/15 election operations (including public outreach activities)

59

Indicator 3.4.c: at least 10 on an annual basis

60

Output 4: management functions and the project support services are provided in a transparent, efficient and effective manner

Indicator 4.1a:

Baseline 4.1: unqualified auditor report

Indicator 4.1b: micro-capacity assessment of the IEC shows enhanced operational capacity of the IEC

Baseline 4.1b: no micro-capacity assessment of the IEC undertaken.

Indicator 4.2. the extent to which the project is efficiently and effectively managed a) in

efficiency: delivery rate; and c) effectiveness: percentage of project outputs according to work plan; d) the number of regular and documented project board meetings; e) quality of payments to the IEC)

Baseline 4.2: NA

Indicator 4.3. Quality and timeliness of support services for electoral activities

Baseline 4.3: NA

4.1a. (2012-2013-2014-2015) The IEC has an unqualified audit report

4.1b. (2014) Micro-capacity assessment undertaken at the end of 2014 shows an enhancement of operational capacity of the IEC (as compared to the DFID due diligence and other assessments conducted earlier)

(2015) Micro-capacity assessment undertaken at the end of 2015 demonstrate about x% of IEC capacity in maintaining its operations without support.

4.2. (2012-2013-2014-2015) a) unqualified project audit report rating; b) at least 80% project budget execution; c) 100% compliance with monitoring, evaluation and reporting plans; d) minimum of quarterly documented project board meetings (including virtual PBs); e) certification of payments to the IEC.

4.3 (2012-2013-2014-2015) support services for electoral activities (2013 VR; 2014 elections; 2015 elections) is provided in a timely and qualitative manner

Activity 4.1: IEC operations - Support the operational costs of the IEC as well as the

management systems and procedures

Action: capacity development support of the IEC operational departments (finance, procurement, assets management, IT)

Action: financing IEC daily operations as agreed through NIM Standard Letters of Agreement (SLA).

Action: conduct of micro-capacity assessment at end of 2014 and 2015

Activity 4.2: Project management - Conduct efficient and effective management of project resources

Action: Project Management Unit provides efficient and effective project management services (finance, procurement, IT, HR, assets management, translation, dispatch, etc.)

Activity 4.3: Direct electoral operational support - Provide direct operational support to electoral activities

Action: procurement of electoral goods

Action: direct payments to IEC/subcontractors for electoral operations

Action: provision of translation and interpretation services for electoral purposes

UNDP

USD 60,166,027

61

Output 5: The conduct of polling, counting and result management operations by the IEC is improved

Indicator 5.1: the successfulness of the conduct of the 2014 and 2015 elections, measured by qualitative assessment in observer reports; and by statistical reporting and procedural and administrative error reduction

Baseline 5.1: qualitative statements in the observer reports of the 2009 presidential and 2010 parliamentary elections, respectively

Indicator 5.2: the quality of the results management strategy and the extent to which the results management implementation adheres to the strategy.

Baseline 5.2: poor result management strategy during 2009 and 2010 elections

Indicator 5.3.a: percentage of polling centres physically verified and with GIS mapped

Baseline 5.3.a: zero

Indicator 5.3.b: the extent to which the IEC is engaged in the government boundary delimitation policy

Baseline 5.3.b: No official district boundaries established

5.1: (2014) improved statistical reporting, procedural and administrative error reduction measured, as well as qualitative statements in observer reports, regarding Presidential and Provincial Council elections

(2015) improved statistical reporting, procedural and administrative error reduction measured, as well as qualitative statements in observer reports, regarding Wolesi Jirga and District Council elections

(2014-2015) Observer reports reflect improved electoral administration and processes.

5.2: (2013) develop a results management strategy that includes proper results certification and communication mechanisms to release partial, temporary and certified/uncertified results after the Presidential and Provincial Council elections

(2014) IEC implements the results management strategy

(2014) Based on 2014 experience and lessons learnt, improve the results management strategy, including proper results certification and communication mechanisms, to release partial, temporary and certified/uncertified results after the Wolesi Jirga and District Council elections

5.3.a: (2012) 50% of all polling centre locations physically verified

(2013) 100% of all polling centre locations mapped with GIS

5.3.b: (2014) establishment of a coordination mechanism with IDLG and AGCHO on electoral boundary delimitation

(2015) IEC contributes to the formalization of the district boundaries for the district council elections

Activity 5.1: Electoral operations support the development and implementation of the

and provide direct implementation support to the 2014 and 2015 elections

Action: support to the development and implementation of the electoral operations plan for the 2014 and 2015 elections, respectively, accepted by all stakeholders

Action: IEC organizes and conducts 2014 and 2015 elections.

Activity 5.2: Results management Support

robust, secure, and timely results management system that enjoys the confidence of key electoral stakeholders.

Action: support to the development of a results management system and procedures

Activity 5.3: Polling centres verification - Support the IEC in completing a credible distribution of polling centres and an accurate boundary delimitation process (where required by law)

Action: advice to IEC of physical verification and GIS mapping of polling centre stations

Action: supporting establishment of a boundary delimitation coordination mechanism

UNDP

USD 132,658,394

62

Output 6 The electoral dispute resolution mechanisms of the electoral process are enhanced

Indicator 6.1.a. timely establishment and full staffing at HQ and in the provinces of an electoral dispute resolution body

Baseline: no ECC structures exist

Indicator 6.1.b. the extent to which regulations and operating procedures are developed in a qualitative and timely manner

Baseline: NA

Indicator 6.1.c. timely establishment of a coordination mechanism between the IEC and the electoral dispute resolution mechanism to address electoral complaints

Baseline: NA

Indicator 6.1.d. the extent of proper assets management of the electoral dispute resolution body

Baseline: NA

6.1.a (2013) Electoral dispute resolution mechanism is fully established and staffed in all provincial offices and HQ by October 2013

6.1.b. (2013-2015) Systems, procedures and processes developed/revised and implemented for filing, hearing and resolving complaints and appeals. Improvement of the triage system for dispute handling;

(2014-2015) Improved perception of the ECC as the electoral adjudication body

6.1.c. (2014-2015) establishment of a coordination mechanism between the IEC and the electoral dispute resolution mechanism to address electoral complaints

(2014-2015) The coordination mechanism ensures strengthened and timely performance of the ECC in electoral adjudication.

6.1.d. (2013-2015) unqualified asset audit

Activity 6.1: Electoral dispute resolution Provide effective support to the electoral dispute resolution mechanism

Action: establishment of electoral dispute mechanism

UNDP USD 18,048,566

63

Output 7 The electoral media regulatory mechanisms are enhanced

Indicator 7.1.a timely establishment and fully staffing of media regulatory body

Baseline: 1 month before polling day

Indicator 7.1.b. the extent to which regulations and operating procedures are developed in a qualitative and timely manner

Baseline: NA

Indicator 7.1.c.timelyness of the release of Commission report.

Baseline: 45 days after closing of elections

7.1.a (2013) Media regulatory body fully established and staffed (1 month before campaign period)

7.1.b. (2013-2015) Media monitoring systems, procedures and processes developed/revised and implemented

Perception of the media commission as a body for proper media monitoring is enhanced.

