SALAM Second Quarter Progress Report 2018

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SALAM Second Quarter Progress Report 2018

February 6, 2018

In the second quarter of 2018, tangible momentum towards the delivery of beneficiary-focused activity and sub-activity level was generated, in particular the advertisement and evaluation of tenders for job placement and training, jointly worth USD 1.3 Million. The project completed essential preparatory actions in order to deliver results in line with the revised Annual Workplan.

Progress was made in the development of Bilateral Labour Agreements (BLAs), revision of the National Labour Migration Strategy (NLMS) and towards the formation of the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Labour Migration. Concept and Terms of Reference notes were developed for exposure and study visits to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and the Philippines to study regional labour migration and training related topics. Sessions were held to rectify the lack of approved national curricula, and technical support was provided to the MoLSAMD in April to hold the National Labour Conference. Institutional partnerships were also enriched between UNDP, ILO, UNHCR and World Bank.

Relationships with the national implementing partner MoLSAMD were increasingly constructive, with two Technical Working Group meetings held in May and the SALAM Project Board meeting held in June. MoLSAMD also benefited from an exposure visit to India in April. At local level, support continued to be provide by the Nangarhar Provincial Governor and Director of DoLSAMD during regular and joint missions to Jalalabad. Monthly missions took place in April and May, however the June mission was cancelled due to insecurity.

SALAM continued to experience difficulties in recruiting and retaining key project personnel. The SALAM Project Manager post remained vacant and the Nangarhar based Provincial Coordinator resigned. The lack of established skills standards, curricula, and functional readiness of Vocational Training Centres in Jalalabad resulted in overall reduced reach to project beneficiaries. Lack of adequate gender integration in SALAM activities continues to raise concern. Mitigation measures include expedited focus on recruitment, initiation of a gender analysis of SALAM recruitments and revision of the Annual Work Plan. 2

At the completion of the reporting period, the prospects for successful project implementation are considerably improved. In Quarter 3, it is expected that activities will be turned into results. The Accumulated expenditure (Jan-Jun 2018) is USD 560,297, equivalent to 18% delivery rate, including expenditure in Quarter 2 of USD 274,027.