third development cooperation progress report 2017 · 2018-10-31 · 2. narrative report 2.1....

Development Cooperation 105054: IRIS Project No.

AFG/14/01/SID: TC Symbol

Progress Report SIDA: Donor

ROAP: Administrative Unit

(DCPR)

Country or Region: AFGHANISTAN

Title: Road to Jobs: Bringing decent work to rural households of Northern provinces of

Afghanistan

P&B Outcome: 3

Report: Annual For projects reporting on an annual basis, all sections must be

completed and the report must cover the previous 12 months.

6-month For projects reporting twice per year, all sections must be completed

and the report must cover the previous 6 months.

Quarterly For projects reporting on a quarterly basis, every second and fourth

report (i.e. twice a year) should complete all sections. The other

reports may leave out sections 3 and 4.

Sequence: 2nd report 3rd report 4th report 5th report 6th

7th report 8th report 9th report 10th report 11th report

Related project(s): Road to Jobs Project: AFG/14/01/SID

Reporting Information

Reporting period: From January to December 2017

Report prepared by: Tonderai Manoto, Acting CTA March 2018

Report reviewed by:

Merten Sievers ,

I have reviewed the classifications and agree they

are a fair and accurate reflection of progress

Reviewer initials: EM

Report approved by:

Manzoor Khaliq,

I have reviewed the classifications and agree they

are a fair and accurate reflection of progress

Approver initials: MK

Instructions

This is the standard ILO format for extra-budgetary development cooperation progress reporting. Information

submitted in DCPRs will be collected and used by the ILO to monitor progress towards results.

DCPRs must be submitted as per the schedule outlined in the Approval Minute.

Please note this is the format for interim reports only. Final progress reports must use a different template.

For guidance on completing the DCPR please visit:

www.ilo.org/intranet/english/bureau/pardev/tcguides/templates.htm

Annual-Technical Progress Report R2J Project-Afghanistan 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

The implementation in 2017 has led to several successful interventions that the project would like to

consolidate and consider for scaling up and replication in the next phase. The project invested in building

many partnerships with key market actors and players and poor women and men made a total net income

of USD1 882 989. There were 247 full time jobs created (120 women and 127 men). There were 48 402

improved jobs in all interventions in the year under review. The lesson learnt is that full participation and

inclusiveness of stakeholders is time-consuming and therefore requires strong and mutual commitment. The

project invested more in building the capacity of local consultants and ended up with 3 local business

development services (BDS) companies set up to support Road to Jobs (R2J) project implementation. Two of

those companies have competencies in monitoring, evaluation and market research and the third one in

entrepreneurship development and enterprise management. There was greater investment in private sector

partnerships which saw offtakers making USD81 169, middlemen USD45 030 and workers USD70 681 as net

incomes during the year.

R2J project managed to leverage additional resources from RADP-N/DAI/USAID and UNHCR for women’s

economic empowerment and this has also helped the project to achieve better targeting of beneficiaries as

UNHCR mainly focuses on internally displaced people (IDPs) and returnees. There were 630 women

entrepreneurs trained. The ILO-Lab project in Geneva has provided technical backstopping to the project

especially in improving the monitoring and results measurement system (MRM). Through the Lab project,

R2J project was selected to give a sole presentation on the application of the Donor Committee for Enterprise

Development (DCED) standard for MRM in fragile and conflict affected settings at the DCED-BEAM Seminar

2018

R2J has put effort in ensuring that the visibility of the project and that of the funding donor (Sida) is highly

promoted in the region. Several workshops and knowledge sharing events were held in Afghanistan bringing

together various stakeholders. In addition to producing and publishing monthly issues of ‘Newsflash’

covering events and key activities taking place, the project also developed a knowledge sharing platform to

reach out to the general public both in the country and beyond. Social media tools including Facebook and

You-Tube were utilized.

The project finalized the selection of two financial services providers (FSPs) to partner with in improving

access to financial services among poor women and men. The project also introduced the ILO Start and

Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme to drive women’s economic empowerment and managed to train

338 women entrepreneurs. This also included the GET Ahead programme meant for illiterate women which

trained 330. The successful launch of the mobile phone based extension service (2-3-4 Service) marks the

beginning of a revolution in the form of private sector-led extension in Afghanistan.

1. Budget / Planning Information

Project budget in USD: 7,641,365

Project duration in months: 43 Planned Actual

Project start date: Dec, 2014 April, 2015

Project end date: Nov, 2017 December 2018

2. NARRATIVE REPORT

2.1. Perspectives on current status

Briefly explain

the overall

status of project

implementation,

making

reference to

progress under

each immediate

objective.

The overall goal of the Road to Jobs project is More and better jobs in selected Northern Provinces contribute to improved livelihoods and poverty

reduction.

The project aims at addressing the underlying causes of poor market systems performance in selected agricultural sub-sectors. The following was done

to continue to work towards this goal.

• Both review and implementation of 17 interventions in almonds, cotton, textiles, livestock, dairy and poultry continued in 2017.

• Three more willing partners were identified and engaged in the grapes value chain.

• Interventions were designed, 10 partners identified and deals signed for implementation in the cotton value chain in Balkh.

• The project embarked on a comprehensive process to identify, broker and structure market deals with financial services providers (FSPs)

in order to ensure the poor access financial services.

• A mid-term review of the project was undertaken and recommendations incorporated into the project plan to improve performance.

• A DCED pre-audit was also undertaken and it concluded that overall R2J does quite well in implementing the MRM system (interventions

are well planned based on carefully considered facts and assumptions, there is a system for measuring results that is reasonably well implemented

and there is a review system in place to guide interventions). The recommendations made were all taken on board.

• Capacity building for both staff and partners was continued.

Outcome 0: More and better jobs in selected Northern Provinces contribute to improved livelihoods and poverty reduction

The project managed to facilitate marked changes in incomes at company, households and individual levels. The market linkage deals

which were implemented in 2017 enabled poor women and men and their partner companies to increase their incomes. New jobs

were also created during the course of the year. Please see tables of incomes and jobs below.

4


Attributed Income generated by market actors in

2017

Intervention Net income US($) Remarks

Company Middlemen Farmers Workers Total

Dairy market linkage 8271 8290 10504 19232 46297 100% Attributable income

Para-vets. Vet services 18112 10535 1160529 0 1189176 Not attributable, as NHLP, DCA, Agha Khan and other

organizations are working in the livestock sector

Poultry buyback 1890 8283 6123 0 16296 100% Attributable income

Grape Juice 4348 5481 31102 1248 42179 100% Attributable income except farmers, as NHLP, RADP-N

and other market actors working in the area

Extension services on

GAP

1200 2400 369870 0 373470 Not 100% attributed for farmers, as NHLP, RADP-N are

working in grape sector

Radio Azad 2325 0 0 0 2325 100% Attributable income

Chicken litter/organic

fertilizer

0 16 2400 18777 21193 100% Attributable income

Almond quality

improvement

0 0 4756 0 4756 100% Attributable income, farmers sold with 10% higher price

to the export companies than the market price

SIYB 0 0 0 8530 8530 10% of the trained entrepreneurs assumed that they started

and expanded new business. Impact assessment is going to

happen in April 2018, and will prove this hypothesis.

Get Ahead 0 0 0 2000 2000 10% of the trained entrepreneurs assumed to have started

and expanded new businesses. Impact assessment is going to

happen in April 2018, and will prove this hypothesis.

Cotton extension

services

13603 0 252905 8971 275479 100% Attributable income

Textile company 15994 1201 0 7708 24903 100% Attributable income

Cold storage 7426 8824 0 4215 20465 100% Attributable income

Renewable energy-SP 8000 0 44800 0 52800 100% Attributable income

Total 81169 45030 1882989 70681 2079869

Attributed Jobs generated by the

project in 2017

Intervention Jobs created Remarks

FTE jobs Improved jobs (Increased

income to farmers)

Indirect improved jobs Total

Men Women

Dairy market

linkage

22 2 365 100 489 365 farmers attributed, 100 indirect are the

milk sellers who are trained by MMCs and

sell milk to the MCCs at the same villages.

Paravets-Vet

services

9 0 46367 46376 Para-vets expanded their business to new 15

villages+138 formers.