7.1.c. (2014-2015) Final Media Commission report released 45 days after closing of the 2014 and 2015 elections, respectively

Activity 7.1: Media regulatory body Provide effective support to the Media Commission so that it can implement its terms of reference

Action: establishment of Media Commission

UNDP USD 2,458,196

64

11. ANNEX II: MONITORING FRAMEWORK (2012-2015)

Monitoring Framework

Year: 2012-15

Output and Key Results

Indicator Baseline Targets Responsible

Person Critical steps or

key events Means of

Verification

Time, Schedule

and Frequency

Output 1: The

institutional competencies,

systems and facilities are

improved

(ELECT II Atlas Project

#00080393; Japan

#00083558; ELECT I

#00071801)

Indicator 1.1.a: Perception of IEC staff towards working with the IEC on the following dimensions (as measured through an annual staff survey):

- IEC as employer - Staff engagement - Business process

efficiency

Indicator 1.1.b: Extent to which IEC uses the data management systems and trend analysis to inform its planning and communication

Indicator 1.1.c. The extent to which institutional plans are developed and implemented (Strategic Plan and other cross-cutting-departmental plans, number of SoPs,) Number of new SOPs prepared

Indicator 1.1d. % of trained

Baseline 1.1.a: 2013 staff survey Baseline 1.1.b. no structural database system established in the past to institutionalize a systematic way electoral data 1.1.c: No Strategic Plan in place. Significant part of

internal SOPs.. 1.4: Baseline individual staff development plans does not exist in 2011. A 2012 post-training survey

1.1.a: (2013-2015): perception of staff towards the IEC on the specified dimensions increased from year to year 1.1.b: (2013) The database is developed and database populated (2014-2015): IEC Electoral database is updated and maintained (2015): 2015 election operations plan informed through effective data and trend analysis using the data management system. based on effective database system with details of 2014 elections 1.1.c (2012): Development of IEC Strategic Plan; Training and Capacity Building Plan (2013) SOPs for all relevant business areas prepared and implemented; (2014) SOPs are updated based on past experiences; (2015) SOPs and other plans are updated based on past experiences 1.1.d. (2012/2013/2014/2015): 70 % of the staff trained in 2013 feel that that they are more effective in their job because of the offered training

IEC -

ELECT II STA Pillar I

1.1.a. development, distribution and analysis of staff survey (annual) 1.1.b. development and implementation of Strategic Plan and subsequent departmental plans; development, upgrade and implementation of database systems 1.1.c: Preparation of SOPs regarding HR, Finance and procurement 1.1.d: Establishment of IEC guard force 1.1 Activities addressed in output 4

1.1.a.IEC Staff Survey 1.1.b. internal reporting to E-II project M&E Specialist on progress of development/update data management systems; as well as use for new planning and implementation. 1.1.c: internal reporting 1.1.d: internal reporting

a. annually b. quarterly c. quarterly d. quarterly e. Once every two months

65

IEC staff who feel that they are more effective in their jobs because of training and capacity development opportunities

will serve as baseline

Baseline 1.1.d: individual staff development plans does not exist in 2011. A 2012 post-training survey will serve as baseline

and capacity building opportunities; (2013/2014/2015) Training tailored and modified according to assessments and survey results

Indicator 1.2.a: number of electoral regulations that are developed or revised in line with the electoral legal framework

Indicator 1.2.b: number of codes of conduct developed/revised in a consultative manner

Baseline 1.2.a: all existing electoral regulations are applicable for revision in case of a new electoral legal framework Baseline 1.2.b: All relevant codes of conduct, regulations and procedures need revision.

1.2.a: (2012): draft Electoral Law to the MoJ submitted as well as sound and timely input to the Government on revision of electoral laws provided upon request (2013): updating of electoral regulations and procedures with regard to the voter registration process (2013-2015): revision of electoral regulations and procedures for electoral operations related to 2014 and 2015 elections 1.2.b: (2013): codes of conduct for ethical/electoral Codes of Conducts for Electoral Officers, Observers, Media, Political Parties, Security Forces reviewed and finalized in a consultative manner (2014-2015): review of codes of conduct based on experiences and lessons learnt from the 2014 elections

IEC -


1.2.a. endorsement of new/revised

Electoral/Structure Law and/or electoral decrees

1.2.b. consultation meetings with relevant stakeholders to discuss

CoC drafts

1.2.a.b. identification (and internal reporting) of electoral regulations/CoC that need to be devevloped/revised. Submission of all developed/revised regulations/CoC through internal reporting to E-II project M&E Specialist

quarterly

66

Indicator 1.3.a: number of IEC newly constructed well-functioning and secured provincial offices

Indicator 1.3.b: number of additional (permanent) infrastructure construction works at HQ level

Indicator 1.3.c: the extent to which security at IEC premises (HQ / provinces) is established.

Baseline 1.3.a: The IEC owns five offices and warehouses in the provinces)

Baseline 1.3.a: Tthe IEC owns five offices and warehouses in the provinces)

Baseline 1.3.c: Physical security of IEC premises weak at several provincial offices and need to be reviewed at HQ level; Weak security access SoPs; No IEC guard force exists. Access to IEC HQ controlled by ANP.

1.3.a: (2012): Security features of 10 IEC provincial premises upgraded (2013): Construction of first batch (9) of provincial premises (offices and warehouses) initiated (2014): 9 provincial premises (first batch) are constructed (proper quality certification) and are well-functioning. Construction of second batch (15) initiated. (2015): 24 provincial premises are constructed (proper quality certification) according to plan and are well-functioning. 1.3.b: (2013-2014) Construction of the training centre, data centre and security upgrades to the IEC HQ undertaken. 1.3.c: (2012) Security upgrades of 10 provincial offices (2103) A 40 person IEC guard force is established and trained to control access to IEC HQ and to manage security in the inner parameter. Continued security upgrades at HQ and in different provinces. (203-2015) Security related SOPs are established and implemented and continuously updated.

IEC -


1.3.a.b. site control; procurement + selection

construction firms; construction progress

inspection; final inspection; certification of completion of works

1.3.a.b. Site survey and inspection. Formal delivery statements before finalizing payments/contracts. Internal reporting to E-II project M&E Specialist

quarterly

Indicator 1.4.a: of female/male temporary and permanent IEC staff members for the following categories: a. fixed term staff+ long-term temporary staff, b. trainers, c. civic educators, d. district field coordinators (DFC), e. voter registration staff, f. polling day staff


Indicator 1.4.c: the number of

Baseline 1.4a : a. April 2013: a. fixed term staff+ long-term permanent staff: 57 women over 423 men (11%);

2010 elections: b) no baseline data found; c) civic educators 31% women (besides 7% Kuchis); d) DFC 19% (besides 6% Kuchis); e, f) no baseline data found.

Baseline 1.4b: NO gender strategy in place

Baseline 1.3.c: NA

1.4.a: at least 20% of all fixed term staff + long-term temporary IEC staff are women by 2015; b. trainers : to be decided in annual M&E plans depending upon VR/elections plan ; c. at least 40% of all civic educators are women; d. at least 30% of all DFCs are women; e. at least 25% of voter registration staff are women; f. at least 35% of polling day staff are women

1.4.b: (2012) development of a gender strategy

(2013) gender issues such as setting

IEC -


Development, implementation IEC

training and capacity building plan.

