Fourth Quarterly & Annual Report: Services Under Program and Project Office for Results Tracking Phase II (SUPPORT II)

under the terms of USAID Contract No. AID-306-C-12-00012. SUPPORT II provides a host of services through USAID/Afghanistan's Office of Program and Project Development (OPPD) to improve the efficiency of programs implemented by the Mission's Technical Offices. This final quarterly and annual report under Option Year 1 (OY-1) covers the period July 5, 2013 - July 4, 2014. SUPPORT II services to OPPD include assessments, performance evaluations, and gender analyses; logistical support for hosting conferences, meetings, and workshops; management information and reporting; mapping services and products; Performance Management Plan (PMP) and related activities; independent monitoring; and translation and interpretation services. SUPPORT II subcontractors include Danish Translation Services, Social Impact Inc., Social Development and Legal Rights, Synergy International Systems, Inc., and Overseas Strategic Consulting, Ltd. Thirty-two activities consisting of 10 assessments, 14 performance evaluations, 4 gender analyses, one gender-related video, and one independent monitoring activity were identified by OPPD for OY-1. While a number of activities were cancelled or rescheduled by the technical offices, SUPPORT II assisted OPPD in editing scopes of work (SOWs), and successfully accomplished the following activities in support of USAID Afghanistan's monitoring and evaluation (M&E) goals and objectives: completed eight assessments, initiated seven performance evaluations, completed four gender analyses, hosted 24 expatriate short-term technical consultants, began independent monitoring of six projects, and hosted 17 conferences and workshops. The quality of draft SOWs OPPD receives from technical offices has been mixed. For example, SOW narratives are often cut and pasted from previous SOWs on file and fail to accurately consider the appropriate questions for a specific assessment or evaluation and the specific deliverables. Similarly, the indicator definitions used in many IPs' Performance Monitoring Plans (PMPs) are not in harmony with the indicator definitions on which USAID is required to report. The timeliness of receiving program documents from technical offices for expat STTA teams to review prior to their arrival continued to be a problem. SUPPORT II's performance monitoring plan and indicators include seven of the 13 specific tasks as identified in the contract and two additional output indicators. The project is driven by the evolving management demands of OPPD, and the performance monitoring plan and indicators are designed to meet these demands. The project has made significant progress in implementing its activities, including completing eight assessments, initiating seven performance evaluations, and hosting 24 expatriate short-term technical consultants. The project has also made significant progress in providing logistical support for hosting conferences, meetings, and workshops, with over 490 participants attending 17 conferences and workshops. Additionally, the project has provided 148 mapping products to USAID, USAID's IPs, and STTA, and performed 46 translations, consisting of over 4,000 pages of English to Dari and Pashto and/or Dari/Pashto to English for USAID and SUPPORT II STTA. The project has also begun independent monitoring of six projects in four provinces in western Afghanistan for RC-West and expanded the program to include eight projects.