Poultry

buyback

24 2 0 26 100% Attributed

Grape Juice 2 1 40 43 100% Attributed

Extension

services on

GAP to grape

farmers

8 0 596 604 Not 100% attributed, as NHLP, RADP-N are

working in grape sector

Chicken

litter/organic

fertilizer


Almond

quality

improvement

0 0 25 25 100% Attributed, 25 farmers contracted and

sold quality almond to export companies

SIYB 28.4 56.9 0 85.3 10% of the trained entrepreneurs assumed

that they started and expanded new

business. Impact assessment is going to

happen in April 2018, and will prove this

hypothesis.

6


Get Ahead 10 30 0 40 10% of the trained entrepreneurs assumed

that they started and expanded new

business. Impact assessment is going to

happen in April 2018, and will prove this

hypothesis.

Cotton

extension

services

4.4 8 1000 1012.4 100% Attributed

Textile

company


Cold storage 2.7 0 4 6.7 100% Attributed

Renewable

energy-Solar

pump

5 0 0 5 Estimated for 16 installed solar pump.

Impact assessment will be conducted in May

2018.

Total 127 120 48402 100 48748

Programme Management Unit

Project relocated to the UNAMA compound to improve security. Contracts with WFP and UNDP for lease of vehicles were discontinued

to reduce operational costs because 2 project vehicles had finally been delivered. The contracting for the Gender and Livelihoods

Officer fell through because the candidate who had been identified ended up turning down the offer due to the delay in the

contracting. The Programme assistant was upgraded into the role and offered support to carry out the work under the CTA’s close

supervision.

ii) Programme oversight

The project advisory committee (PAC) met twice to review the mid-term report and to help plan for the knowledge sharing event which R2J project

hosted in October 2017.

Outcome 1: Collaboration and co-ordination among local stakeholders for local economic development is improved

Stakeholder consultations and working groups

The R2J Project continued to facilitate the convening of stakeholder working groups in order to ensure coordination, unity of purpose and focus

on resolving pertinent issues of common interest among market actors in the different value chains.

• The cotton value chain lacks coordination among market actors. R2J project invested heavily in stakeholder consultative engagements.

After the cotton value chain market systems analysis (MSA) a validation workshop was convened. This brought together government

departments, farmers’ groups, various middlemen, ginners, FSPs, transporters, inputs suppliers and BDS companies. In order to get policy

makers involved it was then agreed to bring in the ministry of agriculture. The deputy minister of agriculture was engaged and work on

the Cotton Development Policy was tackled well. MAIL was supported to convene policy dissemination workshops in Kabul and Mazar.

• During the development of mobile phone extension messages for Roshan’s 2-3-4 Service, R2J facilitated the setting up and convening of

Content Development Committees (CDC) chaired by MAIL. These met at ministry level and received training on how to develop content

for mobile phones. These brought together private sector actors involved in cotton, grapes and wheat. Extension experts, Academics,

Researchers, Seed breeders and International NGOs were also part of the committees. Three message sets were produced by the 3 The

Samangan Livestock Committee was formed among livestock farmers, DAIL and para-vets to work on solutions to the challenges faced by

stakeholders. The output was a suite of messages now on the 2-3-4 service hosted by Roshan, the MNO managing the extension service

in Afghanistan. A cotton development platform was suggested by MAIL as more appropriate to keep all investment and development

activities coordinated.

• BCCI continued to be the main focal point for most of the private sector engagement efforts. BCCI was instrumental in mobilising the

business community and consumers to the R2J knowledge sharing event (KSE) in October 2018. Their capacity to recruit more members

and deliver services to members has improved.

• R2J project’s local economic development (LED) coordinators continued to attend the attend the monthly provincial economic

development committee meetings to give updates on what the project is doing and to learn what others are doing and seek coordination

and partnership.

• The project facilitated the participation of its private sector partners in 5 provincial and national trade exhibitions in Mazar and Kabul

where the participants earned a total of USD45346 in the year.

Implementation of PACA Proposals from 6 agricultural sub-sectors

Considerable progress was made in the implementation of pilots in the following interventions

• Conversion of chicken litter to organic fertilizer. Drukhshan continued to contract with poultry farmers for supply of chicken litter without

R2J intervention. The relationship with farmers has grown.

• Dairy development to benefit women farmers. Pakiza’s arrangement with milk collection centres and farmers is working very well. The

market linkage has allowed at least 519 women dairy farmers to sell milk on any given day.

8


• Chicken buy-back scheme to support poultry farmers. This contractual arrangement between Balkh Poultry company and poultry farmers

included inputs supply and enabled farmers to supply chickens and repay their loans to the company.

• Improving farmer access to good quality livestock medicines. Well beyond the training, paravets managed to extend their reach to

thousands more livestock farmers working together and with the farmers to make it a win-win for all.

• Improving the quality of exported almonds. Besides getting training on integrated pest and productivity management, almond export

companies came to sign contracts with farmers. Their interaction grew beyond the facilitation efforts of R2J project.

A few interventions had to be dropped because not much progress was being made.

• Women’s enterprises in processing pickles. They are already processing pickles and it turned out there was little room for any

improvement. The decision was to look at some activities with potential for growth like carpet making and garments.

• Women’s enterprises involving soap making. There was no progress with the women’s groups.

• Trellising systems for grape productivity improvement. Farmers seemed not be interested in the new technology because it does not

integrate into already existing grapevines. It seems to require complete uprooting of vines to start afresh.

Outcome 2: The position of poor and disadvantaged groups within selected sub-sectors is improved

The summary outcome was altogether positive for poor people in 2017. Farmers collectively made an income of USD1 882 989. There were 48

402 improved jobs, 247 new jobs ( 120 women, 127 men) and 100 improved jobs. There were others who benefitted from capacity building

programmes which enabled them to support poor people better. R2J project undertook a number of initiatives to address this issue.

• Certified SIYB Trainers, Business Coaches and Mentors set up SIYB Afghanistan, a business development services (BDS) company in Mazar-

I-Sharif to continue to offer entrepreneurship training to enterprising women and men. This is a sign of the market system responding to

need and building up resilience to sustain the provision of such a service in the market place. The project supported the market system

by certifying 8 more trainers in 2017.

• In 2017, 769 entrepreneurs were trained in SIYB, 11 received coaching support to help them improve their businesses. This should begin

to translate to better management of businesses and increased incomes for the poor women and men trained. 125 (estimated as 10%)

have set up enterprises. An assessment of enterprises and jobs will be carried out in 2018.

• Pakiza Dairy in Mazar city, partnered with R2J project to train another 750 women dairy farmers in Dawlatabad. The training enabled the

women to position themselves well to supply milk to Pakiza without loss or with less rejection rates. To show the training did not just

represent a one-off intervention and had actual results to date there are still at least 510 female farmers actively selling milk to the

company on any single day.

• The training of 18 para-vets from Samangan province helped to ensure that more than 5,000 farmers have access to better veterinary

services and medicines to reduce livestock losses and one paravet also expanded his veterinary medicine store in Aybak city and his service

delivery improved to the extent that more farmers were now walking in to buy medicines for their animals.

• The project supported the training of 200 almond farmers in Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Five private exporters of almonds

facilitated the training and ended up signing production contracts with 50 farmers on a trial basis. This has helped poor farmers improve

their production systems, manage their crop better and the 50 farmers’ incomes increased as a result of the training.

• Chicken farmers continued to sell litter to Drukhshan Balkh Poultry company. Poor farmers have been able to earn an income from waste.

The organic fertilizer made by Drukhshan has proven to improve the soil structure for those farmers who have used it. The price is lower

than the chemical fertilizers by almost 45% and this means the cost of production went down for users of the fertilizer. The environmental

pollution by poultry farmers is reducing with increased purchase of the chicken litter.

• The poultry buy-back system helped generate access to finance and inputs for 40 poultry farmers. These are very poor farmers and 65%

of these made at least 90% profit from 3 cycles of chicken production. 35% made losses and indicated they would not try this again. Balkh

Poultry Company also increased its interest in making this scheme bigger because they now had a good incentive to invest more as a result

of a successful pilot. This now opens up opportunities for more poultry farmers. A new career opportunity has arisen for freelance

extension people who are paid by the company based on the service they provide to farmers. The service cost is met by the farmers and

the cost is deducted from the total cost of the chickens at the time of buy-back by the company.