Completion Capacity Needs Assessment. Review of TCB plan

based on Capacity Needs Assessment.

IEC staff survey Annual and once in every two weeks.

67

internal IEC thematic working groups that engage in a meaningful way gender issues and sensitivities

up of separate registration centers for women, distributing information material targeting women to register, hiring of women registrations staff etc. are addressed and incorporated in the voter registration plan and campaign



1.4.c: at least 10 on an annual basis

68

Output 2: A sustainable,

long-term approach to

voter registration in Afghanistan,

which also promotes maximum

participation of eligible

citizens in the 2014 and

2015 elections, is developed

and implemented.

(Atlas Project

ID ELECTII #00080394;

ELECT I #00050324)

Indicator 2.1.a: Number of new eligible voters enfranchised with voter ID cards Indicator 2.1.b: Percentage of women registered as new voters

Baseline 2.1.a: 500,000 new voter ID cards were issued during the 2009/10 top-up exercise; only conducted at provincial capital level and following a wide-scale registration campaign in 2008 that issued 4.5 million VR cards. Baseline 2.1.b: previous voter registration campaigns appeared to have unreliable percentages of women

2.1.a: (2013-2014) 2.5 million new voters are enfranchised with new VR cards (1.5m in 2013/ 1m in 2014) (2013-2014) IEC supported in developing fraud mitigation plan for the 2014 and 2015 elections.

2.1.b. (2013-2014): 30 % of the newly registered voters are women

IEC -

ELECT II STA Pillar II

According to IEC voter registration plan

VR process reports from IEC; VR observers; Specific reports on VR update

Upon completion of the different phases of the VR

Indicator 2.2: the extent to which the IEC engages in on-going dialogues with MoI to make the e-tazkira long-term database as a long-term solution for the generation of a VR database

Baseline 2.2: to be defined once the e-tazkira project is established and implemented

2.2: (2013-2015) to be defined upon establishing e-tazkira registration project

IEC -

ELECT II STA Pillar II

to be defined

IEC reports; update on correspondence letters with MoI/ MoCIT ; minutes of meetings; ELECT II donor TWG-PBM minutes

after every step taken by IEC

69

Output 3: The

engagement and informational outreach with key stakeholders and the electorate is enhanced. (Atlas Project ID ELECTII #00080395)

Indicator 3.1.a: Means of different public outreach methods developed and implemented by the IEC Indicator 3.1.b: Number of public outreach activities that specifically target women Indicator 3.1.c: Number of participants reached through direct public outreach activities Indicator 3.1.d.: Number of participants reached through indirect public outreach activities

Baseline 3.1.a-d: Survey and Stakeholder Assessment along with secondary data obtained from external stakeholder data (i.e., Asia Foundation Survey, Democracy International

Landscape Study); Previous POD mechanisms; and quality of targeted messages and materials

3.1.a: (2013-2015) targets to be determined separately for 2013 VR, 2014 elections and 2015 elections, based on related public outreach strategies. (ranging from: radio PSA, TV PSA, radio drama, TV/radio round table, call centre, sms, mobile theatre, printed materials) 3.1.b: (2013-2015) targets to be determined separately for 2013 VR, 2014 elections and 2015 elections, based on related public outreach strategies. 3.1.c: (2013-2015) targets to be determined separately for 2013 VR, 2014 elections and 2015 elections, based on related public outreach strategies. 3.1.d: (2013-2015) targets to be determined separately for 2013 VR, 2014 elections and 2015 elections, based on related public outreach strategies.

IEC -

ELECT II STA Pillar III

Stakeholder Survey and Development and implementation IEC PO plan for 2013 VR, 2014 elections, 2015 elections, respectively. Procurement of implementing companies of PO plans. Follow-up and production of end-of-campaign catalogue for each electoral operation.

PO plan and implementation progress reports for VR and 2014, 2015 elections; reports from contracting agencies

before, during, after each electoral operation (VR, 2014-2015 elections)

70

Indicator 3.2.a: number of consultative dialogues, inclusive and across the country, that take place with all key stakeholders on relevant electoral issues and plans Indicator 3.2.b: number of consultative dialogues that include gender elements Indicator 3.2.c: number of consultative dialogues with women groups on wide range of electoral issues and processes

Baseline 3.2: zero stakeholder interactions were in the past neither always systematically structured not consultative.

3.2.a: (2012-2015) At least 10 consultative stakeholder meetings a year with all relevant partners, take place in Kabul and at all the regional centres (depending on the security). 3.2.b. (2012-2015) At least half of all the consultative stakeholder meetings include a gender component 3.2.c. (2012-2015) At least 3 stakeholder meetings with women groups on annual basis

IEC -


Development and implementation of External Relations strategy and plan; Stakeholder/Media events (consultations, meetings, press releases, etc); Stakeholders assessment;

Presentations; update of ES strategy/plans; minutes of stakeholder events; survey report; participation by ELECT II Advisors; internal reporting

event-based + summarized in biweekly internal ELECT II reports.

Indicator 3.3.a: establishment of vetting mechanism and procedures in advance of the launch of the candidate nomination process. Indicator 3.3.b: Percentage of provincial IEC offices that are ready in a timely manner to roll out the candidate nomination process on the agreed date

Baseline 3.3.a: NA Baseline 3.3.b: NA

3.3.a: (2013-14) the vetting mechanism and procedures are established in advance of the launch of the candidate nomination process, for the 2014 and 2015 election, respectively 3.3.b: (2013-2014) All provincial IEC offices (100%) are ready to roll out the candidate nomination process on the agreed date for the 2014 and 2015 elections, respectively -Number of complaints received by the ECC related to candidate nomination processes is reduced

IEC -


launch of candidate nomination - finalisation of candidate nomination (drawing the ballots)

Candidate Nominations progress reports

before, during, after CN for 2014 and 2015 elections.

71

Indicator 3.4.a: ratio of female/male temporary and permanent IEC staff members for the following categories: a. fixed term staff, b.+ long-term temporary staff, b. trainers, c. civic educators, d. district field coordinators (DFC), e. voter registration staff, and f. polling day staff

Indicator 3.4.b: the extent to which gender mainstreaming is implemented in line with the strategic plan and the gender strategy Indicator 3.4.c: the number of internal IEC thematic working groups that engage in a meaningful way gender issues and sensitivities

Baseline 3.4.a: April 2013: a. fixed term staff+ long-term permanent staff: a-b) 57 women over 423 men (11%); 2010 elections: c) no baseline data found; d) civic educators 31% women (besides 7% Kuchis); DFC 19% (besides 6% Kuchis); g, h, i) no baseline data found. Baseline 3.4.b.: no gender strategy in place Baseline 3.4.c: NA


3.4.b: (2012) development of a gender strategy




3.4.c: at least 10 on an annual basis

IEC -


Development and implementation of Gender Strategy, internally IEC institution, VR, 2014, 2014 elections, respecitvely

Internal Gender reports; VR reports; IEC HR reports; Electoral operations process reports; presentations; minutes of events/meetings; participation by ELECT II Advisors; internal reporting by Advisor

event-based + summarized in biweekly internal ELECT II reports.

