SIKA-EAST Weekly Program Update: December 28 – January 03, 2013

The workshop was a joint effort between SIKA-East and the Provincial Rural Rehabilitation Directorate (PRRD). A total of 47 participants, including members of the District Development Assembly (DDA), Community Development Councils (CDC), District Community Council (DCC), and influential elders from Mohammad Agha, attended the training. The workshop focused on explaining the concept development and topics such as beneficiaries, location, estimated budget, and community contribution. The Project Design and Development/Grant Process Training of Trainers (ToT) was conducted by SIKA-East for the field staff of Nerkh District from December 30 to January 2, 2013. The training aimed to prepare the field staff to conduct similar sessions for the members of DDA, CDC, DCC, and influential people of Nerkh District. The training covered topics such as grants application compliance review, grants application Sections 16-18, grants instruments and eligibility, CDC endorsement letter, and pre-qualification. In preparation for the Service Providers Coordination meeting, SIKA-East field staff conducted several coordination meetings with PRRD and the Department of Economy to discuss arrangements, agenda, and participants' lists. The agenda, invitation letter, and participants' list were finalized and approved by the PRRD Director for further processing. The Stability Analysis and Planning Unit (SAPU) continued reviewing the English version of the Nerkh DPP. Following the review, the DPP will be sent for translation. The Communication and Outreach Unit (COU) developed a questionnaire on resiliencies and grievances to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of program systems and procedures. The questionnaire aims to discern and evaluate the current key resiliencies and grievances and propose constructive recommendations for changing the negative situation into a positive one. The Resource Development Unit (RDU) added five more private sector companies to the Maidan Shahr Service Provider Catalogue (SPC) in coordination with the Department of Economy. The Service Delivery Unit (SDU) reviewed four infrastructure projects in Saydabad District and submitted them to field staff for consideration. The Grants and Sub-contracts Unit (GSU) completed budget analysis narrative justification for the three karezes extension projects in Saydabad District. The Capacity Building and Gender Unit (CBGU) is reviewing the training modules received from program-related units. The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Unit (MELU) reviewed the focus group reports and polling findings, which were presented to the Management Unit (MGU) as a MS PowerPoint presentation and will be presented to SIKA-East senior management shortly. The Human Resource Unit (HR) filled two positions for AECOM, one for OCS, and four for IRD. In the field, the Ghazni Deputy Program Management Unit (PMU) Manager conducted a meeting with the PRRD Director to explain the project work plan and implementation process in Deh Yak District. The Ghazni Capacity Building Officer and Ghazni Gender Officer conducted a meeting with the Ghazni Department of Women Affairs (DoWA) Director and DDA members to discuss the Governance workshop. The Logar PMU Manager had a meeting with the Provincial Governor to provide details and updates on SIKA-East implementation in Logar Province. The projected field activities for the next week include finalizing the list of female participants for Governance, Stability Planning Process, and Women Advocacy trainings in Ghazni. In Logar, the DPP will be collected back from line sectors, and service providers will be visited to update the SPC. In Paktya, coordination meetings will be conducted with PRRD and involved stakeholders, and meetings will be held with different service providers to update the SPC. In Wardak, grant applications will be filled out for various projects in Saydabad District, and grant documents will be processed.