• Radio Azad and its ‘Farmer’s Voice’ broadcast programme has helped disseminate information on GAP in a very engaging way for farmers

reaching at least 1,200 farmers in its pilot. The business model applied makes it possible for Radio Azad to continue these broadcasts at

no cost to the poor farmers as long as the Radio Station is able to sell advertising air time to companies interested in marketing their

products to the farmers.

• The project, in partnership with the ministry of agriculture, irrigation and livestock (MAIL), Roshan (a mobile network operator - MNO)

and Human Network International (HNI) launched the 2-3-4 service in Afghanistan so as to provide free agriculture information using a

commercial model. Farmers are able to dial 2-3-4 for free in October 2017. At least 1250 farmers have been reached with this service

making information on GAP more accessible for poor farmers who need it the most but are least able to pay for it.

• 16 grapes farmers received loans worth USD44 800 and installed solar powered water pumps for irrigation. This represents a significant

increase in efficiency, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), reduction in costs and ultimately and increase in farmer incomes.

FINCA’s partnership with Ilyas solar power company to make solar pumps available to poor farmers helps improve the situation for them.

• The partnership with Hamid Saadat Non-Alcoloholic Beverages company supported 200 farmers with extension and markets for fresh

grapes. The same happened with Meran Gorzah Gah Cold storage company. The added benefit to the poor was the availability of fresh

Afghani grapes on the market 2 months after the normal harvest season. These grapes are available at market prices (the price of cold

storage and imported grapes seems equal, 70-80 Afs/kg for both, but the cold storage had good demand as the grapes were fresh).

• Aryana Balkh textile company agreed to pilot with recruitment of 15 female textile workers, train and permanently employ them and the

outcome was very positive. There were disparities between women’s (USD100/ month) wages and men’s wages (USD145/month) for the

same job. This was picked up during monitoring by a local consultant and the project will now engage the local trade union to champion

workers’ rights and decent work. The number of mistakes reduced when women were engaged. Occupational hazards and accidents also

reduced by 50% due to the investment in skills training of the workers. Negotiations are already under way to employ 30 more women.

10


• Jin and Press ginners partnered with R2J on a business model which allowed the company to give inputs loans on credit to 1000 cotton

farmers to grow cotton on contract. The company provided extension services to the farmers and the output per farmer increased. Loan

repayment was 97% and the company bought more cotton from the farmers than in previous years. This will be repeated in 2018. Farmers

had access to finance, inputs and extension services in a package and this helped improve on productivity 850kg/Ha and incomes

USD1285/ha. This means that cotton enterprise was profitable for farmers and this needs to be improved and extended to more farmers.

• An agreement with the National Union of Afghan Workers and Employees (NUAWAE) and the union will engage with all workers in R2J

interventions and support them to get improved working conditions. This approach will see NUAWE receive proper technical input and

support on workers’ activities and this automatically create conditions for tripartite negotiations around all decent work deficits.

• R2J project invested in building the capacity of 5 food processing companies in international food safety standards. The companies

received training, production system audits and recommendations on what to improve in order to improve food safety standards. Two

cotton oil companies, grape juice manufacturer, dairy processor and fresh grapes storage company enlisted for the training. The

companies have since incorporated the training into their production processes and they are now ready to apply for food safety standards

certification. This will now happen in 2018. This is a positive development for the thousands of consumers who buy their products.

Outcome 3: Access to and utilization of financial services by the farmers and disadvantaged groups improved.

The search for suitable FSPs to partner with to address this outcome was stepped up in 2017. R2J project issued a limited call for proposals to 4

shortlisted FSPs. These are FINCA, FMFB, OXUS and Bakhtar bank. The project then hired and inclusive finance specialist to come and evaluate

the proposed innovations. This was backstopped by Inclusive Finance Unit in ILO headquarters. A final shortlist was produced with FINCA and

FMFB as the FSPs of choice and OXUS as a possibility. Negotiations for contracting were held and will be finalised early in 2018.

Although R2J has not partnered with an official FSP, it has anyway piloted embedded financial services through the companies which provide

inputs on credit to farmers. This was the case with 16 farmers who bought solar pumps worth USD34 000 through credit arrangements between

a solar company and FSP. The chicken buy-back project benefitted 60 farmers with inputs loans to start broiler production operations which

reached a 97% repayment rate. The cotton farming inputs credit scheme between Jinn and Press company and 330 farmers was also a good

case in point of embedded financial services which farmers accessed as a result of the partnership R2J project negotiated with the company.

2.2 Issues and actions the report

Examine the main

challenges facing

the timely delivery

of outputs and

achievement of

immediate

objectives. Please

explain delays

duration and the

reasons why.

These can be

issues that have

already been

encountered or are

foreseen.

Staff turn-over faced in the past year

The candidate who was selected after interviews turned down the job offer very late in September 2017 and it was too late to start the recruitment

again. The programme assistant who was recruited was given the women’s empowerment portfolio. It does take time to build networks and trust

among stakeholders but progress was made.

One of the 2 LED coordinators left the project at the end of September 2017 and the CTA also left at the end of the year. Their replacement will

take place early in 2018.

Unabated security situation

The security situation took a marked downward turn in the last quarter of 2017 as a disagreement between the government and the provincial

governor opened up opportunities for insurgents and those engaged in crime. This further undermined local investors’ confidence making it more

difficult to find more partners to pilot business models which could help create more jobs and help increase incomes. The security situation

continued to render the economy fragile. Movement is limited and this slows progress and restricts monitoring to safe areas. In our kind of work

it is important to continuously have interface with partners especially during periods of implementation.

Examine to which

extent

expenditure is in

line with budget

forecasts. Please

explain any over or

underspend and

the reasons why.

Year 2017

Expenditure Category Budget Actual Balance Remarks

Outcome 1: Rapid Market Assessment

(RMA) 368.20 368.20 0

The remaining funds were utilized for stakeholder

consultations which followed after the cotton

market system analysis which was done in 2016.

Sector selection ( Urban and

Agriculture ) 0.00 0.00 0.00

This activity was finalised in 2016 so no

expenditure in 2017.

Local competitiveness assessment

(PACA) and thematic assessment

240.18 -240.18

The project continued to use locally recruited and

trained PACA consultants to support data collection

in insecure areas. Their costs were met from this

line. Because they are volunteers seconded by the

stakeholder community to support the project,

only their costs of undertaking activities are met.

12


Value chain Analysis (VCA) 0.00 0.00 0.00 There were no activities planned in this year.

Implementation phase planning 25,000 0.00 25,000.00

The planning session was carried out from the

office because it was not feasible to do it outside

the office. The security situation would not allow so

the money was never spent.

Project Personnel 815,333.24 817,720.22 -2,386.98

The slight budget overrun is as a result of 2 drivers’

staff salary increment resulting from overtime

payments which had not been adequately

provided for.

Supplies and Commodity 385,562.92 270,408.29 115,154.62

This activity was covered fully from the budget line

as envisaged but a surplus was realised because of

the budget revision which was done in November

2017 as a result of the no-cost extension. The

balance remaining was meant to cover the 6

months rental to May 2018 and it was reflected in

the 2017 budget.

Equipment 181,177.25 29,115.63 152,061.62

All planned procurements for furniture and

equipment were not fully expended because the

project moved to better, more secure and spacious

offices in UNAMA compound and there were

furnishings and safety equipment already there.

Project Support Costs 409,371.56 215,225.32 194,146.24

This activity was covered fully from the budget line

as envisaged and the remainder was for the period

December 2016 to May 2018 as a result of the

budget revision necessitated by the no-cost project

extension.

Total 2,087,221.40 1,333,077.84 488,509.28

Explain corrective

actions taken or to

be taken regarding

implementation

challenges, delayed

delivery, over or

underspend and

the low probability

of achieving

immediate

objectives.

