The World Bank Report No: ISR15822 Implementation Status & Results Afghanistan Afghanistan Capacity Building for Results Facility (CBR) (P123845) Public Disclosure Copy Operation Name: Afghanistan Capacity Building for Results Facility (CBR) Project Stage: Implementation Seq.No: 7 Status: ARCHIVED Archive Date: 08-Aug-2014 (P123845) Country: Afghanistan Approval FY: 2012 Product Line: Recipient Executed Activities Region: SOUTH ASIA Lending Instrument: Technical Assistance Loan Implementing Agency(ies): IARCSC Key Dates Board Approval Date 19-Dec-2011 Original Closing Date 31-Dec-2017 Planned Mid Term Review Date 20-Jan-2014 Last Archived ISR Date 22-Mar-2014 Effectiveness Date 21-Jan-2012 Revised Closing Date 31-Dec-2017 Actual Mid Term Review Date 20-Jan-2014 Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The project's development objective is to assist the government in improving the capacity and performance of select line ministriesin carrying out their mandates and delivering services to the Afghan people. This will be achieved through the implementation of specific capacity and institution building programs, which include systematic monitoring of and reporting on results. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project? Yes No Component(s) Component Name Component Cost Technical Assistance Facility for Preparation and Implementation of Capacity Building Programs 30.00 Building Human Resources 280.00 Civil Service Training 20.00 Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation 20.00 Public Disclosure Copy Overall Ratings Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO Moderately Unsatisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Overall Risk Rating High High Implementation Status Overview CBR's development objective is “to assist the government in improving the capacity and performance of select line ministries in carrying out their mandates and delivering services to the Afghan people”. The PDO level indicators are largely to be achieved by improving capacity and performance of line ministries through the provision of skilled civil servants to Page 1 of 8 The World Bank Report No: ISR15822 implement ministries’ reform programs. CBR is a ministry-wide program through which ministries can apply to develop a comprehensive reform plan, which is supported based upon progress on reform implementation and service delivery results. The program provides ministries with the opportunity to recruit high capacity staff into critical posts at salaries closer to the market rates. The aim is to increase on-budget service delivery and reduce reliance upon the second civil service. CBR supports on-going public administration reforms across government, training for selected civil servants, and limited technical assistance to support ministry reforms. Overall progress towards achievement of the development objective (DO) Public Disclosure Copy has been slow due to aspects of the project design, capacity issues, and political-economic factors. Establishing a comprehensive program with robust entry criteria, an appropriate salary scale and the necessary management systems was a complex undertaking given the environment. There is now clear demand for the program across government (e.g., two major service delivery ministries are now participating and over 50% of eligible ministries have submitted their pre-qualification applications with others now in preparation), but the pace of project implementation would require significant acceleration to reach the project objectives within the targeted time frame, as highlighted in the recent Mid-Term Review (MTR). Following the MTR and in the context of the national election period, CBR has made some notable progress. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology’s (MoCIT) CBR Program (CBRP) proposal was approved by the Steering Committee and has begun recruitments. The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL) is implementing its CBRP, including recruitments and limited training. The CBRPs of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) and Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) were approved by the Advisory Group and will soon be submitted to the Steering Committee for final review. The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is in the final stages of CBRP development. Measurable progress has been achieved under the training component, notably the Afghanistan Civil Service Institute (ACSI) held advanced level discussions with regional training institutes and universities for pilot SMG and common function training courses on public administration and human resource (HR) management, for which a procurement is underway. Most importantly, a HR firm was hired and key consultants are now in place, which is expected to help improve the quality and pace of recruitments. As a result, the Bank is no longer conducting prior review of the CBR-funded civil service recruitments and will focus on supervision and post review of the positions. To date, a total of 99 Senior Management Group (SMG) civil servant positions have been appointed. 