Technical cooperation with Ministry of Labour Social Affairs Martyrs and Disabled in Afghanistan

Client: Delegation of the European Commission to Afghanistan.

With a team of 12 experts, Ecorys supports the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) in Afghanistan to improve service delivery to vulnerable groups by: • Supporting the development of new policies and create the needed strategy for implementation; • Supporting the Ministry in taking a more active role in coordinating services by mapping and collaborating with all NGOs; • Improving the service delivery of social workers and social care workers.  At the grassroots level, donor funding is directed through NGOs via a multitude of grants and agreements which are difficult to track. The project aims to support MoLSAMD to improve donor coordination across the social protection sector under the leadership of the Department for External Relations.

The project consists of three components:

• Component 1: Policy Making and Strategic Planning within MoLSAMD At this level, the project works collaboratively with Ministry staff to increase their capacity to work with the Social Protection Strategy; develop policy that is consistent with this strategy and addresses the needs of extremely vulnerable groups; and accurately cost policy initiatives to ensure these are proposed to the Ministry of Finance and adequately budgeted. The team has also made a major contribution to the elaboration of an overall strategic plan for the Ministry working with senior officials.
• Component 2: MoLSAMD oversight and support of services for Extremely Vulnerable Groups (EVGs) This component aims to support the Ministry in taking a more active role in leading and coordinating the delivery of services through EVGs currently being preformed by both the public and NGO sectors. In addition to policy development addressed under Component 1, this Component will support the Ministry in implementing this policy through improved collaboration with NGOs and by leading in the strategic coordination of the services they provide.
• Component 3: Strengthening the Cadre of Social Care Workers This component will focus on strengthening the capacity of the cadre of social care workers operating in Afghanistan. It has involved undertaking of training needs assessment, elaboration of training elements in the context of national qualification framework as well as harmonisation with other donors (notably US) and also delivery of pilot training sessions.

Studies: In order to strengthen the understanding of the Ministry and of donors in relation to the policy context, we are also supervising two studies: one study is examining traditional forms of social assistance in Afghanistan. It is essential that complex traditional forms of community support, including relating to religious traditions and practises, are understood to ensure the best focus for interventions by national government and external donors; the other study is examining the role and function of orphanages and childrens homes. Here there are concerns about abuse but also concerns about “ghost” facilities as well as those which do not primarily focus on disadvantaged children. There also likely to be examples of very good practise.