Staff turn-over faced during the year

R2J project had to take mitigation measures in order to avoid stalling implementation of project activities. When the programme assistant joined

the project she was given the women’s economic empowerment portfolio. This helped to reduce the workload on the market systems development

officer (his job is to advise the LED Coordinators and support them in managing their portfolio of interventions). The CTA continued to manage the

SIYB entrepreneurship programme.

Unabated security situation

R2J continued to call on the PACA facilitators to help with privately reaching partners in other hard-to-reach areas. The project also invested

more in the capacity building of 2 local BDS companies to help with monitoring of interventions in difficult areas. Work was out sourced to these

companies. The R2J team works closely with them.

Briefly explain any

reformulations of

project immediate

objectives or

outputs, and their

corresponding

indicators and

targets.

There were no project reformulations in 2017.

14


Please describe

whether within the

reporting period

any efficiency

gains have been

realized.

This can be

achieved through:

- Learning,

improved or

shared

knowledge; -

Partnerships with

key stakeholders,

- Sequencing of

activities;

- Cost

savings; -

Economies of

scale1 or scopeb

by combining

activities within a

project, or

between projects; -

Other (please

explain).

R2J project invested in building the capacity of local partners so as to make them more efficient in data collection in highly insecure areas. The

partnership with independent consultants was strengthened. These were able to carry out monitoring assignments in highly insecure areas for

project staff to access. Identification of female beneficiaries for entrepreneurship development and empowerment interventions was shared

with partners like ACTED, UNHCR and RADP-N. The project managed to leverage resources to reach more women entrepreneurs. Other

investment made in partnerships is detailed below.

1. Radio Azad

This is a pilot to commercialise extension services through radio. It is also a cheap way of disseminating extension information to farmers in the

language they understand and during the time they are likely to be listening and with the messages packaged in a very engaging way. The

advertising revenue on the radio pays for the delivery of the extension messages to poor women and men.

2. 2-3-4 Service

The launch of the 2-3-4 service in Afghanistan in partnership with Roshan is a milestone in provision of extension services cheaply to poor women

and men in very remote areas with mobile phone access. This eases up work for farmers, government extension staff and companies seeking to

work with farmers.

3. Financial services provision

R2J project has now moved to contract with FINCA and FMFB to reach more than 3 000 poor women and men with financial services. The 2 FSPs

are offering innovations in branchless banking, mobile money services, agent banking services and applications which do not need mobile network

connectivity for users to access banks and make electronic payments. This improves access and helps reduce the costs of transacting for both FSP

and the clients. People in remote areas no longer need to travel to the city in order to do any banking. All banking will now be happening in the

village.

4. BDS services market development with SIYB Afghanistan

Supporting entrepreneurship development in Afghanistan needs a sustainable business model in order to move away from a supply-driven

approach currently prevalent in the development space in Afghanistan. The project invested in training 20 SIYB trainers and now they have set up

SIYB Afghanistan, a BDS company which is owned by the certified trainers. They objective is offer entrepreneurship training, business coaching

and mentoring services to entrepreneurs on a commercial basis. R2J project is now able to contract them to provide support to women’s groups

in Balkh and Samangan provinces.

5. Training on market systems development for staff and partners

The project invested more resources in building the capacity of both staff and partners in the area of making markets work for the poor (M4P).

As a fairly new way of approaching development more investment is needed in building capacity among stakeholders so that understanding and

appreciation improves. The level of engagement has significantly improved among partners because they now better understand R2J project and

how it seeks to achieve its objectives. Another more in-depth M4P course is planned for 2018. PACA facilitators, UNHCR, ACTED, GIZ SEDEP

partners and R2J staff attended. There were 15 people trained.

One more R2J project staff successfully completed the 9-month online course on Enterprise Development through Value Chains and Business

Service Markets. Another one attended the M4P training hosted by Springfield Centre. These courses meant to set the context right and offered

1 Declining unit costs as scale increases b Functions serving more than one activity

opportunities for learning from other similar settings. For staff the quality of work has improved and the deals being brokered are proving more

sustainable.

6. A DCED pre-audit was commissioned by the project. Its recommendations were used to make changes and improvements in how the

monitoring and results measurement (MRM) system is capturing impact data and reflecting it to represent R2J project impact. The audit

has led to a marked improvement in the MRM system.

7. Publication of the Road to Jobs (R2J) project Newsflash

R2J project continues to produce the monthly Newsflash. This is meant to keep stakeholders informed of the progress as well as share learning

with partners. Distribution has now been widened to the government ministries of Commerce and Industry, MAIL and ministry of Labour and

NUAWE.

8. The project opened its own Facebook page and used it for communicating with stakeholders in the build up to the knowledge sharing

event and the response from youths was tremendous and that also reflected in the event. More than 40% of the 30 000 visitors to the

event during the 2 day event were youths (Rod to Jobs).

9. The project continues to feature on the ILO Asia-Pacific web page ( http://www.ilo.org/asia/projects/WCMS_428968/lang--en/index.htm)

and the International Training Centre (ITC) of ILO web page https://fragilestates.itcilo.org/2017/06/23/road-to-jobs-r2j-bringing-decent-

work-to-rural-households-in-northern-afghanistan/ .

10. Partnerships with key stakeholders

R2J project’s key partnerships continued to deliver expected outputs in 2017.

- BCCI helped host several stakeholder engagement events which include

- SIYB Trainers’ development programme.

- Business Coaching development programme

- SIYB Entrepreneurs’ training

- The cotton MSA validation workshop

- The cotton development policy dissemination workshops

- The international knowledge sharing event was held in Kefayat Hotel in Mazar.

11. Publication of the Road to Jobs (R2J) project Newsflash

Highlights of the R2J project activities are regularly published in the Newsflash. This is meant to keep stakeholders informed of the progress as

well as share learning with partners.

12. A new partnership agreement with UNHCR is under negotiation to include internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees and

returnees in the value chains R2J project are focusing on in Balkh and Samangan. This will also include SIYB entrepreneurship development

training. UNHCR plan on investing USD300 000.

16


Briefly describe

any evaluations,

project reviews,

self-assessments

or undertaken,

including follow-up

to findings and

recommendations.

The project commissioned an independent mid-term evaluation of the project with a view to assessing whether the project was on course to

achieve its intended outcomes. The review came up with a number of recommendations which management took on board and incorporated into

the project implementation.

1. Mid-Term Review

An independent mid-term review of the R2J project was carried out in 2017. The following recommendations and management action were taken.

Improve MRM System

1. Carry out a pre-audit of the MRM system using the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) Standard to be very clear where

the programme is particularly strong / weak and suggest possible ways of improving compliance with the standard. The pre-audit was

carried out by DCED auditor contracted independently by R2J project and the recommendations have been incorporated into the planning

of the project.

2. R2J to participate at the forthcoming 4th DCED Global Conference on results measurement, scheduled for February 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya.

3. Additionally, R2J to continue receiving capacity building and technical backstopping from ILO’s The Lab project in Geneva.

4. Conduct more beneficiary assessments to track progress towards project outcomes. Two BDS companies have been contracted to gather

monitoring information in the difficult areas. Four assessments in livestock, grapes, cotton and dairy have already been undertaken. More

assessments of impact will be done in 2018.

5. Revisit the project logframe to revise targets in no-cost extension. The MRM team is already working with intervention managers to set

realistic targets based on current experience working with partners.

Re-assess Immediate Objective 3

The project has taken the following actions:

Conducted an exercise to engage with financial services providers (FSPs) in the design of appropriate interventions to address the issues of

1. awareness

2. literacy

3. access

to financial services for farmers and other businesses involved in the selected agriculture values chains. The project team worked jointly with FSPs

to develop concrete proposals for implementing access to finance by target beneficiaries and settled on piloting two very innovative initiatives

proposed by FMFB and FINCA. The project will co-invest in those initiatives in 2018.

Strengthen Project Advisory Committee (PAC)

As remedial action, the project convened 2 meetings in 2017 and agreed on the following actions:

1. Conduct frequent PAC meetings involving all the members. During the last meeting in August 2017, it was agreed that 4 meetings will be

held every year instead of 3 meeting previously.

2. Next meeting to be held in December 2017. This meeting was held to review the knowledge sharing event and the 2018 annual work plan.

