Quarterly Activity Report for Option Year 1 of the USAID/Afghanistan funded Services Under Program and Project Office for Results Tracking Phase II (SUPPORT II) Program

The program is managed by Checchi and Company Consulting, Inc. and is designed to provide a range of services, including assessments, evaluations, and gender analyses, logistical support, mapping services, third-party monitoring, and translation and interpretation services. The program's key accomplishments during the second quarterly reporting period, which covers October 1 to December 31, 2013, include the successful completion of an eight-minute film related to the Promote program with the Gender Unit, a Data Quality Assessment (DQA) of the performance indicators for the Asia Foundation's Survey of the Afghan People, and the completion of field work for the Final Performance Evaluation of OEGI's Airport Rehabilitation Projects at Regional Airports program. The program also conducted a DQA of 12 custom and standard indicators for the Mission's Performance Management Plan (PMP), completed field work for the Midterm Evaluation of OEGI's Afghan Workforce Development Program (AWDP) program, and completed field work for OSSD's Disease Early Warning System (DEWS) evaluation. Additionally, the program reviewed statements of work and began recruiting for upcoming activities, including a sustainability assessment of the Afghan Technical and Vocational Institute (ATVI), an Engaging Men as Champions of Women gender analysis, and final performance evaluations of the Afghan Engineering Support Program (AESP), Engineering Quality Assurance and Logistical Support (EQUALS), and Cash Transfer Assistance Agreement for Civil Service Reform programs. The program also hosted four workshops for three Implementing Partners (IPs) with a total of 147 participants and provided the Mission with over 1,800 pages of translations. Furthermore, the program assisted the Mission, IPs, and short-term consultants (STTA) with 30 mapping requests. The program's management structure includes a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) and an Alternate Contracting Officer's Representative (A/COR), who were notified on December 8, 2013. The program also has a personnel team, which includes a Senior Gender Specialist who demobilized on October 19, 2013, and a Project Design/M&E Team Leader who joined the project on October 12, 2013. The program's tasks and deliverables are tailored to the needs of USAID/A and are intended to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the Mission's programs, as well as to improve the information and reporting mechanisms, products, and systems. The program's tasks include Performance Monitoring Support, Program Results Data, Information Reporting, Monitoring, Recommendations, Evaluations of Mission Funded Programs, Annual Review of Assistance Objectives, ANDS Tracking Task, Field-Based Assessments, Logistical Support, Communications and Outreach Support, Translation Services, and Information Management. The program's status for Task 1, Performance Monitoring Support, includes the completion of a DQA of 12 indicators from the Mission's PMP, which started on November 1, 2013 and was completed on December 5, 2013. The program also conducted interviews with 11 IPs reporting on the indicators in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Kandahar, and Mazar, and submitted the hard copies of signed checklists to the Mission on December 12, 2013. The program's status for Task 2, Program Results Data, includes no activity during this reporting period. The program's status for Task 3, Information Reporting, includes the analysis of the Mission's procedures for generating information for periodic reports and data calls, including but not limited to the PPR, OP, Mission Strategic Plan (MSP), and the various formats required for each report. The program's financial summary as of December 31, 2013, includes total billings under the contract of $8,469,345 and an amount obligated and remaining to be billed through the end of Option Year 1 (July 4, 2014) of $8,530,655.