72

Output 4: The

operational management functions and the project support services are provided in a transparent, efficient and effective manner (Atlas Project ID ELECTII #00080396)

Indicator 4.1:

opinion on the

operational management Indicator 4.1b: micro-capacity assessment of the IEC shows enhanced operational capacity of the IEC

Baseline 4.1b: no micro-capacity assessment of the IEC undertaken.

Baseline 4.1: unqualified auditor report Baseline 4.2: No micro-capacity on IEC done

4.1a. (2012-2013-2014-2015) The IEC has an unqualified audit report 4.1b. (2014) Micro-capacity assessment undertaken at the end of 2014 shows an enhancement of operational capacity of the IEC (as compared to the DFID due diligence and other assessments conducted earlier)

(2015) Micro-capacity assessment undertaken at the end of 2015 demonstrate about x% of IEC capacity in maintaining its operations without support.

IEC -


audits; ongoing and tailored capacity development of E-II advisors to IEC operations departments, micro capacity assessment.

audit reports annual

Indicator 4.2. the extent to which the project is efficiently and effectively managed a) in terms of transparency:

opinion; b) efficiency: delivery rate; and c) effectiveness: percentage of project outputs according to work plan; d) the number of regular and documented project board meetings; e)

Baseline 4.2: NA

4.2. (2012-2013-2014-2015) a) unqualified project audit report rating; b) at least 80% project budget execution; c) 100% compliance with monitoring, evaluation and reporting plans; d) minimum of quarterly documented project board meetings (including virtual PBs); e) certification of payments to the IEC.

ELECT II Operations

Manager

audits; project board meetings

audit reports / project board meeting minutes

annual / quarterly

73

quality of payments to the IEC

Indicator 4.3. Quality and timeliness of support services for electoral activities

Baseline 4.3: NA

4.3 (2012-2013-2014-2015) support services for electoral activities (2013 VR; 2014 elections; 2015 elections) is provided in a timely and qualitative manner

ELECT II Operations

Manager

procurement, finance, transportation, and translation/interpretation services

event-wise

bi-weekly or monthly internal ELECT II reporting to E-II project M&E person

Output 5: The conduct of polling, counting and result management operations by the IEC is improved

Indicator 5.1: the successfulness of the conduct of the 2014 and 2015 elections, measured by qualitative assessment in observer reports; and by statistical reporting and procedural and administrative error reduction

Baseline 5.1: qualitative statements in the observer reports of the 2009 presidential and 2010 parliamentary elections, respectively

5.1: (2014) improved statistical reporting and procedural and administrative error reduction measured, as well as qualitative statements in observer reports, regarding Presidential and Provincial Council elections (2014-2015) Observer reports reflect improved electoral administration and processes.

(2015) improved statistical reporting and procedural and administrative error reduction measured, as well as qualitative statements in observer reports,

IEC -

ELECT II CTA / STA Pillar II

Development and implementation of electoral operation plan 2014 elections 2015 elections

observer and evaluation reports

ad hoc after each election

74

regarding Wolesi Jirga and District Council elections

Indicator 5.2: the quality of the results management strategy and the extent to which the results management implementation adheres to the strategy.

Baseline 5.2: poor result management strategy during 2009 and 2010 elections

5.2: (2013) develop a results management strategy that includes proper results certification and communication mechanisms to release partial, temporary and certified/uncertified results after the Presidential and Provincial Council elections (2014) IEC implements the results management strategy. (2014) Based on 2014 experience and lessons learnt, improve the results management strategy, including proper results certification and communication mechanisms, to release partial, temporary and certified/uncertified results after the Wolesi Jirga and District Council elections

IEC -


Development and implementation of results management plan 2014 elections 2015 elections Post-election evaluation

observer and evaluation reports; media reports; internal evaluation reports

ad hoc after each election

Indicator 5.3.a: percentage of polling centres physically verified and with GIS mapped Indicator 5.3.b: the extent to which the IEC is engaged in the government

Baseline 5.3.a: zero Baseline 5.3.b: No official district boundaries established

5.3.a: (2012) 50% of all polling centre locations physically verified (2013) 100% of all polling centre locations mapped with GIS 5.3.b: (2014) establishment of a coordination mechanism with IDLG and AGCHO on electoral boundary delimitation (2015) IEC contributes to the formalization of the district boundaries for the district council elections

IEC -


GIS mapping of polling centres consultation platform between different government agencies, including IEC, regarding district boundary delimitation

periodic internal GIS progress reports; correspondence letters and minutes of meetings consultation platform

biweekly

75

boundary delimitation policy

Output 6 The electoral dispute resolution mechanisms of the electoral process are enhanced

Indicator 6.1.a. timely establishment and full staffing at HQ and in the provinces of an electoral dispute resolution body Indicator 6.1.b. the extent to which regulations and operating procedures are developed in a qualitative and timely manner Indicator 6.1.c. timely establishment of a coordination mechanism between the IEC and the electoral dispute resolution mechanism to address electoral complaints

Baseline a.: 6 months before polling day no structures exist Baseline b,c,d: NA

6.1.a (2013) Electoral dispute resolution mechanism is fully established and staffed in all provincial offices and HQ by October 2013 6.1.b. (2013-2015) Systems, procedures and processes developed/revised and implemented for filing, hearing and resolving complaints and appeals. Improvement of the triage system for dispute handling (2014-2015) Improved perception of the ECC as the electoral adjudication body

6.1.c. (2014-2015) establishment of a coordination mechanism between the IEC and the electoral dispute resolution mechanism to address electoral complaints

(2014-2015) The coordination mechanism ensures strengthened and timely performance of the ECC in electoral adjudication.

6.1.d. (2013-2015) unqualified asset audit

(to be decided)

Establishment dispute resolution mechanism End of year/project audit

Dispute resolution mechanism reports End of year/project audit


76

Indicator 6.1.d. the extent of proper assets management of the electoral dispute resolution body

Output 7 The electoral media regulatory mechanisms are enhanced

Indicator 7.1.a timely establishment and fully staffing of media regulatory body Indicator 7.1.b. the extent to which regulations and operating procedures are developed in a qualitative and timely manner

Baseline a.: 1 month before polling day Baseline b: NA Baseline c: 45 days after closing of elections

7.1.a (2013) Media regulatory body fully established and staffed (1 month before campaign period) 7.1.b. (2013-2015) Media monitoring systems, procedures and processes developed/revised and implemented

Perception of the media commission as a body for proper media monitoring is enhanced.

7.1.c. (2014-2015) Final Media Commission report released 45 days after closing of the 2014 and 2015 elections, respectively

IEC -

ELECT II CTA


Media Commission reports End of year/project audit

End of the year/project audit

77

Indicator 7.1.c.timeliness of the release of Commission report.