3. Involve all members in other key R2J events.

PAC members participated at the following:

a) National Launch of the 2-3-4 agricultural mobile extension services in Kabul on 15th October 2017

b) R2J National Knowledge Sharing Event (KSE) in Mazar-I-Sharif on 25-26 October 2017.

Beneficiary selection criteria should be improved

1. Following the planned MRM system/ DCED pre-audit, R2J will review the monitoring and tracking system in order to ensure that the

selection of the targeted beneficiary groups is inclusive.

2. Guide private sector market actors who are key partners accordingly in order to ensure the impact is realized by the targeted beneficiaries.

This will include redefining the specific criteria within the implementation agreement entered into between R2J and implementation

partners.

3. Hold a series of consultative meetings with implementing partners and other key stakeholders in order to discuss and agree on actions

that will ensure inclusivity in beneficiary targeting and selection.

4. Enter into collaborative partnerships with projects targeting similar beneficiaries. UNHCR. ACTED. ITC ILO. A training initiative for returnees

and IDPs working with ACTED was carried out by SIYB Afghanistan with R2J support. Partnership discussions with UNHCR are already

underway. A new initiative has been started with ITC ILO on Youth Employment and women’s entrepreneurship in Afghanistan. R2J project

has helped build capacity in BCCI to carry out activities to support beneficiaries in 2017.

Engage and inform stakeholders

R2J has taken additional actions to ensure full engagement keeping stakeholders well involved and informed:

1. Developed a knowledge sharing platform portal where all project information updates can be accessed. This portal sits on the ITC ILO web

page.

2. Piloted a video clip with different interventions undertaken by the project. These video clip will be accessed through the knowledge

sharing platform.

3. With technical back stopping from ILO Bangkok, initiated the inclusion of Facebook and YouTube into the knowledge sharing portal for

easy access and to inform all stakeholders.

4. Documenting success stories and uploading onto the portal

5. R2J Project now on the BEAM Exchange website and map of M4P Projects.

6. R2J Project now has been granted space to present experiences with applying the DCED standard in fragile and insecure environments

like Afghanistan at the upcoming DCED Conference in Nairobi, Kenya in February 2018.

7. R2J project hosted a successful international knowledge sharing event in Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan in October 2017.

Develop realistic plans

In view of the environment under which the project is operating

18


• There is need for continuous re-evaluation of risk mitigating factors. Success regarding how effective implementation can take place is

depended on the security situation on the ground. The project continues to ensure that this is done. So far there have not been any serious

disruptions to project work although security threats do always slow down progress.

• Intervention-based risk assessment system will be strengthened, and mitigation measures will be identified and planned for accordingly.

• Set realistic targets. Most targets previously set were over-ambitious. This has been addressed in the 2018 annual work plan.

Continue to build the capacity of counterparts

This is an on-going core activity embedded within the project's implementation strategy.

1. An introductory ‘Making markets work for poor’ (M4P) training course was conducted for partners and staff in

December 2017 and an in-depth one will be held in 2018.

2. Capacity building of the labour union members on providing membership services and decent work support

services to the workers in different industries.

3. Start and Improve Your Business training programme is being conducted for partners.

4. Capacity building for women’s groups is planned for the coming year.

5. Coaching, mentoring and business clinics are services now being provided to entrepreneurs through SIYB

Afghanistan, a company which R2J helped set up and train.

6. Food safety standards have now been introduced to 5 partner companies. Training was provided and their

production systems audited. The companies are now implementing HACCP standards and the next step is for

them to apply for HACCP certification in 2018.

Scale up and expand market system development approach to other provinces

• R2J have initiated a new project design process that will lead to a programme expanding to other potential provinces in Afghanistan. Herat

(Grapes, Saffron, Cotton, Poultry). Kabul (Grapes, Dairy, Poultry). Jalalabad (Aquaculture, Poultry, Dairy, Olives, Cotton, Vegetables)

• With technical backstopping from ILO (Enterprises) Geneva, and DWT in India, R2J supported an in-country mission in July 2017. The

objective of this mission was to review R2J project implementation strategy and support future planning through meetings with the project

team and implementing partners. This mission was carried out with a view to re-assessing some of the key elements of sustainability and

effectiveness of the project to be able to provide a recommendation both to the ILO as well as to the donor of the future prospects of the

project.

• Next steps: 1. A concept note was drafted. 2. Develop Terms of Reference, Identify project design team/consultant. 3. Carry out new

project design and develop a project document. 4. Present the project to Sida for consideration and funding.

2. DCED Pre-Audit

R2J project commissioned a pre-audit of the Monitoring and Results Measurement (MRM) system using the DCED standard. This was meant to

help the project improve on its MRM system in order to reflect better the impact of the project on the intended targets. The review concluded

that R2J’s MRM system was fairly well developed and implemented and came up with a number of recommendations for further improvement.

i. Articulating the Results Chain

Intervention results chain should reflect all key activities that the partner or the project undertakes in bringing about the desired changes in the

market. The key changes should not only reflect how the target beneficiaries are reached but also what is done to ensure sustainability of the

intervention, and all transactions that occur under an intervention. The expectation is also that intervention managers should be able to explain

the intervention activities and the changes due to those activities. The explanation given should fit with what is shown in the results chain.

The intervention managers, with the support of the Lab project have put in place plans to ensure that results chains of all the interventions are

reviewed and include all missing activities.

ii. Defining Indicators of Change, Other Information Needs

Indicators need to be defined for each box of the results chain, these indicators should be able to assess if the change has happened, and if the

change is influenced by the previous box. Indicators should also allow the project to assess if activities being carried out are the right ones.

Intervention managers should be able to list the main indicators related to a box in their results chain when they are asked, without having to

look at the measurement plan.

The team will review all results chains and finalize them by defining indicators for each box in the results chains so that change in every box can

be measured. This will also include indicators to measure sustainability and gender related changes. Key qualitative indicators will be defined for

each level of actor involved in interventions.

iii. Measuring Attributable Change

It is important that the project collects baseline, monitoring and impact information for all its interventions. The collection of these information

must be carefully planned using good research practices. There should be a well thought out attribution strategy for each actor in the results

chains that is appropriate for the change happening to that actor.

The intervention managers together with MRM-Officer will finalize the measurement plan in the Intervention Guide (IG) and collecting regular

information from partners. The project will verify information collected by the partners or collect more in-depth information (through contracted

BDS companies) before an impact assessment either through market visits and phone interviews.

iv. Reporting Costs and Impact

The project annual report should be modified so that it includes:

• Annual and cumulative changes in the logframe indicators

• Gender disaggregated information and qualitative changes in women’s situation such as access to money etc.

20


• Evidence based information on systemic change that has occurred in the sectors due to the interventions at both market actors level and

at beneficiary level.

• An explanation of the sources of information for reporting that clarifies that some information comes from monitoring information and

some from more rigorous impact assessments.

• If there are any assumptions made when reporting impact those should be clearly mentioned in the report.

v. Managing the System for Results Measurement

Implementing the above changes will require commitment and coordination between all project staff. Intervention managers will need to start

taking ownership of both intervention activities and collecting monitoring information. Project managers and project management systems will

need to hold intervention managers accountable to do so. This may require further staff training and/or backstopping for intervention managers

and that support should be found and made available. Monthly review meetings should continue and the focus should include how activities

have been implemented, what results have been achieved, have the activities been effective, will they achieve systemic change and

sustainability. All these points should be discussed based on evidence collected using good research practices. The MRM Manual will need to be

updated.

R2J project has requested full-time support for MRM functions for 3 months in 2018 in order to help with updating all results chains (RCs) and

carrying out the needed quality checks and improve the assurance process.

3. Summary Outputs

OUTPUT DELIVERY 2

Output Percent

complete

Output

status Output summary (1000 characters maximum)

Immediate Objective 1: Collaboration and co-ordination among local stakeholders for local economic development is improved

1.1 Regular collaboration mechanisms

established for dialogue among local

economic development stakeholders

95% On schedule Seven workshops were held with stakeholders to determine the way forward for sheep and goats,

the development of para-vet services, horticulture (onions), almonds, women’s empowerment and

the cotton value chain. From the dialogues emerged the following initiatives.

