National Solidarity Manual Operations Manual (Dec 2004)

8/10/2019 National Solidarity Manual Operations Manual (Dec 2004)

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NSP Operational Manual 15 December 2004 Page 1 of 54 Rev. Date: 15 December 04

NATIONAL SOLIDARITY PROGRAM

OPERATIONS MANUAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE 4

I. INTRODUCTION 5A. Background 5B. Goal and Objectives of the NSP 5C. Core Elements and Approach 5D. Scope and Targeting 6E. Conditions for Eligibility and Project Menu 10

II. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 14A. Community 14B. Community Development Council and Project Management Committees 13C. Facilitating Partner 20D. Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development 21E. NSP Steering Committee 22

III. CYCLE OF ACTIVITIES 23A. Preparation 23B. Appraisal 24C. Sub-Project Implementation 27D. Monitoring by the Community 27E. Physical and Financial Progress Monitoring 28F. Sub-Project Completion 28

IV. FINANCING AND FUND-FLOW SYSTEM 30A. Overall Fund-Flow Arrangements 30B. Fund Transfer Mechanism 32C. Tripartite Agreement 33

D. Disbursement to Communities 34E. Fund Management at the Community level 35F. Financial Reporting by Facilitating Partners 36

V. COMMUNITY PROCUREMENT 37A. Direct Single Source Procurement 37B. Competitive Shopping 38C. Competitive Tendering 39D. Direct Contracting 41E. Waivers 42F. Procurement above AFA 3 Million 43G. Procurement Forms 43

VI. SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND MINE RISK SAFEGUARDS 45

VII. COMPLAINTS PROCESSING AND RESOLUTION 48

VIII. MONITORING AND EVALUATION 50


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Acronyms and abbreviations

CDC Community Development Council

DAB Da Afghanistan Bank

FP Facilitating Partners

IDA International Development Association

IDP Internally Displaced Persons

MoF Ministry of Finance

MRRD Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development

NGO Non-governmental Organization

NSP National Solidarity Program

OC Oversight Consultant

RRD Provincial office of MRRD

UXO Unexploded ordnance

Annex 1

Disbursement Forms:

NSP Disbursement Process GuidelinesDisbursement Form 1 Community Profile (Baseline Data) FormDisbursement Form 2 CDC Election & CompositionDisbursement Form 3 Community Development Council Registration ApplicationDisbursement Form 4 Signatory Authorization (for block grant withdrawals)Disbursement Form 4a Account Opening Form for NSPDisbursement Form 4b Authorized Signatures (for block grant withdrawals)Disbursement Form 5 Certificate of Registration of Community Development Council

Disbursement Form 6 Summary of Community Development Planning ProcessDisbursement Form 7 Sub-Project Proposal FormDisbursement Form 7a Verification of Mine Risk Safety/ClearanceDisbursement Form 7b Sub-Project Summary Sheet (English)Disbursement Form 7c Project Eligibility Appraisal (English)Disbursement Form 8 Tripartite Implementation AgreementDisbursement Form 9 Block Grant Fund Request

Annex 2

NSP Accounting Forms

1 Accounting Instructions

Acc Form 1 Cash Receipt VoucherAcc Form 2 Vendors InvoiceAcc Form 3 CDC Cash BookAcc Form 4 DAB ChequeAcc Form 5 CDC Bank BookAcc Form 6 CDC Cash Advance BookAcc Form 7 CDC Petty Cash Count FormAcc Form 8 CDC Stock book


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Annex 3

NSP Procurement Forms

Procurement Form 1 - Declaration of Impartiality and ConfidentialityProcurement Form 1.1 - Invitation to QuoteProcurement Form 1.2 - CDC Bid Evaluation Form

Procurement Form 1.3 - Purchase OrderProcurement Form 2.1- Advertisement NoticeProcurement Form 2.2.1 - Contract for Supply of GoodsProcurement Form 2.2.2 - Contract for WorksProcurement Form 2.2.3 - Contract for ServicesProcurement Form 3.1 - Waiver/Direct Contracting Form

Annex 4

NSP Reporting Forms

Reporting Form 1 - Project Completion FormReporting Form 2 - Certificate of Completion of a Sub-project

Reporting Form 5 - Spot Check Reporting FormReporting Form 6 - Format for Monthly Status Report (Narrative)Reporting Form 6a- Format for Monthly Status ReportReporting Form 8 - Oversight Consultant Quarterly ReportReporting Form 16 - Community Quarterly ReportReporting Form 16a - Community Progress ReportReporting Form 19 - Facilitating Partner Quarterly ReportReporting Form 19a - Facilitating Partner Progress reportsInstructions for Quarterly Progress Reports

Annex 5

Social, Environmental and Mine Risk Safeguards Forms

Safeguard Form 1 - Environmental Impact Identification and Assessment for NSPSafeguard Form 2 - Land Acquisition Assessment & Planning Data SheetSafeguard Form 3 - Form to Document Contribution of Assets


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PREFACE

The National Solidarity Program (NSP) is executed by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation

and Development (MRRD) with funding from the International Development Association

(IDA), the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) and other donors. The NSP

operational manual provides information on key aspects of the NSP including the project

mandate, objectives, institutional arrangements, sub-project processes, transfer of funds and

financial management, and monitoring and evaluation procedures among others. The main

audiences for the NSP operational manual are the national, provincial and district level

government officials, Facilitating Partners, the Oversight Consultant, and other consultants.

