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EU-MAIL Transition Project

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Afghanistan Western-region Companies Produce Certified Seeds

EU-MAIL Transition Project

January 2014 – December 2018

BACKGROUND

EU support to the agricultural sector in Afghanistan dates back over 10 years. Support has been focused on the seed industry, animal health and horticulture sub-sectors, as well as on cross-cutting areas of agricultural economics, market information and statistics and food security, mainly through five programmes (i.e. AHDP, PHDP, AVSIDP, SAEMISS and IPC). Whereas effective structures were built through these projects and the quality of public services delivered is of high quality, the situation would not be sustainable, unless these projects and the structures they had built would be taken over by the Government and services would be delivered under the responsibility and management of the Government itself.

Therefore, the EU decided to create the “EU Support to Capacitate MAIL in Transition for Sustainable Public Services Delivery” project (in short: EU-MAIL Transition Project) with the intention to ensure that the public functions, thus far implemented by these projects with external staff and external funding will be transitioned in a sustainable way as core activities managed and implemented by MAIL itself and the financial support by the EU for these activities moved from off-budget to on-budget.

supportED units

  • Seed and Planting Materials Certification Directorate (SPCD) certifies seeds in different locations and Plant Biotechnology Laboratory (PBTL)provides certification that planting materials for the horticulture industry are true to type and disease free.
  • Perennial Horticulture Development Centers (PHDCs) are located in six locations in all major agro-ecological zones of Afghanistan. All PHDCs provide repository of national collection andconduct adaptive research on fruit trees.
  • Agricultural Statistics and Market Information Systems Directorate (ASMIS)providesreliable and accurate data on agriculture crops of Afghanistan through their GIS and MIS units.
  • Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) produces data on food security and shares them with GIRoA, donor organizations and relevant NGOs to plan on food shortages in country.
  • Animal Health Directorate (AHD)provides vaccination to prevent disease among animals through its two main units called CVDRL and AVPL.

 

ACHIEVEMENTS

  • The Project succeeded in alignment of finance and administrative procedures with those of the Government in the areas of: budgeting, procurement, expenditure, asset management, human resources, capacity development and governance.
  • Most of positions that proposed by Transition Project is includedin MAIL 1395 Tashkeel. The Tashkeels were finalized by HR Directorate of MAIL and submitted to Civil Servant Commission for further approval. To date, the HR Directorate have made some progress in recruitment of CBR Positions for the Seeds Directorate (8 CBR Positions (Grade III), and the Ministry is planning to recruit CBR positions for Animal Health and Statistics Directorates by end of 2016.
  • The Project supported the five projects by providing trainings in preparation of documents necessary to complete the Budget Circular 1 (BC1) for the year 1396 (2017). The BC1 budget sheets and concept notes were prepared based on the budget information of previous years and they consider the operating expenses and capital expenditures that are currently funded under the Project.
  • In terms of legal and regulatory reforms, the Transition Project has been closely working with AHD to draft various Acts and regulations. With the technical support of project, the AHD drafted Animal Health Act which is completely approved; drafts of Veterinary Medicinal Products Act, Import and Export Regulations for Animals and Animal Products, and Regulations for the Import and Export Control of Products of Animal Origin are pending in Policy Analysis and Legal Advisor Department (PALAD) of MAIL for further approval; the National Veterinary Laboratory Strategic Plan (NVLSP) is still at AHD for additional revision; and the draft of Private Laboratory Procedure is rejected by PALAD and AHD with the support of Transition Project is working to draft another regulation for Lab and Private Animal Clinics.
  • To date, the Transition Project provided many training to the technical staffs of AVPL, ARIA including PHDC, SPCD including PBTL, and AHD including CVDRL to build their capacities in budget preparation, public procurement and financial modalities. These training are included Planning and Budgeting, Public Procurement, and Accounting.
  • The Transition Project conducted six feasibility studies for possible transition of public bodies to new legal entities – either public or private – for CVDRL, PHDC, AVPL, ASCA, ARIA, and ISE. The feasibility studies detailed how these entities could improve its current status, adopt a different public one or transition from a public entity to a government-owned corporation (e.g. a parastatal), a private entity or non-government organization (e.g. an NGO or association).

This project is completed.