• Balkh Poultry company owner, Mr Khwaja Mohammad travelled to Kandahar to learn the

chicken buy-back works. On 4th April 2017 R2J facilitated a workshop in BCCI for poultry

producers to share the lessons learned from the Kandahar trip and discuss the planned

system in Balkh province. Balkh poultry invested USD58 000 into a pilot scheme which

proved very successful. 60 farmers (40 men and 20 women) trained in poultry

management, and 40 farmers went through all 3 production cycles linked with the

company in the buyback scheme (26 men and 14 women). And generated about USD 16

296 as net income to all players.

• Improving farmer access to good quality livestock medicines. Para vets continued to work

on improving service delivery in 2017. They coordinated through the MAIL office.

Monitoring reports indicate they are able to link into the animal medicines store in Aybak

to ensure everyone has access to good quality medicines for farmers.

• The search for a solution to food quality standards among manufacturing companies is an

issue which continued to be pursued by the project. BCCI championed the need for

improvement of the quality of cotton oil. The project identified a Dutch company based in

Kabul, Afghanistan which offers capacity building services in international food safety

standards to the private sector. Further consultations resulted in the companies coming

together to receive training support to improve their production systems as they work

towards HACCP certification.

2 Based on the Implementation Plan

22


• Several consultative workshops were held by cotton stakeholders. After the cotton MSA, a

workshop was held to validate the findings of the assessment and define interventions

which would be necessary to address the major issues raised as needing attention in the

value chain. It was agreed that efforts to improve the value chain are not coordinated.

Meetings were held with MAIL to help support the coordination of efforts in the sub-sector.

The first workshop was held in Kabul and it was agreed that policy-dissemination workshops

be held in Mazar and Kandahar. The main objective of the workshop was “to prioritize

interventions for funding available to MAIL and UN-ILO, while recognizing that lack of quality

seed is at the top of the stakeholders' priorities as stated in the Policy and build synergy

with the economic development programmes (EDPs) currently underway. R2J supported

these efforts. Stakeholders agreed to set up a cotton development platform in 2018 to work

for improving the cotton value chain.

1.2 Knowledge creation on the use of

VCD and LED tools for job creation in

post-conflict environments

enhanced

90% On schedule • The project invested in building capacity of PACA facilitators, BCCI and other independent

trainers in entrepreneurship development and business management. 8 SIYB trainers were

certified. 12 business coaches were certified. R2J project partnered with ITC ILO to provide

training in India. The trainers in turn trained 380 entrepreneurs (180 literate. 200 illiterate)

• 2 more project staff received training in value chain development (VCD).

• 1 staff member received M4P training by Springfield Centre.

• R2J project staff trained 15 staff and partners in an introductory course on M4P.

• Monthly Newsflashes on events and activities were produced and distributed to

stakeholders.

• The R2J page on the ITC ILO portal for fragile states was created and project resources have

been up loaded.

• The project is now reflected on the Afghanistan page of the ILO Asia-Pacific web page.

• Efforts were made to also have the project included on the list of M4P projects on the

BEAM Exchange website.

• The project will have a sole presentation on MRM during the upcoming DCED Conference

to be held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2018.

An international knowledge sharing event was hosted by R2J project in Mazar-I-Sharif in October

2017 The event brought together 300 delegates. The trade exhibition by private sector partners had

about 5 000 visitors in 2 days and generated incomes and B2B contracts worth USD144 344.

Exhibitors of agriculture products and facilities had nuts, dried fruits, dairy products, wheat,

improved seeds, poultry, vegetables, agro-medicines. Handicrafts included gemstones, jewelry,

woolen products, embroidery products, sport balls and clothes. Other products included saffron,

honey, pickles, cakes, cookies and sweets. Two FSPs participated.

All these were done with a view to raising the profile of the project as well as enhancing the use and

application of the M4P tools in job creation work in Afghanistan and beyond. UNHCR have come

forward asking to partner on the use of VCD and LED tools in Afghanistan.

Immediate Objective 2: The position of poor and disadvantaged groups within selected sub-sectors is improved

2.1 The underlying constraints inhibiting

the performance of key sub-sectors

for competitiveness and inclusive

growth are addressed.

80%

60%

80%

On schedule

Delayed

On schedule

Grape Value Chain. Implementation of interventions to address

1. The need for good agriculture practices (GAP). The AZAD radio programme rolled out perfectly

and the results were very encouraging. 1 250 grapes farmers received information packaged in

the form they wanted it. Radio station managed to sell advertising air time to more than 10

companies and made a revenue of USD2 325 in the pilot.

2. Negotiations with HNI, Roshan, MAIL were finalised late in October 2017 and the agreement

signed. The mobile phone based extension services (2-3-4 Service) were launched at the end of

October 2017. The target is 1.6 million farmers growing grapes, cotton and wheat. This is

meant to resolve the issue of lack of factual information on GAP by farmers in remote and

insecure areas.

3. Piloting with private sector-led extension services embedded in trade proved quite interesting.

Karwan Sabz, an inputs supplier partnered with R2J project to train small inputs suppliers and

farmers buying their inputs on usage and application in agronomy. 8 Input Suppliers trained

596 grape farmers who recorded increases in productivity from the average 9 300 kg to 11

410kg/ha (of course this includes all other extension and application of technologies). This

increased incomes to USD620/ha to farmers (USD369 520 to 596 farmers). The input suppliers

had 2240 customers in 2016 and that number increased to 3160 customers in 2017 showing an

increase of 41%. The small inputs suppliers recorded an aggregated USD 2 400 net income.

24


60%

60%

90%

75%

75%

50%

30%

30%

On schedule

On schedule

On schedule

On Schedule

On Schedule

Delayed

Delayed

Delayed

4. Productivity improvement. Use of Solar water pumps is being implemented as both an

efficiency and productivity improvement technology. Two solar companies Vista and Ilya are

partnering with FINCA a FSP working in Samangan province to increase access to finance and

cleaner irrigation technologies for poor farmers.

5. The need for better paying markets and general improved access to markets. A new grape

juice product has been designed, an export market study has just been finalised and a

horticultural produce chilling plant has just been identified and engaged.

Cotton Value chain

The cotton MSA was completed in 2016. Interventions were designed and implemented in 2017.

1. GAP in cotton production: Market linkages with Jinn and Press ginners and 1000 cotton

farmers. Extension services on GAP to cotton farmers. 1000 cotton farmers trained on GAP.

USD275478 generated as net income (USD252905 to farmers, USD13603 to the company, and

USD8971 to labours/workers). 1050 men labours and 2000 women labours worked for almost

3 months in harvesting and cotton collection.

2. Processing of cotton oil: Sanaizada and Ettifaq cooking oil. Improvement of cooking oil quality

to protect consumers.

3. Textile production: Aryana Balkh textiles. 45 workers trained as semi-skilled workers for the

company. 3 men and 15 women newly hired by the company. USD 23 025 as net income

generated (USD5 125 to workers and USD17 900 to the company). Aryana Balkh textile firm.

Improved efficiency to create more jobs for poor people. They managed to reduce their

operational costs by employing and training 18 more local workers.

4. Garment making. Kabul-based designer finally agreed to open up supply chain to 60 women in

Mazar. R2J project will co-invest with Torque Force Consulting in a business model where the

designer will train 60 women in design and manufacture of apparel for Torque Force clientele

in Afghanistan and Turkey. Torque Force will use modern marketing

5. Cotton Development Platform. Setting up of platform by cotton value chain stakeholders. This

platform will serve as a coordination mechanism for all interventions aimed at improving the

cotton value chain in Afghanistan.

75%

80%

60%

60%

70%

40%

On schedule

On schedule

Delayed

On schedule

Delayed

Delayed

6. Breeder seed development and commercial seed multiplication. This area is a MAIL

prerogative. Government is slow in moving things. Breeder seed development can only be kept

in the hands of government since cotton is a strategic national crop. This intervention could

have started but government has not finished designing how the Breeder seed programme will

be structured and managed.

