17th Quarterly Progress Report: FATA Institutional Strengthening Project (FISP)

The project is being implemented through Abacus Consulting under Contract # AID-391-C-11-00003. The FISP Work Plan for Year 5 was approved by the Steering Committee in August 2015. In the 1st quarter of Year 5, a consultative workshop was held in October 2015 on the roll-out of FISP's Work Plan for Year 5 and to discuss the institutionalization of the systems developed by FISP. A summary of the progress made in the 1st quarter of Year 5 against the work plan activities under all six FISP components is provided below. Component 1: IT Support provided technical support to FS and FDA server rooms and IT Help Desks, resolving 46 IT-related complaints during the quarter. The procurement process for FDA's hardware renewal and software up-gradation has been initiated. Component 2: PC Automation continued to provide application support to PC-FMS, including handholding and on-the-job training for smooth functioning of the software. PC-FMS and the ADP software were successfully installed in FDA. Component 3: HR Support continued to provide HR support to the core staff of FS and FDA, including the collection of timesheets. Component 4: Communications initiated the designing of a 'welcome pack' to raise awareness amongst FATA institutions about the systems developed by FISP. The Media Cell of the Directorate of Information, KP, was visited by FISP to explore the adoption of their media reporting processes at the Media Cell of the Governor's Secretariat. The Public Media Intercommunications and Awareness Mechanism (PMIAM) website was revamped to make it secure from external threats. Component 5: Training & Systems Development customized and deployed the Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS) at FDA. The improved version of the Financial Management System (FMS) was deployed at FS, and training on FMS was conducted for the staff of FS in October 2015. Training on the Public Procurement Management System (PPMS) and understanding the PPRA rules was conducted for the staff of FDA in November 2015. Component 6: Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) held two consultative workshops on Performance Monitoring and Reporting System (PMRS) in October 2015 to discuss the smooth and effective institutionalization of the PMRS with the officials of the Planning & Development (P&D) Department and M&E Directorate. Dashboard capabilities of the PMRS are continuously being enhanced, and handholding support is being provided to end users. A total of 3 training sessions on PMRS were conducted for the officials of FS in November 2015. The tasks performed under each of the activities planned in the Work Plan of Year 5 are given below. Activity 1: Continue technical support to FS/FDA server rooms and IT Help Desks has been ongoing since November 2011 and will continue throughout the life of the project. Activity 2: Maintenance, repairs and connectivity has also been ongoing since November 2011 and will continue throughout the life of the project. During the 1st quarter, 46 IT-related complaints were resolved. Activity 3: IT awareness and trainings started in September 2015 and will be completed by February 2016. Visits were carried out for shortlisting IT Institutes in Islamabad and Peshawar for providing IT training to FS/FDA staff. A Request for Proposal (RFP) has been issued to the shortlisted IT Institutes for IT trainings. Activity 4: Software renewal and hardware up-gradation of the FDA's server room started in September 2015 and will be completed by February 2016. Coordination with the FDA IT staff was done for analysis on software renewal and hardware up-gradation.