Agriculture Development in Afghanistan

The objective of this transition project is to transfer organizational and individual functional capacity from externally funded programmes to the MAIL formal organizational structure. To accomplish this requires close coordination with a wide range of stakeholders, internal to MAIL’s technical and administrative structures (e.g., Human Resources, Finance) and other international donors supporting MAIL’s transition efforts. The project will focus on supporting the transition process of integrating the five EU-funded programmes into MAIL’s institutional organization, specifically:

• Assisting MAIL’s Deputy Minister for Technical Affairs Directorate assume policy and programme, technical, and administrative responsibilities of the EU-funded programmes

• Coordinating transition activities specific to the EU-funded agriculture programmes with MAIL and other donors,

• Assuring the regularity of all the transition programme in MAIL, and

• Advising the EU Delegation on specific technical matters related to structuring their budget support post-transition.

The structure and functioning of project management unit which will be in a position to assume the above-mentioned responsibilities should be proposed as an introduction to the expertise mobilized. This structure illustrated by an organigramme will take into consideration i) the external staff related to the five EU-funded agricultural programmes expected to be absorbed by the Project and than progressively transitioned to the MAIL Taskheel and ii) the expected need for National and International Technical Assistance. While the overall requirement for national and international expertise is left to the appreciation of the contractor, the following expertises is considered by the contracting authority and the Beneficiary (MAIL) as essential.

The expert will work on enhancing the capacity of the staff in charge of public delivery in all areas of project activities. He will facilitate and coordinate the provision of training and capacity building expertise. He will produce manuals and training materials according to current best practices and ensuring that technical knowledge is imparted to the MAIL in a sustainable manner by working closely with local personnel, thus enabling the Ministry to maintain and replicate the developed tools and mechanisms. . Other responsibilities envisioned include, but is not necessarily limited to:

• Advising the MAIL senior staff and the Team Leader on current status (i.e. capacity gaps) and foreseen interventions concerning capacity building;
• Elaboration of management structures, processes and procedures to build capacity at all levels, from the community to the central level;
• Development of training and capacity building packages/curricula as identified jointly with relevant authorities and potentially with other development partners;
• Organizing a sustainable programme of Training for Trainers, and coordinate external trainers.
• Organizing specific studies and workshops for the staff if/when the need arises;
• Ensuring the implementation of iterative capacity-building activities for target groups;
• Establishing an M&E system for capacity-building programme activities;
• Liaising effectively with development partners in order to maximize potential synergies and internalize effectively lessons learnt from past programmes/experiences;
• Completing any additional tasks within capacity building activities as instructed by the Team Leader.