Dairy development to support women farmers. 750 more women dairy farmers trained and linked

with 3 milk collection centres set up by Pakiza Dairy in Dawlatabad district. Progress is good. In total

2250 women milk producers trained (1500 in 2016 and 750 in 2017). Out of them, 365 women had

milk selling in 2017. Total income generated to all actors as USD27 064 and 389 jobs created (new

and improved). There were 100 indirect jobs recorded by the monitoring report which indicated

farmers who were selling milk to MCCs and Pakiza without having been trained directly by the

project.

Para-vets improving services to livestock farmers. 18 trained paravets delivered quality vet services

to 46 361 new herders/farmers. Total aggregated incomes for 46 361 farmers amounted to USD 1

160 529 and USD28 647 income generated by 18 paravets and 9 Basic Vet Workers (BVW) hired by

the paravets for field work. Para-vets expanded their coverage from 138 to 153 villages. The main

reasons for this improvement are increased public awareness by para-vets, better technical

services and farmers handling and administering vaccines properly.

Improving almonds marketing and productivity. 200 farmers now trained. 25 farmers contracted to

5 almond exporting companies. Monitoring data for outcomes is not yet available.

Chicken buy-back scheme. Once started, progress was good. Three cycles of broiler production

were achieved in 6 months. 60 out of a possible 100 chicken farmers were recruited and trained.

They received all inputs on loan and all their chickens were bought back by Balkh Poultry Company.

Chicken litter converted to organic fertilizer. This started off very promising. New product design

was accomplished on schedule in 2016. Drukhshan Poultry company lost momentum in 2017. Very

little progress was registered in the year under review. More fertilizer was produced. Marketing

plan needs review and more demonstrations need to be set up to create awareness to the

product. 81.6 tons chicken litter purchased and composted by Durukhshan poultry company. 44

26


tons converted to organic fertilizers (pellets). 1.2 tons sold by the company. USD21 193 as net

income generated to all actors. 16 jobs created in the processing line by 2017. This intervention

has huge potential for job creation, cost cutting for farmers, productivity improvement and income

increases for farmers but Drukhshan are too slow.

Immediate Objective 3: Access to and utilization of financial services by the farmers and disadvantaged groups improved

Number of households now accessing financial

services

Number of households who have utilized

financial services

30%

50%

Delayed:

delayed

According to the interviews held with Sayed Israr, the deputy regional head of FINCA, 16 farmers

installed solar pumps (SPs) from Ilyas solar company on credit. USD2 800/SP (for 16 farmers USD44

800 credit from FINCA). This is in Feroz Nakchir district of Samangan Province. According to the

FSP, one solar pump will reduce a farmer’s irrigation costs by USD2 000/ha/year. It means USD32

000 for 16 farmers in one year. This information is to the end of December, 2017. Many farmers

are coming to the solar company every day and demand SPs because they have seen the early

adopters and how they have reduced their costs.

60 farmers (20 women and 40 men) received loans from Balkh Poultry company in the first cycle of

production. Of these, 20 opted out of the contract because they had not made any profit. There

were 40 farmers (14 women and 26 men) who participated in the second and third cycles of broilers

production. The total loan size varied with each farmer but totalled USD32 447 and USD 16 296 was

generated as net income to all players in the market linkage deal.

An inclusive finance specialist was recruited in May 2017 and he spent a month working with all 4

short listed FSPs helping them work through their innovative financing models. In the end FINCA and

FMFB were recommended for partnership in piloting. This will happen in 2018.

OUTPUT CLASSIFICATION 3

3 This is a self-assessment

Highly satisfactory Satisfactory

Implementation of almost all (>80%) outputs is on Implementation of the majority (60-80%) of outputs is on schedule as envisaged in the implementation schedule

as envisaged in the implementation plan plan and the majority (60-80%) of indicator milestones have been met. and almost all (>80%) indicator milestones have

been met.

Unsatisfactory Very unsatisfactory

Some (40-60%) outputs are being implemented Few (<40%) outputs are being implemented on schedule as envisaged in the implementation plan and/or on

schedule as envisaged in the implementation only a few (<40%) indicator milestones have been met.

plan and/or only some (40-60%) indicator milestones have

been met.

Briefly explain the major factors taken into account to justify the output classification and provide any other comments (2000 characters maximum):

1. Regular collaboration mechanisms established for dialogue among local economic development stakeholders: In 2016 it was very difficult to get partners to

come together to implement an intervention and so progress in implementation was painfully slow. This current year has seen significant improvement in

responsiveness by implementing partners. BCCI’s membership figures have soared because entrepreneurs are seeing the progress and improvement in service

delivery by the membership body. The marked improvement in BCCI’s capacity as a result of the work R2J project is doing with them is partly the reason why

their membership drive has been so successful. This is also rubbing off the member companies who are partnering with R2J project. The continuous meetings

and consultations with the business community has helped increase their trust in how R2J project seeks to achieve its objectives. This trend is expected to

continue in the coming year.

2. The underlying constraints inhibiting the performance of key sub-sectors for competitiveness and inclusive growth are addressed: It takes innovation and

commitment to unlock opportunities in the market place and slowly companies are beginning to open up their supply chains for the poor to participate. The

private sector has demonstrated that they are beginning to understand and appreciate the incentives available for them to include the poor. This is

demonstrated in the increase in dairy farmers trained to supply milk to Pakiza, the poultry buy-back scheme with poor women and men participating, the grapes

cold storage and farmers supplying grapes, Radio Azad providing extension information for free using a commercial model. This marks a significant step in the

right direction for markets systems development in Afghanistan. R2J will convene reviews of all the current interventions in the course of 2018 to share

information on progress and lessons learnt. It is expected this will encourage more and more market actors to adopt some of the innovations.

3. Number of households now accessing financial services: The two FSPs selected for partnership in 2018 offer prospects for significant outreach. Now that the

feasibility assessment is done it means that half the work is completed. What remains is implementation of the two pilots to see how many poor women and

men can be reached.

28


4. Summary Immediate Objectives

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE ACHIEVEMENT 4

Indicator Baseline Indicator Milestone (compare

planned against actual)

Target (end-of-project

total)

Immediate Objective

summary

Immediate Objective 1: Collaboration and co-ordination among local stakeholders for local economic development is improved

Number of local

economic development

initiatives resulting from

dialogue among

stakeholders

Number of initiatives that

aim at increasing

0

0

Planned 13 and implemented 8

1. Grape Juice processing

2. Improved irrigation systems-solar pumping:

3. Extension services on GAP for grape farmers: 30

4. Extension services on GAP to grape farmers through

media house

5. Dairy market

6. Conversion of chicken litter to fertilizer

7. Chicken buy back

8. Expand Para-vet services:

Planned 20 implemented and implemented 15

1. Dairy market linkages (750 women)

20

20

most milestones on track

4 Based on the M&E plan

participation of women in

value chains

2. Poultry buy-back scheme (20 women)

3. Get Ahead ToT and training of entrepreneurs (330

women)

4. SIYB ToT and training of entrepreneurs (245 women)

5. Conversion of chicken litter to fertilizer (9 women)

6. Para-vets services (monitoring review will

determined numbers)

7. Radio extension services ( monitoring will review and

give numbers)

8. Mobile extension services (monitoring will review )

9. Design skills for apparel and jewellery (60 women)

10. Policy dialogue on cotton development policy by

MAIL.

11. Bringing decent work into the cotton value chain.

12. Cotton oil quality improvement

13. Textile workers’ skills development (15 women)

14. Market linkage for GAP for cotton farmers

15. Affordable financial products to rural households

Immediate Objective 2: The position of poor and disadvantaged groups within selected sub-sectors is improved

Number of farmers

accessing new/improved

goods, services or market-

selling opportunities

(male/female)

0

1. Grape Juice processing (40 farmers vs 160

planned)

2. Improved irrigation systems-solar pumping (17

farmers vs 200 targeted)

3. Extension services on GAP for grape farmers

Karwan Sabz (596 farmers)

4. Extension services on GAP to grape farmers

through Radio Azad (1250 farmers vs 2000)

5. Dairy market linkage (750 farmers vs 750 farmers

targeted)

6. Conversion of chicken litter to fertilizer (5 farmers

vs 10 farmers targeted)

7. Chicken buy back (60 farmers vs 100 targeted)

200

200

1000

5000

2250

100

600

Most milestones are on

track

30


8. Expand Para-vet services (46367 farmers vs 5000

targeted)

9. Get Ahead ToT and training of entrepreneurs

(330 women vs 300 targeted)

10. SIYB ToT and training of entrepreneurs (338

entrepreneurs vs 150 targeted)

11. Mobile extension services (300 000 targeted)

12. Design skills for apparel and jewellery (60 women

targeted)

13. Policy dialogue on cotton development policy by

MAIL (20 000 targeted).

