This quarterly report for the Afghanistan Subnational Governance Programme (ASGP) outlines the Project’s results and activities for the first quarter of 2015. ASGP is a capacity development programme that supports more effective, sustainable and inclusive subnational governance at the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), and across the Provincial Governors Offices (PGOs) and District Governors (DGOs), all 34 Provincial Councils (PCs) and 21 municipalities. ASGP technical and capacity development specialists, collocated with partners and in regional offices, support these activities and results, in partnership with ASGP- funded NTA personnel in subnational offices and in IDLG. 

Highlights for the first quarter of 2015 include support to significant subnational policies and initiatives, such as IDLG’s Gender Action Plan, developed with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to implement IDLG’s ASGP-supported Gender Mainstreaming Plan. ASGP also supported IDLG to develop nine new regulations that clarify the roles and responsibilities and processes of Provincial and District Governors, IDLG personnel, and other key actors, which contributes to more effective and efficient subnational governance. Other highlights include capacity development to newly-elected PCs, to help orient them on their roles and responsibilities, and the extension of the PC law. In Q1 ASGP also supported partnerships among IDLG, regional governance institutes in India, and with other Government and UN entities such as the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and UNAMA. Another highlight included work with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Gender Equality Project (GEP II), and the UNDP CO Gender Specialist, to promote Provincial Gender Committees in all Provincial Governors Office, and to develop and promote gender initiatives in IDLG and in the municipalities. 

In addition to the successes of 2015 it is also important to acknowledge the challenges. As IDLG’s Deputy Minister H.E. Mamundzay noted at the April Project Board, ‘political pressures’ have impacted IDLG’s work, including the delays in the appointment of Governors and of a General Director to head IDLG (IDLG, like other Independent Directorates, lacked a General Director at the time that this Quarterly Report went to press). These challenges impacted ASGP programme delivery and results. These issues and mitigating strategies are outlined throughout the report. 

ASGP has implemented much of the exit strategy to prepare for the transition to the new SNG project, as outlined at the October 2014 and April 2015 Project Boards, including the reduction in NTA personnel (from 320 in 2014 to 213), and closure of ASGP four regional and provincial offices (Helmand, Bamyan, Kunduz, and Jalalabad). The pre-Project Appraisal Committee (PAC) for ASGP’s successor project Local Governance (LoGo) was conducted on April 27, and UNDP will confirm the date of the PAC in due course, and communicate this date to donors and stakeholders. 

ASGP would like to thank IDLG for their partnership, and to thank donors for their commitment to the Project in 2015.