78

12. ANNEX III: ELECT II ORGANIGRAM

79

13. ANNEX IV: IEC PERMANENT (TASHKEEL) STAFF

Location Number

IEC HQ (Kabul) 142

Badakhshan 4

Badgh 2

Baghlan 4

Balkh 5

Bamyan 5

Farah 3

Faryab 4

Ghazni 4

Herat 4

Helmand 3

Jozjan 4

Kandahar 4

Kapisa 4

Khost 4

Kunar 4

Kunduz 5

Laghman 4

Logar 4

Nangarhar 4

Nimroz 4

Paktia 5

80

Parwan 3

Samangan 4

Sar-e-pull 4

Takhar 4

Urzgan 4

Wardak 4

Zabul 4

81

14. ANNEX V: CONDUCT OF 2014 PRESIDENTIAL AND PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS: COST BREAKDOWN BY OUPTUT

The table below shows cost breakdown across outputs and years for the conduct of the 2014 presidential and provincial council elections.

For detailed breakdown of cost categories, please refer to the excel sheet attached.

Presidential and Provincial Council Elections

Output Totals 2012 2013 2014 2015 Output 01 Institutional Development

$ - $ - $ 8,259,220

$ -


$ - $ - $ 491,744

$ -

1.2 legal

$ - $ - $ 307,982

$ -

1.3 Infrastructure

$ - $ - $ 6,132,994

$ -


$ - $ - $ 1,326,500

$ -

Output 02 VR

$ - $ - $ 2,473,511

$ -

2.1 VR operation

$ - $ - $ 2,328,511

$ -

2.2 E-Tazkera

$ - $ - $ 145,000

$ -


$ -

$ 470,901 $ 19,421,501

$ -

3.1 POD campaigns

$ - $ - $ 16,220,610

$ -


$ - $ - $ 2,489,009

$ -


$ -

$ 470,901 $ -

$ -

3.4 Gender

$ - $ - $ 711,882

$ -

82


$ - $ - $ 14,207,856

$ -

4.1 IEC costs

$ - $ - $ 9,016,818

$ -


$ - $ - $ 4,540,687

$ -


$ - $ - $ 650,350

$ -

Output 05 Election operational support

$ - $ - $ 72,940,802

$ -


$ - $ - $ 71,774,675

$ -


$ - $ - $ 919,876

$ -


$ - $ - $ 246,251

$ -


$ - $ 6,338,846 $ 4,225,898

$ -

6.1 support to EDR

$ - $ 6,338,846 $ 4,225,898

$ -


$ -

$ 434,840 $ 866,142

$ -

7.1 support to MC

$ -

$ 434,840 $ 866,142

$ -

Total

-

$7,244,587

$122,394,929

Grand Total $129,639,516

83

15. ANNEX VI: CONDUCT OF 2015 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS: COST BREAKDOWN BY OUPUT

The table below shows cost breakdown across outputs and years for the conduct of the 2015 parliamentary elections.

For detailed breakdown of cost categories, please refer to the excel sheet attached.

Parliamentary Elections

Output Totals 2012 2013 2014 2015 Output 01 Institutional Development

$ -

$ - $ 680,883 $ 7,190,187


$ -

$ - $ 133,376 $ 311,210

1.2 legal

$ -

$ - $ 95,472 $ 222,769

1.3 Infrastructure

$ -

$ - $ 182,742 $ 5,426,398


$ -

$ - $ 269,293 $ 1,229,811

Output 02 VR

$ -

$ - $ 64,695 $ 150,956

2.1 VR operation

$ -

$ - $ 64,695 $ 150,956

2.2 E-Tazkera

$ -

$ - $ - $ 145,000


$ -

$ - $ 864,536 $ 17,566,898

3.1 POD campaigns

$ -

$ - $ 503,855 $ 13,736,925


$ -

$ - $ 278,639 $ 2,156,483


$ -

$ - $ - $ 1,020,659

84

3.4 Gender

$ -

$ - $ 82,042 $ 652,831


$ -

$ - $ 3,440,943 $ 12,986,487

4.1 IEC costs

$ -

$ - $ 1,798,960 $ 9,155,193


$ -

$ - $ 1,481,547 $ 3,311,942


$ -

$ - $ 160,437 $ 374,353

Output 05 Election operational support

$ -

$ - $ 6,268,497 $ 50,668,743


$ -

$ - $ 6,104,330 $ 49,570,061


$ -

$ - $ 83,284 $ 906,353


$ -

$ - $ 80,884 $ 192,328


$ -

$ - $ 1,879,956 $ 5,639,867

6.1 support to EDR

$ -

$ - $ 1,879,956 $ 5,639,867


$ -

$ - $ 303,680 $ 853,534

7.1 support to MC

$ -

$ - $ 303,680 $ 853,534

Total

$13,503,190.67 $95,056,671.84

Grand Total $108,559,862.51

85

16. ANNEX VII: RISK LOG

1. INTENDED OUTPUTS AND

ACTIVITIES

Risk No. 2. DESCRIPTION OF RISK Type of risk Likelihood Impact

Risk Level 3. MITIGATION MEASURES

Output 1:

The IEC’s institutional competencies, systems and facilities are improved.

4. ACTIVITY 1.1 Support the IEC in sustainable strengthening of its institutional capacity via its strategic plan and upgrade of knowledge, information, decision making and data management systems.

1

The continued uncertainty of the (re-)appointment of commissioners will result in a lack of leadership and decision making capability which will reduce the effectiveness of the IEC as an independent organisation.

Regulatory Moderately

Likely (3) Severe (4) High

Government to be encouraged to finalise appointments and provide sustainable leadership as early as possible.

2

Lack of broad consultative processes to appoint commissioners will raise concerns regarding the impartiality and legitimacy of the electoral process, independence of the IEC, and population’s acceptance of the final outcomes.

Political / Regulatory

Moderately Likely (3)

Severe (4) High

Outside the ability of UNDP or the IEC to control or mitigate against this risk.

3

UNDP needs to attract and retain highly qualified professional staff – inability to retain staff will result in disruptions to process, loss of corporate knowledge and poor provision of advice to the IEC.

Organizational Moderately

Likely (3) Moderate

(3) Medium

Timely recruitment processes, market competitive remuneration, security management, competent financial management systems and adequate accommodation and office facilities will increase morale and motivation of staff to stay the course of the project.

4

Knowledge and archive management system platform may not be implemented in time and/or IEC staff not familiarized with it to inform decision making processes.

Operational Unlikely (2) Moderate

(3) low

Recruitment of project Knowledge and Archive Advisor to be prioritized.

Construction of new server room in 2013. IEC staff trained and familiarized with updating and use of archive and knowledge management system.

5

Data centre system for processing of electoral data – VR, candidate nomination and tally – could face challenges to implement in time for the Presidential elections.

Operational Unlikely (2) Severe (4) Medium

Advance planning, pilot testing, implementation in time and follow-up. Construction of data center to be completed at least one month prior to election day

6 Historical and updated current electoral data is inaccurate resulting in flawed or delayed decision making processes.

Operational Moderately

Likely (3) Moderate

(3) Medium

Reverification of data as needed.

Training and quality control of field

86

staff.

5. ACTIVITY 1.2 Support IEC’s engagement in legal reform and improvement of its regulatory framework.

7

Any changes to existing legal framework affecting electoral processes may occur too close to the elections in order for the IEC to harmonize its electoral regulations and policies in time.