14. Market linkage for GAP for cotton farmers for

affordable financial products to rural households

(1000 farmers vs 1000 targeted

5000

1000

1000

1.6 million

100

20 000

2000

Number of workers

reporting greater access

to job improvement

opportunities

(male/female)

0

1. Skills development for textile workers (45 workers vs

45targeted).

2. Chicken litter fertilizer training on composting

pelletizing and marketing (16 workers vs 16 targeted)

3. Dairy market linkage. Pakiza trained staff in milk

handling, processing and marketing and distribution.

(51 workers vs 11 workers targeted)

4. Radio Azad (11 workers trained vs 11 targeted)

5. Sanaizada Cotton Oil (20 workers trained in HACCP vs

20 targeted)

6. Ettifaq Cotton Oil (40 workers vs 40 targeted)

7. Mehran Guzagah cold storage (16 workers vs 16

targeted)

50

16

11

11

20

40

16

Immediate Objective 3: Access to and utilization of financial services by the farmers and disadvantaged groups improved

Number of households now

accessing financial services

Number of households

utilising financial services

0

1. Solar pumps loans (16 HHs vs 200 targeted)

2. Chicken buy-back (40 HHs vs 100 targeted)

3. Jinn and Press Inputs supply scheme (320 HHs vs 1000

targeted)

200

600

2000

5 This is a self-assessment

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE ACHIEVEMENT CLASSIFICATION 5

Highly probable Probable

Almost all (>80%) reporting period milestones have been met. Based on The majority (60-80%) of reporting period milestones have been met.

the indicators, it is highly probable all immediate objectives will be Based on the indicators, it is probable the majority of immediate achieved by the

end of the project.

Low probability Improbable

Some (40-60%) reporting period milestones have been. Progress is Few (<40%) reporting period milestones have been met. Limited being made on the

immediate objectives but based on the indicators progress is being made on the immediate objectives and based on the only some immediate

objectives will be achieved. indicators only a few immediate objectives will be achieved.

32


Briefly explain the major factors taken into account to justify the immediate objective classification and provide any other comments (2000 characters maximum):

The year 2017 has been a good year for stakeholder engagement to implement interventions which will bring the desired results. The process is somehow dependent on

how well market actors respond to the available incentives in the marketplace. In implementing market systems development projects, money is not the only incentive

upon private sector partnerships should be built. In Afghanistan, however, this is the major incentive for partners from the private sector to even consider partnering.

Settling on partnership with FMFB and FINCA was a long process of negotiation which lasted more than 12 months and still the agreement will only be signed early in

2018.

Finding like-minded partners is also another challenge. Roll out and scale up may not be as spontaneous as we would like it to be because the market actors and

investors are just too cautious. The presence of grant money which is supply-driven is also a big factor. Potential partners will first exhaust possibilities for grants before

they can decide to commit their own resources. Sometimes partners half-heartedly commit with the expectation that R2J project will give them money at some point

during the course of the implementation of the pilot. It is only encouraging to note that in 2017 we managed to have more than 12 partnerships signed and

implementation of interventions started. The investment made in more awareness creation, trust building engagements and the involvement of BCCI as a committed

partner have all helped to speed up the rate of response by partners. R2J project now feels more confident implementation speed can only improve because the private

sector is becoming more responsive.

ILO Development Cooperation Progress Report: page 33 of 35

6 Based on Risk Register

5. Risks and Assumptions

RISK TRACKING 6

Key Assumptions

Risk level

mit

Describe current risk and any

igation measures (1000 characters

maximum)

Start-of-project /

previous

reporting period

Current

The momentum of working

together along the three pillars

continues beyond the project

period

Yellow (medium riskYellow (medium ris k� Identify clear champions among

the local stakeholders who could

maintain the momentum beyond

the project period.

� Make sure that the several cycles of

successful implementation of

action plans reinforce the

momentum during the project

period.

� Build realistic incentives for market

system actors into the

interventions.

The expansion capacity of lead

firms is sufficient to

accommodate a good number

of target population

Yellow (medium riskYellow (medium ris kParallel to supporting the expansion of

the lead firm capacity, the project will

actively promote replication by others.

The successful value chain

business models are replicated by

others

Green (low risk) Green (low risk) • The project will work where the

initial success of the private sector

lead firms is observed.

• Profitability of the business models is

clearly documented.

• Dissemination through media is

emphasized.

Sharia-compliant financial

products are becoming

available in Afghanistan

Green (low risk) Green (low risk) � Work closely with the program

which has pioneered the Sharia

compliant products.

� Work closely with the apex and

industry association of

microfinance in Afghanistan to

address the challenge sector-wide.

� Undertake a vigorous financial

education programme in

Afghanistan to create awereness.

Co-financing/investment

opportunities exist in the target

districts

Green (low risk) Green (low risk) � The project can always put its

resources when the resources are

not available elsewhere.

� The project should always look for

low cost solutions.

Lead firms are interested and

willing to collaborate

Yellow (medium riskYellow (medium ris sector selection and prioritization

should continue to have lead firms’

propensity to collaborate as the

selection criteria.

� Sector specific collaborative

platforms will help to keep market

actors and players coordinated and

engaged.

Competent international

consultants are available on

mission when needed on each

topic of technical inputs

Yellow (medium

ris

kYellow (medium ris k� Develop a shortlist of consultants on

the same topic to secure backups.

Begin inquiring concerned

consultants early.

� Prepare alternative means of

support through enhanced use of

videoconferencing/webinar/Skype.

Target population are available for

planned training/capacity building

Green (low risk) Green (low risk) � Plan training at time and places

easily accessible by the target

population in both rural and urban

settings.

� Strategy has worked well and will

continue to be used.

6. Performance issues

Check key reasons for shortfalls in Output Delivery, Output Quality and Immediate Objective Achievement:

The inception phase brings

together local stakeholders and

leads to the formation of a forum

as the platform for project

activities

Green (low risk) Green (low risk) � BCCI, farmer organisations and

government departments are key

to sustaining momentum.

ILO Development Cooperation Progress Report: page 35 of 35

Implementing partner (constituents or private ILO (Office and staff) performance entities)

performance

Difficulties in inter-agency coordination Inadequate cost estimates

Lack of constituent or implementing partner Inadequate project design

commitment/ownership

ILO policy changes Counterpart funding shortfall

Budget processing (revision/disbursement etc.) Unexpected change in external environment

delays

Community/political opposition HR difficulties (recruitment, contracts)

Other - please specify:

7. Lessons learned

Describe any lessons, positive and negative, that have been learned during project implementation. Organise the

lessons using the headings below.

Context and implementing

environment

• Security is likely to be a persistent concern throughout the project,

and will, in practice, slow down implementation.

• The project needs to gain a deeper understanding of what makes

the private sector, including farmers, “tick” in the target areas. Why

market players act as they do, what their incentives are, is not

always clear and needs longer-term engagement to understand.

• Research and analysis suffered from a lack of quantitative, up-to

date data. The project will have to do more primary research itself

than is usual, not only for the analysis of market systems and in

preparation for the design of interventions, but also to measure and

monitor progress.

These factors affect the potential for achieving systemic change. Most

importantly, perhaps, the willingness to invest is weak due to the security

situation. This will limit the scope for effective partnerships, and will require

the project to invest more itself than would be expected in other contexts.

However, the project has already identified potential partners in several

market systems, with incentives and capacity to improve their roles, which

is a reason for optimism.

8. ANNEXES

Include any other documentation or information that may contribute to a better understanding of project

progress.

Annex I Success Stories

third development cooperation progress report 2017 · 2018-10-31 · 2. narrative report 2.1....

Documents