SIKA-EAST Weekly Program Update: June 29– July 04, 2013

The PMT manager also discussed the upcoming launch of SIKA-East in Qarabagh and Jaghatu Districts and sought the director's guidance and suggestions. The PRRD director expressed appreciation for SIKA-East efforts toward stability in Ghazni Province and committed to fully support the implementation of the program. In Andar District, male and female communication committees prepared their strategic communication plan and submitted it to the District Governor. The plan will be revised once the District Governor provides his comments and suggestions. In Dih Yak District, a grant management training was conducted for one grantee, and implementation officially started. The grants team processed six endorsement letters for the Dih Yak Community Development Council (CDC), which were submitted to PRRD for final approval. In Jaghatu and Qarabagh Districts, the district profile of Qarabagh is being prepared, while the Jaghatu district profile is completed and submitted to Kabul office for review. In Khwaja Umari District, an infrastructure project planning training was organized and supported by the Ghazni capacity building officer, with participation of 50 trainees. In Khost, the Khost PMT Manager met with the PRRD Director on July 1, 2013, and requested the PRRD to select and send a representative to SIKA-East trainings, which the PRRD Director agreed to do. In Gurbuz District, a stability planning process training was conducted with participation of 42 female CDC and DDA members. The training addressed the stability concept, social responsibility, and local resiliencies from women's perspective. The women produced a District Project Portfolio (DPP) reflecting their views and priorities. Following this session, SIKA-East and the PRRD Directorate plan to conduct a similar workshop for influential men from the community and members of the DDA to develop a DPP and then combine both documents into one. In Jaji Maydan, CDC and DDA members received stakeholder orientation and governance foundation training on July 2 and 3, 2013, with participation of 50 men, including representatives of PRRD and the Independent Directorate for Local Governance (IDLG). In Tani District, a stakeholder orientation and governance foundation training was conducted from June 30 to July 2, 2013, for CDC and DDA members, with an average participation of 76 men. The participants included representatives of PRRD, IDLG, DDA, District Community Council (DCC), and key influential leaders. In Logar, the PMT manager participated in the weekly coordination meeting with PRRD and other stakeholders on July 1, 2013. The PRRD Director asked for clarification on Mohammad Agha DPP Cycle 1 and community concerns about distribution of projects. The PRRD assigned a team to visit Mohammad Agha District to clarify and provide analysis and a report. In Baraki Barak District, three grant applications for women were signed by female DDA members, which would provide embroidery training, poultry training, and support vegetable and fruits processing projects. In Paktya, the Paktya gender officer met with the provincial manager of Afghan Women Education Center (AWEC) on June 30, 2013, to discuss the unavailability of women in Zurmat and Zadran Districts. The manager mentioned that AWEC had established some women's councils in different districts of Paktya Province, but they are not now active. The gender officer also met with the chief of Paktya provincial council on July 1, 2013, with the same intention. The chief of provincial council promised to discuss the issue with the District Governor and to meet again to discuss. In Laja Mangal, stability project planning training started on July 4, 2013, for 60 male CDC and DDA members. The training will continue till July 8. In Laja Ahmad Khill, SIKA-East started the stability project planning training on July 4, 2013, with participation of 57 CDC and DDA members. This five-day training will continue next week. In Zadran District, the district engineer conducted a site survey for the pipe scheme project on July 1, 2013, with the help of influential community members. The 4900m pipe scheme survey will be completed in one week. In Zurmat District, a five-day grant process and application development training started last week and ended on June 27, 2013, with participation of 55 men from Zurmat District. In Maydan Wardak, the Wardak PMT attended the regular coordination meeting with PRRD and representatives of MRRD projects' implementers on July 2, 2013. The participants discussed