Regulatory Likely (4) Severe (4) High

Actively encourage government to conduct any electoralreforms in a timely manner.

8

Kuchi Constituencies. Changes to the electoral law assigning only ten voting constituencies to the Kuchi population will potentially disenfranchise a significant minority population and negate attempts at gender and minority inclusion for political representation. The ensuing late planning will also impact on the IEC ability to ensure operational inclusion of the Kuchi population and could lead to potential boycott of the elections by this group. It could also risk accusations of lack of protection of voting rights.

Regulatory Likely (4) Moderate

(3) High

IEC and international donors need to WolesiJirga encourage resolving the issue of Kuchi constituencies in order to allow effective planning and public outreach. IEC and donors need to encourage government to facilitate this aspect of the electoral law in a timely fashion.

6. ACTIVITY 1.3 Support the upgrade of the IEC’s physical infrastructure and security at HQ and in the provinces.

9 All planned construction works at HQ and provincial offices may not be completed according to plan.

Operational / Security

Unlikely (2) Moderate

(3) Low

Recruitment of engineering and design staff to be prioritized.

Procurement process to be allocated appropriate resources to ensure contracting firms complete works on time – ideally before the winter season.

Prioritization of construction works according to security threat level.

Activity 1.4

Support the professional training and development of IEC staff.

10

The Civil Service Commission Reform proposals may adversely affect the employment of existing IEC staff members that could result in loss of experienced manpower and disruption to existing staffing levels.

Regulatory Unlikely (2) Moderate

(3) Low

Discussions to continue with Civil Service Commission to only apply new measures to existing vacancies and to postpone full implementation until after the 2015 elections.

11

Political pressure on senior IEC staff members to conform to political agendas resulting in a perception (or reality) of a lack of IEC independence and impartiality. Demotivation or loss of key staff will severely hamper IEC effectiveness.

Political Likely (4) Severe (4) High

Appeal to government to respect the institutional and operational independence of the IEC. Extra efforts by the IEC to ensure implementation of elections according to law and ethical election operations according to codes of conduct.

12 Competing priorities to ensure effective conduct of the elections and to attend to training

Organizational / Operational

Likely (4) Minor (2) Medium Key dates for electoral activities need to be observed when training and

87

professional development activities may result in the latter not being achieved for key staff or key staff absences during criticaloperational periods.

development activities are being developed.

13

The lack of training and development opportunities, fair salary structures, effective performance management procedures and institutional belonging may result in a high turnover of staff, corruption of internal systems, affect the credibility and reputation of the IEC and politically damage the electoral process.



Formulate and adopt an internal performance management tool.

Identify the performance gaps and tailor make training and development opportunities.

Ensure fair market salary structures.

Recruit and promote only those staff members who are qualified and achieve required outcomes.

Celebrate success as an institution and reward departments, teams and individuals who delivered successful organizational objectives.

88

Output 2:

A sustainable, long-term approach to voter registration in Afghanistan, which also promotes maximum participation of eligible citizens in the 2014 and 2015 elections, is developed and implemented.

7. ACTIVITY 2.1 Support the IEC in the development and implementation of its voter registration operational plan.

14 The “top-up” voter registration is insufficient to establish an improved voter registry and guarantee voting rights

Political / Strategic

Very Likely (5) Severe (4) Very High

Close coordination with Government to facilitate support to “top-up” voter registration plan.

Engagement with MoI process to retract voter registration data from e-Tazkira as longer term objective.

Effective complaints commission in place to address voting rights complaints.

15 Insecurity at the Voter Registration Centres may deter potential voters to register in a safe and secure environment.

Security Likely (4) Severe (4) High

Close coordination and planning with ANSF (including ongoing security assessments) and implementation of the IEC Security Operation Centres at the HQ and provincial level.

16

Delayed procurement and logistics planning and/or implementation hinders timely arrival of voter registration materials at the voter registration centres in a timely manner.

Operational Unlikely Severe (4) Medium

Proper procurement and logistics planning. Logistics department to continually track arrival of materiel.

ANP to provide security support to road movements.

17

Voter registration materiel may not arrive/return at its intended destination or be misappropriated due to insecurity or actions of anti- government elements.

Security Moderately

Likely (3) Moderate

(3) Medium

IEC Security Coordination Centre to coordinate with ANSF resources to provide escort for VR materiel to final destination.

ANSF to allocate appropriate resources according to its risk assessment of VR Centres.

18 IEC is unable to recruit the required number of staff to conduct the voter registration exercise.

Socio Cultural Likely (4) Severe (4) High

Secure the cooperation of influential community figures (including religious and tribal leaders) to encourage qualified people, including women, to work with the IEC.

Deploy voter registration staff in their home districts.

Ensure proper payment for services is conducted according to expectations of time and amount.

19 Data collected through forms not accurate Operational Likely (4) Moderate Medium Improvement of training and

89

Output 3:

The IEC’s engagement and informational outreach with key stakeholders and the electorate is enhanced

9. ACTIVITY 3.1 Support the development and implementation of the IEC’s public outreach campaign and activities.

21

Security situation impedes the dissemination of voter registration materials and/or messages which discourages political dialogue and reduces public awareness.

Security Likely (4) Moderate

(3) High

More significant reliance on broadcast media and recalibrating interactive messaging in line with local security conditions.

22

Women’s civil society networks have insufficient reach to disseminate targeted messages to all provinces due to cultural marginalization of women that reduces or negates their participation in public life. Significant portion of the voting public uninformed and potentially disenfranchised.

Socio Cultural Very Likely (5) Severe (4) Very High

IEC and civil society groups to obtain buy-in and seek support and involvement of other electoral stakeholders, including village elders and religious leaders to underscore importance of safeguards for voting rights for women.

23

Public awareness of electoral processes remains low due to high levels of illiteracy leading to a voting public vulnerable to political manipulation.

Socio Cultural Very Likely (5) Moderate

(3) High

Use of a wide range of non-written materials in voter education campaigns, including stakeholder consultation, broad cast media, face-to-face voter education and mobile theatre.

10. ACTIVITY 3.2 Support the IEC’s structured engagement with key stakeholders and the strategic media communication.

24

Poor and unstructured engagement with key stakeholders by the IEC, unwillingness of stakeholders to engage with the IEC, and lack of a strategic media communication hampers credible communication with stakeholders and

general public.

Operational Moderate likely (3)

Moderate (3)

Medium

Continued development and implementation of structured, consultative, and inclusive dialogues with stakeholders to establish an environment of trust. Development and implementation of effective broadcast communications strategies

Activity 3.3

Support the IEC’s management of the 25

Late delivery of candidate nomination materiel may delay the process of candidate nomination.

Operational Unlikely (2) Moderate

(3) Low

Early planning, material procurement and supplier on time delivery is required.

leading to inaccurate voter registration data (3) monitoring of VR field staff to have accurate data collection.

8. ACTIVITY 2.2 Support the IEC in synthesizing its work with the MoI so that the e-tazkira database becomes the long-term solution as a voter registration data base.

20 The e-tazkira process is unable to produce a useable voter register for the IEC’s purposes

Political Likely (4) Moderate

(3) Medium

IEC takes initiatives to establish coordination mechanism with other relevant agencies to maximize synergies.

