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Evaluation: Humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan 2001-2005
December 22, 2005
A Joint Evaluation from Denmark, Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden and The United Kingdom
Executive Summary
1. Introduction and Methodology
The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Danida), the Development Cooperation Ireland (DCI), the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) (the five ‘Donors’) initiated an Evaluation of their assistance to Afghanistan over 2001-early 2005 (see Terms of Reference in Annex I). It was commisioned to the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway (lead), Copenhagen Development Consulting and the German Association of Development Consultants, by Danida’s Evaluation Department on behalf of the five Donor agencies.
From 001, the Donors contributed financial assistance, which made up approximately 5 per cent of the entire civilian aid to Afghanistan in 2001-04, 791 million Euro in all, of which 383 million was provided by the UK, 165 million by the Netherlands, 123 million by Sweden, 99 million by Denmark and 21 million by Ireland. Of these contributions 77 per cent was channelled through ten major implementing channels:
- The Afghan Reconstruction and Trust Find (202 million Euro, 26 per cent),
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (82 million Euro, 10 per cent),
- United Nations Development Fund (78 million Euro, 10 per cent),
- United Nations Children Fund (57 million Euro, 7 per cent),
- World Food Programme (47 million Euro, 6 per cent),
- The Government of Afghanistan (34 million Euro, 4 per cent),
- International Committee of the Red Cross (30 million Euro, 4 per cent),
- The Afghan Stabilisation Programme (29 million Euro, 4 per cent),
- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (27 million Euro, 3 per cent),
- The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (23 million Euro, 3 per cent).
The remaining 23 per cent was distributed through a large number of other implementers, often for smaller projects. With the exception of Ireland, the Donors also made military contributions supporting the civilian interventions.
Methodology
The Evaluation commenced January 2005 with a desk review. Subsequently donor agencies, key operational partners and key informants were interviewed in Europe and the USA. Field studies in Afghanistan by a team of seven international and four Afghan consultants took place in March/April.
To ensure that the study of the assistance provided by the Donors was both representative and reflected the situation in the different regions of Afghanistan, a combination of considerations (thematic, sector, implementation channel, and geographical, including ethnic and political differences) was taken into account. Sub-teams accordingly covered the following intervention areas at the central level in the capital, Kabul, and regionally in the provinces specified below:
Nation and state-building and stabilisation, including human rights; disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation- led (NATO) Provincial Reconstruction Teams provided by the Donors (Balkh, Samangan and Baghlan provinces in the North).
- Refugees and internally displaced persons and the return of rejected asylum seekers, and health (Kandahar, Zabul and Herat in the South and West).
- Primary education and water and sanitation (Laghman and Nanghahar in the East).
- Gender and Livelihoods (Kabul, Parwan and Bamyan in central Afghanistan).
In the provinces, the sub-teams used interview guides, which also included issues addressed by other sub-teams. This approach allowed for interviews with a wide range of Afghan informants of whom a total of 329 were interviewed, in addition to a specific survey carried out in Kabul.
In late April, a debriefing meeting was held with the stakeholders in Kabul. A draft report was finalised in early June, and a final report in early August to be commented upon by the Donors and resource persons. The Evaluation has endeavoured to incorporate the valuable comments received, wherever possible.
Download the full report on Reliefweb