SIKA-EAST Weekly Program Update: February 15 - 20, 2014

The program is implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Afghan government and other stakeholders. Training activities were a key focus of the program during the week of February 15-20, 2014. Fourteen training activities were conducted in eleven districts, attended by 237 participants, including 236 men and one woman. The trainings included sessions on Grants Management, Infrastructure Project Implementation, and Grant Management Award. The training sessions were conducted in districts such as Laja Ahmad Khail, Laja Mangal, Zurmat, and Tani. Lessons Learned workshops were also conducted during the week, with a total of 16 sessions held in eight target districts. The workshops were attended by 361 participants, including 277 men and 84 women, who shared their ideas and experiences and learned from each other. The sessions provided an opportunity for SIKA-East to identify the challenges and achievements of the program. Grants and engineering activities were also a key focus of the program during the week. The Aslam Khil karez extension project in Saydabad District of Wardak Province was successfully completed on February 20. Eleven grants, with a cumulative value of over $232,000, were awarded in six districts. Since the beginning of the project, 376 grant applications, including 370 infrastructure and six capacity building projects, valued at more than $16 million, have been received, and 221 applications have been approved by USAID. Significant provincial activities were also reported during the week. In Ghazni Province, one Infrastructure Project Implementation training session was conducted for 11 men and one woman from Khwaja Umari District. A non-infrastructure package worth $24,000 for Andar District was received during the week. In Khost Province, five training sessions were conducted, including four Infrastructure Project Implementation sessions and one Grants Management training session. Five grants, worth over $118,000, were awarded for Khost Province this week. In Logar Province, SIKA-East's engineer for Mohammad Agha District made site visits to two karez extension projects being implemented by the Koli CDC. The program also continued to work on logistical arrangements for a Service Providers Fair (SPF) for Khost Province, which is scheduled to be held on February 25 and 26. The program has finished gathering post-evaluation data for all the SPF events held to date in the five target provinces. The objective of the post-evaluation is to assess the results and impacts of SPF events from both the providers' and the participants' perspective in order to make recommendations for improvements in upcoming SPFs. The program also participated in the first Gender Coordination Roundtable, which was hosted by SIKA-East in Kabul on February 17. The roundtable was attended by representatives from the Afghan Rural Enterprise Development Program (AREDP), the National Rural Access Program (NRAP), National Area Based Development Program (NABDP), and the IDLG Gender Unit. The purpose of the meeting was to initiate dialogue with SIKA-East's partners to identify strategies where SIKA-East and the respective programs implemented through each institution can share best practices, tools, and ideas to increase female outreach and inclusion. Overall, the program continued to make progress in promoting stability and development in key areas of Afghanistan during the week of February 15-20, 2014.