90

candidate nomination process.

26

Vetting of candidates may not be fair or thorough enough to ensure all candidates are eligible or prevent unfounded denial of candidacies. This may result in accusations of bias, fraud, political corruption and legal proceedings which will delay or obstructs the process, and challenges the rights to candidacy.


Likely (3) Moderate

(3) Medium

The integrity of the IEC and responsible institutions for candidate vetting depends on a thorough/ credibleand objective/legal process.

27

Candidate nomination material may be misappropriated by anti-government elements and fail to arrive at intended destination as well as retrieval to HQ.

Security Moderately

Likely (3) Moderate

(3) Medium

IEC Security Coordination Centre to coordinate with ANSF to ensure protection of candidate nomination materiel.

28 Technical inability to safeguard candidate nomination at provincial level.


Very likely (5) Severe (4) High

Timely and proper recruitment, training and accountability measures to ensure effective and impartial performance of provincial external relations officers.

11. ACTIVITY 3.4 Support the IEC’s Gender Unit and the Public Outreach Department gender focal point in promoting gender mainstreaming in the electoral process and institutional practices.

29

Gender mainstreaming in planning and implementation of electoral processes and operations is not given serious conceptualizationor maintained as a priority.


Likely (4) Moderate

(3) High

IEC senior management maintains gender mainstreaming as a clear priority in relation to electoral operations.

The project strongly supports the IEC to conceptualize and implement gender perspectives as a standard practice incorporated in all planning and implementation of electoral operations based on the IEC gender strategy.

30

Institutional gender mainstreaming messages are not resonating in IEC departments due to the deep seated traditional and cultural exclusion of women in professional and public life.

Organizational Likely (4) Severe (4) High

IEC to publically provide strong support and leadership to ensure mandatory inclusion of gender mainstreaming in all internal policies, including recruitment activities.

Coordinate the work of the Gender unit/focal point with the Ministry of Womenand civil society organisations.

31 IEC fails to recruit and/or promote qualified female staff to ensure gender balance in the HQ and field structures.

Socio Cultural / Organizational


Specific incentives may be required to encourage female applicants until such time as gender balance is achieved.

The lack of women participants in the professional life of the IEC

91

requires active promotion by senior staff and encouragement and acceptance of a woman’s presence in the workforce. The IEC policy that promotes gender balance amongst electoral and administrative staff to be further implemented

92

Output 4:

The IEC’s operational management functions and the project support services are provided in a transparent, efficient and effective manner

Activity 4.1

Support the operational costs of the IEC and the enhancement of the management systems and procedures.

32 Weak internal oversight may result in misappropriation or inappropriate use of funds.


Likely (3) Moderate

(3) Medium

Oversight mechanisms to be put in place and implemented.

Development of good management practices and Standard Operating Procedures to systematize processes within and between departments according to government procedures.

33

Preparation for electoral operations delayed due to time-bound activities and procedures being placed on the ‘on-budget’ modality.

MoF control of funds for operational management of the IEC may result in actual or perceived undermining of the independence of the IEC where funds can be used to support or deny the operational effectiveness.

Strategic Likely (4) Moderate

(3) High

The electoral operations budget should remain under control of the IEC to reduce misuse of funds for political purposes, fraudulent use of funds and to provide more efficient use without the need to confront bureaucratic obstacles within and between different government departments. The IEC should discuss with MoF to at least retain financial responsibility of sensitive and time-bound electoral activities

34 Lack of / poor mutual cooperation or political willbetween the different governmental agencies contributes to ineffective management.

Strategic Likely (4) Severe (4) High

As above, or a gradual transition to on-treasury budget processes, maintaining independence of IEC.

12. ACTIVITY 4.2 Conduct efficient and effective management of project resources.

35 Insufficient or delayed donor resources create difficulties to implement operational activities according to tight electoral timetable.

Strategic Moderately Likely (3)

Critical (5) High

Proactive resource mobilization together with UNDP CO.

Active donor involvement to ensure budget approvals process remains on target.

36 Delays in full implementation of the project’s internal functions for procurement, HR , finance and resource management


Very unlikely (1)

Severe (4) Low Proper project management oversight together with UNDP CO

37 Assets are not recorded accurately, unable to be secured.Current inventories are inaccurate or diverted inappropriately.

Operational Likely (4) Moderate

(3) High

Permanent secured warehousing remains problematic in some provinces. The IEC physical upgrades plan to be implemented.

Development of an accurate asset data base is essential and SOPs for

93

safe custody and tracking to be implemented.

38 Financial resources may be misappropriated without robust financial management tracking systems.


Likely (3) Moderate

(3) Medium

Implement computerized financial management tracking system with appropriate control and oversight mechanisms together with UNDP CO.

13. ACTIVITY 4.3 Provide direct operational support to electoral activities

39 Procurement of goods is delayed and hinders electoral operations within the electoral timeline

Operational Very unlikely

(1) Critical (5) Low

Proactive, timely and strengthened procurement approach according to UNDP regulations

94

Output 5:

The conduct of polling, counting and result management operations by the IEC is improved

14. ACTIVITY 5.1 Support the development and implementation of the IEC’s electoral operation plan procedures and provide direct implementation support to the 2014 and 2015 elections.

40

The political and security situation deteriorates to the extent that a significant proportion of constituencies cannot be accessed without major risk to personnel.

Security / Political Likely (4) Critical (5) Very High

Mitigation of harm to IEC personnel can only occur using the early warning systems of the ANSF and security personnel and appropriate ANP and ANA resource allocation to the known threat.

Risk assessments must be undertaken by both IEC and UNDP security staff (in relation to UNDP personnel) and appropriate mitigation measures fully supported by management.

Political decisions which may lead to a deterioration of the security situation are outside the control of the IEC.

41 Widespread occurrence of fraud during the electoral operations

Political Likely (4) Severe (4) High

Fraud deterrence and detection measures are improved compared to the 2009/2010 elections

42

The IEC continues to be challenged with attracting and retaining motivated and/or qualified staff who fail to step up to the management of the electoral system without external support.

Organizational Likely (4) Severe (4) High

Capacity development to be assessed and human resource development activities implemented. Civil Service Commission plans to restructure should be gradually introduced to ensure increased educational standards and intellectual capacity to be employed at the IEC beyond the 2014-2015 electoral timeline.

HR policies should motivate staff to produce best performance.

43 Security of polling centres cannot be guaranteed and a significant number

Security Likely (4) Critical (5) Very High

MoI/ANSF is responsible for overall election security. ANSF

95

may be closed due to insecurity resulting in disenfranchisement of associated populations.

are responsible to secure polling centres however a number are already outside of government control and concerted efforts to disrupt the activities of the polling centres will occur on polling day. Close coordination and accurate risk assessments will help to prevent loss of life and assets.

44

UNDP ELECT II staff at risk due to deteriorating security situation and increased public activity of the electoral processes increases the profile of UNDP ELECT staff putting them at risk of security incidents.

Security Likely (4) Critical (5) Very High

UNDP ELECT security specialists located at HQ and in each region to ensure the provisions of the UN Security Management System are implemented and risk assessments are routinely conducted.