45 more SMG posts are at various stages of recruitment, and 73 grades 3-4 technical posts are in the initial stages of recruitment for approved ministries. Some limited progress has been made on the main MTR recommendations to simplify ministry participation and procurement. Government has developed simplified procedures for Tier 2 ministries but not Tier 3, and has drafted terms of reference (ToR) for firms to support monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and training. The Mission recommended further focus on the MTR recommendations in advance of restructuring discussions. The MTR rated the project's overall implementation progress as Moderately Satisfactory and progress towards achievement of the project development objectives (PDOs) as Moderately Unsatisfactory. Based on achievements since the MTR, the Mission recommended maintaining a Moderately Satisfactory rating for overall implementation progress. However, the pace of implementation remains slower than anticipated resulting in limited progress on the results indicators. As such, it is recommended to maintain a rating of Moderately Unsatisfactory in terms of achievement of PDOs. With a key tool in place (i.e., the HR firm) and growing understanding about the program across ministries, government could use the coming period to demonstrate tangible progress on the project’s results indicators. CBR represents an opportunity for the new government to incentivize and implement public administration reforms and institutional sustainability of the civil service. Note: The Government revised the “tier” terminology to categorize the highest level of support as Tier 3 and the lowest Tier 1, which is relevant for the results section PDO indicators. Public Disclosure Copy Locations Country First Administrative Division Location Planned Actual Afghanistan Kabul Wilayat-e Kabul ✔ Results Project Development Objective Indicators Page 2 of 8 The World Bank Report No: ISR15822 Indicator Name Core Unit of Measure Baseline Current End Target Development budget execution rates for Tier 1 Percentage Value 30.00 67.00 60.00 ministries tend to rise over the course of the Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 Public Disclosure Copy project Comments MoF budget execution figures MAIL’s final FY13 (calendar to be considered for year 2013) development measurement. budget execution rate was 67%. MAIL 2017 budget execution target: 83%. MoCIT, recently approved as a CBR ministry, had a FY13 budget execution rate of 52.5%. MoCIT's 2017 budget execution target: 96%. As of endMay 2014, development budget execution for MAIL is 13% and MOCIT 2.4%. The reason for MoCIT’s low execution is opening of the Letter of Credit (LC) for non discretionary funding (World Bank fiber optic project). LC is opened for 2-3 years but the full amountis included in the budget for first year. MoF is discussing how to handle this accounting issue which will negatively impact the bottom line figure for the ministry. Number and percentage of targeted business Number Value 0.00 0.00 process improvements achieved in Tier 1 Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 Public Disclosure Copy ministries tends to rise over the course of the Comments Business process MAIL: Proposed a total of 21 This indicator measures project improvements should business process gradual improvement in line contribute to improved service improvements. For 1393 (CY ministry processes. delivery through results 2014), its target is 3 business monitoring and achievement, process improvements: HR enhancing accountability, processes improvements to reducing leakage of budget accelerate/standardize HR funds etc. service delivery, budgeting process decentralization, and improved procurement Page 3 of 8 The World Bank Report No: ISR15822 processes. MoCIT: It was approved as a CBR ministry in May 2014 Public Disclosure Copy and has proposed a total of 37 business process improvements. For 1393 (CY 2014), its target is 12 business process improvements. Note: Ministries are the data source. Due to limited project M&E capacity and staffing, these figures have not been confirmed. Number and percentage of Tier 1 ministries Number Value 0.00 0.00 achieving progress on at least 1 service Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 targeted in their CBR proposals Comments MAIL: 12 service delivery This indicator measures improvements are in its improvements in service results framework, of which it delivery. has made progress on 4. MoCIT: The ministry, approved in May 2014 as a CBR ministry, has 10 service delivery improvements in its results framework. Note: Ministries are the data source. Due to limited project M&E capacity and staffing, these figures have not been confirmed. Public Disclosure Copy Number of Senior Management Group (SMG) Number Value 70.00 99.00 750.00 positions filled Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 Comments By end December 2011, there 99 SMG positions are funded were approximately 95 MCP through CBR. Of these, 45 experts who are eligible for posts were recruited through SMG positions. CBR and the others migrated from MCP. These grades 1-2 posts are both common function and technical posts Page 4 of 8 The World Bank Report No: ISR15822 across ministries. 