Examining aid effectiveness in Afghanistan

Given the links between development and security, the effectiveness of aid also has a major impact on peace and stability in the country.

With very low government revenues, international assistance accounts for 90% of all public expenditure in Afghanistan. Thus, the way it is spent will determine the success of reconstruction and development in the country.

According to the report titled: Falling short: Aid effectiveness in Afghanistan by ACBAR (Agencies Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief), aid has been insufficient and in many cases wasteful or ineffective.

ACBAR consists of 94 Agencies including Oxfam, Christian Aid, CARE, Islamic Relief and Save the Children etc.

Increasing insecurity and criminality is jeopardising progress in Afghanistan. There is therefore no time to lose and donors must take urgent steps to increase and improve their assistance to Afghanistan.

Conclusions and recommendations

The report published by Oxfam, outlines that the impact of assistance to Afghanistan is heavily affected by the wider social, economic, legal, security and political environment; thus, reforms are required in many spheres in order to maximise aid effectiveness.

•Volume of aid - In conjunction with steps to enhance its effectiveness, donors should increase the volume of development and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, which is a fraction of military assistance.

•Distribution of aid - There needs to be a comprehensive and objective assessment of the reconstruction, development and humanitarian needs of Afghanistan’s provinces, and a corresponding reconfiguration of government and donor spending.

•Quality of aid - More aid must be directed to projects that benefit people living in rural areas, and gender equality objectives should be a primary consideration in the design and implementation of all development activities.

•Indicators of aid effectiveness - Donors and the Afghan government should collectively agree on indicators of aid effectiveness like impact, efficiency, relevance, sustainability, accountability.

•Monitoring and accountability - A national, independent commission for aid effectiveness should be established to monitor aid practices, identify deficiencies and make recommendations.

•Transparency - Donors should publicly provide full information on aid flows.

•Ownership and governance - Donors should seek to increase incrementally the level of aid provided to the government sector.

•Coordination and alignment - Donors should use existing mechanisms to improve donor-government coordination.

•Technical assistance - Donors should ensure that technical assistance (TA) is cost-effective, demand-driven, coordinated, aligned with national priorities, and focused on capacity building national staff.

•Contractors - Donors should agree on common rules or principles for contracting and tendering.

•Provincial Reconstruction Teams - PRTs must enhance the quality and impact of their assistance, ensure it is aligned with official national or local priorities and coordinate fully with state institutions.