45

Distribution of electoral material may be affected by weather circumstances, people may not be able to reach polling stations or rapid transmission of results may be hindered.

Environmental Moderately

Likely (3) Moderate

(3) Medium

Early forecasting by ISAF meteorologists may assist planning alternate methods of delivery or retrieval of materiels if road movements prevented. Very difficult to mitigate to provide alternate polling centres to populations unable to travel due to weather.

46

Polling centres do not represent the actual distribution of the population resulting in possible disenfranchisement of voting populations due to incorrect number or location of polling centres.

Political / Operational Likely (4) Severe (4) High

Verify polling centre locations and confirm match to population data from the Afghan Central Statistics Office.

47

Delayed logistic planning and/or implementation hinders timely arrival of election materials at thepollingcentres in a timely manner.

Operational Unlikely (2) Severe (4) Medium

Proper procurement and logistics planning. Logistics department to continually track arrival of materiel.

ANP to provide security support to road movements.

48 IEC is unable to recruit the required number of qualified staff.

Socio-Cultural Likely (4) Severe (4) High Secure cooperation of influential community leaders

96

(religious and tribal leaders and other)to encourage qualified people, including women, to work with the IEC. Deploy staff in their home districts. Ensure payment for services is conducted according to expectations of time and amount.

49

Polling centres cannot be identified at HQ level due to inaccurate location data resulting in incorrect delivery of electoral materiel to intended destinations or possible fraudulent outcomes.

Security / Operational Moderately

Likely (3) Moderate Medium

GIS to verify data through physical visits by provincial and district level field staff with accurate data relayed back to HQ.

Field staff to be adequately trained and verification activities monitored through quality control mechanisms.

50

Quantity of polling centre materials could be incorrectly planned leading to less than the required amount for the polling centre population creating voter disenfranchisement, or more than required which could lead to fraudulent outcomes.

Political / Strategic / Operational


Severe (4) High

Existing data to be verified and confirmed by Afghan Central Statistics Office and GIS section.

15. ACTIVITY 5.2 Support the IEC’s design and implementation of a robust, secure and timely results management system that enjoys the confidence of key electoral stakeholders

51 Malpractices of electoral staff affects the electoral operations and results

Political / Organizational /

Operational Likely (4) Severe (4) High

Fraud deterrence and detection measures are improved at counting and tallying level compared to the 2009/2010 elections. Implementation of the law, development of ethical codes of conduct for electoral staff as well as close training and monitoring.

52

Location and filing data on results and reconciliation polling station forms and tampered evident bags (TEB) not accurately collected/filled out.

Operational Likely (4) Severe (4) Very High

Adequate training provided to district field coordinators and polling staff. Improvement of reporting, monitoring and control systems from sending sensitive election materials, to election day reporting, and retrieval of sensitive election

97

materials from polling centres to final destination.

16.

53

Logistics fails to properly retrieve all crucial voting materials to headquarters due security and/or logistical problems.

Operational Likely (4) Severe (4) to Critical

(5)

Very High

Detailed logistical planning and close cooperation with security forces to guarantee proper retrieval of crucial voting data.

17.

54 The tally process disturbed due to external events (security, (un)intended disaster).

Security / Environmental /

Operational Unlikely (2) Critical (5) Medium

Disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place in all tally systems, including mirroring of back-up data.

18.

55

At random or unstructured proclamation of preliminary or uncertified results across the country can result in wrong perceptions in the public of the credibility of the final results at a last stage of the process.

Operational Likely (4) Moderate

(3) High

Design and implementation of a secure and timely results management system, including proper communication lines and results management capacity by IEC senior management. Clear defined procedures on the timely, transparent and accountable release of results information to public.

Activity 5.3

Support the IEC in completing a credible distribution of polling centres and an accurate boundary delimitation process.

56 Unclear district boundaries undermine the organization and conduct of proper district council elections.

Strategic / Regulatory Moderately


IEC strongly supports the establishment of a boundary delimitation coordination mechanism with other responsible government authorities to define district boundaries.

98

Output 6:

The electoral dispute resolution mechanisms of the electoral process are enhanced

19. ACTIVITY 6.1 Provide effective support to the electoral dispute resolution mechanism.

57

Recent rejection by parliament of the proposed revision of the electoral law puts in jeopardy the timely establishment and appointment of the ECC at HQ and provincial level and the appointment of ECC commissioners, which must be undertaken by the end of August 2013. Failure to establish the ECC in a timely manner will result in lack of credibility and effective oversight of the elections process and results.

Regulatory / Political


Severe (4) High

IEC must submit letter to the Government by end May 2013 requesting establishment of ECC.

Technical and financial resources must be allocated to ensure the ECC can be operational by not later than four months prior to the elections.

58 Establishment of ECC facilities and provision of technical advice lacks behind the tight deadline

Operational Unlikely (2) Severe (4) High

High priority given and close follow-up given by the project to implementation of ECC establishment.

59

Preparation for electoral operations delayed due to time-bound activities being placed on the “on-budget” modality.

MoF control of funds for operational management of the ECC may result in actual or perceived undermining of the independence of the IEC where funds can be used to support or deny the operational effectiveness.

Strategic / Political

Likely (4) Moderate

(3) High

The ECC should discuss with MoF to retain financial responsibility of sensitive and time-bound electoral activities, as similar to recommendations for the IEC.

60

Assets hand-over at closure of the ECC (in case of a temporary body) happens inappropriately or ineffective, leading to unqualified loss of assets.


Likely (3) Minor (2) Low

ECC assets are recorded accurately at HQ and in the provinces through proper data base tracking system; Closure of ECC and final payments in line with proper assets hand-over.

61 Weak internal oversight may result in misappropriation or inappropriate use of funds.


Likely (3) Moderate

(3) Medium

Oversight mechanisms to be put in place and implemented.

Development of good management practices and Standard Operating Procedures to systematize processes within and between departments according to government procedures.

99

Output 7:

The electoral media regulatory mechanisms are enhanced

20. ACTIVITY 7.1 Provide effective support to the Media Commission so that it can implement its terms of reference.

62

The Media Commission lacks the proper resources (human, technical, financial), media monitoring methodology and effectivesanctioning authority, resulting in ineffectiveness to fulfill its mandate


Likely (3) Moderate Medium

The project closely assists the IEC in the establishment and support of the Media Commission and commensurate methodology according to its mandate (with effective sanctioning authority), including timely staffing and development of regulations and procedures.

International community raises the issue of aneffective media Commission sanctioning authority with government.

Descriptors

Likelihood Descriptors Impact Descriptors

5 Very Likely 5 Critical

4 Likely 4 Severe

3 Moderately Likely 3 Moderate

2 Unlikely 2 Minor

1 Very unlikely 1 Negligible

Risk Analysis Table IMPACT

Negligible Minor (2) Moderate Severe (4) Critical (5)

LIK

ELIH

OO

D

Very Likely Low Medium High Very High Unacceptable

Likely Low Medium High High Very High

Moderately Likely (3) Very Low Low Medium High High

Unlikely Very Low Low Low Medium Medium

Very unlikely (1) Very Low Very Low Very Low Low Low