Stability in Key Areas (SIKA) - East Quarterly Report Q3/FY2014

As of June 30, 2014, the program has expanded into an additional eight districts and one new province, reaching all envisioned 29 districts in six provinces. This expansion has enabled the program to provide USAID assistance to 427 sub-national government entities. The SIKA-East program has also made notable achievements in capacity building and training. The District Strategic Planning Process (DSPP) capacity building has been completed over 59 training sessions, with 1,599 men and 688 women from 29 District Development Assemblies Plus (DDAs+) participating. Additionally, SIKA-East activities have addressed 24 systemic problems through solutions identified by District Entities (DEs) during 44 Lessons Learnt workshops with 1,157 participants. Training has been a key component of the SIKA-East program, with 926 trainings conducted for 19,881 men and 5,916 women, totaling 58,869 person-days of training since the program's inception. The program has also facilitated the development of communication plans and functional outreach strategies in 21 districts, with 144 public outreach events conducted by 116 DDA+ members as a result of outreach training. The SIKA-East program has also made significant progress in grant management, with 10% of the 2,802 projects proposed by DDAs+ formulated into grant applications, endorsed by communities and local government. Of these applications, 274, or 88%, have been approved by USAID and are in various stages of implementation. A total of 250 infrastructure and non-infrastructure grants have been awarded, valued at $9 million, with 143 grant projects completed, injecting a value of nearly $5 million into local communities. The SIKA-East program has also had a significant impact on the local communities, with completed grants directly benefiting 381,458 men and 367,222 (49%) women, for an estimated total of 748,680 beneficiaries. The program has also facilitated the employment of 7,142 individuals over 201,926 workdays and provided 9,907 person-days of training to 112 men and 231 women. In addition to its achievements in capacity building, training, and grant management, the SIKA-East program has also facilitated the development of Service Provider (SP) information products, with five SP Catalogues and abridged SP Booklets produced and distributed to 146 organizations and 7,568 individuals. The program has also conducted ten Service Provider Fairs in five provinces, attended by 725 SPs and 10,713 visitors. The SIKA-East program has been implemented in six provinces of southeast Afghanistan, including Ghazni, Khost, Logar, Maydan Wardak, Paktika, and Paktya. The program has been working closely with the local government and communities to address systemic problems and promote stability, good governance, and community resilience.