45 more SMG posts are at various stages of recruitment. Public Disclosure Copy Intermediate Results Indicators Indicator Name Core Unit of Measure Baseline Current End Target Number of CBR cadres established Number Value 0.00 5.00 10.00 (professional cadres and common function Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 groups) continuosly increases during project Comments 5 Professional Groups (4 The number and types of implementation Common Function and 1 cadres will depend on the technical group in MAIL) are CBR proposals. Initial target de facto now under anticipated during the development, but the appraisal of the project procedures which formally was10. establish them need to be developed and approved by government. MoF has initiated work to develop the FM Group and IARCSCwould like to next develop the HR Common Function Group. Percentage of SMG deployed to sub-national Percentage Value 0.00 30.00 20.00 positions Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 Comments There are currently 6 SMG posts at the subnational level, 3 of which are in MAIL and none for MoCIT. As this indicator only calculates percentage of Tier 3 subnational SMGs, the figure is based on MAIL and MoCIT. As MoCIT was only just Public Disclosure Copy approved as a CBR ministry, its percentage will be factored into this indicator during the next ISR. MAIL has 10 active SMG posts of which 3 are subnational for a 30% rate. MAIL plans to recruit 30 subnational posts, which will be done in batches. Page 5 of 8 The World Bank Report No: ISR15822 Reduction in vacancy rates of tashkeel Percentage Value 0.00 0.00 positions across government Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 Comments Government is not able to A natural level of vacancy Public Disclosure Copy provide this data. The Bank rates of less than 20% is the has recommended that target. Measured by average IARCSC collect the data as of percentage of vacancy the Taskheelate Department rates across government isunable to do so. As part of each year. restructuring, government and the Bank could consider if this indicator should be removed. Number of women in senior civil service Number Value 80.00 116.00 100.00 increases Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 Comments Data received from IARCSC 116 as per CSO 2013 data, 2 central database and Gender of which are SMGs (MoEW Unit. and MoCI). The project is recruiting a gender specialist to assist the IARCSC Gender Directorate, which has been unable to collect the data on women civil servants and has taken ad hoc initiatives to increase recruitment of women into core civil service. Number of ministries which have completed Number Value 8.00 21.00 23.00 pay and grading. Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 Comments 21 ministries have completed Includes all ministries except the pay and grading process Ministry of Interior (MoI) and (i.e., have recruited 60% of Ministry of Defense (MoD). reformed tashkeel). There is Public Disclosure Copy only 1 remainingministry (not including the security ministries) that has not completed a 60% level of recruitment. The remaining ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has completed 2.4% of its recruitment under pay and grading. Page 6 of 8 The World Bank Report No: ISR15822 All CBR ministries develop a functioning O&M Text Value N/A 0 All ministries with CBR management system within 18 months of Proposals. participation. Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 30-Dec-2017 Public Disclosure Copy Comments MAIL has a software called M-Plus installed in the center and 7 zonal offices which will be used for asset management. In these 8 locations, all properties/goods and locations are registered and routinely updated in M-Plus. MAIL plans to expand this to the remaining provinces over the next 2 years, but it is not clear how this will become part of a ministry O&M management system. Percentage increase in the amount of O&M Percentage Value 0.00 0.00 budget allocated to sub-national departments Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 in Tier 1 ministries. Comments MAIL and MoCIT have begun No target value determined. implementation of their CBR Allocation will be determined Programs. This indicator will on the basis of line ministry require LMs to be more requirements and MoF. advanced in implementingtheir programs and receiving SMG civil service posts and TA support. It is recommended that this indicator be revisited during project restructuring. O&M budget execution rate of provincial Percentage Value 0.00 0.00 Public Disclosure Copy departments in Tier 1 ministries increases. Date 31-Dec-2011 11-Jun-2014 31-Dec-2017 Comments Indicator requires approved No targets determined. Line ministries to be implementing ministries will be evaluated on their reform programs. the basis of their CBR proposals and respective It is recommended that this MoUs with MoF indicator be revisited during project restructuring and possibly removed. Page 7 of 8 The World Bank Report No: ISR15822 Data on Financial Performance (as of 30-Jun-2014) Financial Agreement(s) Key Dates Project Ln/Cr/Tf Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Original Closing Date Revised Closing Date Public Disclosure Copy P123845 TF-11447 Effective 21-Jan-2012 21-Jan-2012 21-Jan-2012 31-Dec-2017 31-Dec-2017 Disbursements (in Millions) Project Ln/Cr/Tf Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P123845 TF-11447 Effective USD 100.00 100.00 0.00 35.28 64.72 35.00 Disbursement Graph Key Decisions Regarding Implementation Public Disclosure Copy No decisions for disclosure under this ISR. Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Projects There are no related projects. Page 8 of 8