The NSP operational manual is intended to ensure consistency, transparency andaccountability in the application of project management procedures at all levels. The NSP

operational manual is considered to be part of the Development Grant Agreement with IDA

and is therefore a legally binding document. The NSP operational manual will be reviewed

and revised biannually based on lessons learned from the field.


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I. INTRODUCTION

A. Background

The National Solidarity Program (NSP) was created by the Government of Afghanistan to

develop the ability of Afghan communities to identify, plan, manage, and monitor their own

development projects. NSP promotes a new development paradigm whereby communities

are empowered to make decisions and control resources during all stages of the project cycle.

In accordance with government policy, the program is expected to lay the foundations for a

long-term strengthening of local governance, to make it more inclusive (e.g. for women,

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), returnees, ethnic minorities), and to provide assistance

for reconstruction and development of communities.

The NSP has an implementation framework that includes a methodology for providing direct

financing to communities through transparent eligibility procedures for selection of sub-

projects. This methodology focuses on the development and strengthening of inclusivecommunity institutions through participatory planning and resource management as a basis

for community development.

B. Goal and Objectives of the NSP

The goal of the NSP is to reduce poverty through empowering communities with regard to

improved governance, and social, human, and economic capital. The objectives of the

program are to: (1) lay the foundations for a strengthening of community level governance,

and to (2) support community-managed sub-projects comprising reconstruction and

development that improve the access of rural communities to social and productive

infrastructure and services. The outcomes that the NSP aims to achieve are (i) the

establishment of a framework for village level consultative decision making and

representative local leadership as a basis for interaction within and between communities on

the one hand, and with the administration and aid agencies on the other, and (ii) local level

reconstruction, development, and capacity building which will lead to a decrease in poverty

levels.

The NSP grants to villages are intended to act as catalysts in this process and at the same time

provide much needed support for local reconstruction and development activities.

C. Core Elements and Approach

The design of NSP consists of four core elements:

Facilitationat the community level to assist communities establish inclusivecommunity institutions through elections, reach consensus on priorities andcorresponding sub-project activities, develop eligible sub-proposals that comply with

NSP appraisal criteria, and implement approved project sub-proposals;


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A system of direct block grant transfersto support rehabilitation or developmentactivities (sub-projects) planned and implemented by the elected CommunityDevelopment Councils;

A series of capacity building activitiesto enhance the competence of CommunityDevelopment Council members (both men and women) for financial management,

procurement, technical skills, and transparency, and,

Activities linking local institutions to government administration and aidagencieswith available services and resources.

Quality of process is essential for the long term sustainability of community investments and

for the success of a program like the NSP. As such, community level planning must follow

an approach that complies with the basic principles below:

participatory planningof activities through inclusive community meetings andrepresentative elected development councils;

community contributionsto capital costs and operation and maintenance;

transparency and accountabilityof budgeting and accounting.

The goal of this approach is to ensure that communities are able and inclined to institute a

broad based inclusive decision-making system (which includes women as well as members

from marginalized sections of the villages) through community meetings and development

councils. Through this process the communities will acquire or strengthen the skills and

attitudes necessary to enhance their capacity to define, manage and govern their development.

To achieve this goal, the role of the Facilitating Partners (FPs) and the NSP will be to create

an enabling environment through facilitation of inclusive community planning, technical

assistance, and timely release of funds, which will make possible for communities themselves

to manage implementation of the projects they have defined.

D. Scope and Targeting

In the first year, three target districts in each province were selected by MRRD. In the

second year additional districts were selected as needed to establish equity with regard to

coverage of villages between provinces. Close to 6,000 communities were reached in Year 1,

and operations will be expanded to reach an additional 4,800 communities in Year 2,

equalling roughly half of Afghanistans village communities. The selection of districts has

aimed at achieving an optimal match between quality NGO proposals and vulnerable districts

(vulnerability caused by severity of drought and number of Internally Displaced Persons

(IDPs) and refugees). Inputs from provincial governors and Provincial Administrative

Councils have also been sought before district selection was finalized and NGOs contracted.

During the first year, the program operated in a selected set of village communities in the

selected districts (up to 72 per district), and operations will be expanded in year two to cover

the remaining villages in the districts, if any, and/or expand operations to new districts. In


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year two, operations will expand to a new set of communities with consideration of logistics

and optimal use of field staff.1 Funds will be allocated for projects that have been appraised

by the NSP as meeting the eligibility criteria of the NSP (See Section E below), and for

which financing agreements have been signed between the NSP and the community

organization and the Facilitating Partners (Disbursement Form 8).

Definition of community

Communities will be defined on the basis of existing available information from government

records (e.g. the list of registered villages from the 1970s, or the list of villages prepared for

the nomination of the members of the 2002Loya Jirga). However, since the reliability of the

available official data on villages was inconsistent when the records were established, and

since it is by now outdated due to population increase and/or displacements, the identification

of communities for the purpose of the NSP would have to reflect the ground realities existing

today. Where Facilitating Partners find that the realities on the ground deviate significantly

from the existing official village lists, local authorities (e.g. woluswal, MRRD provincialoffice) should be consulted where possible to arrive at a more operationally practical

definition of communities that corresponds to existing local settlement patterns. The proposed

plan for defining communities for the purpose of NSP would always have to be approved by

NSP Kabul. The establishment of a Community Development Council would not affect the

village's legal standing with the Ministry of the Interior. It is important that Facilitating

Partners thoroughly periodically monitor, verify and check actual number of families to

avoid any inflation in family numbers which could be detrimental to the programmes

financial integrity. Spot checks will also be conducted by the Oversight Consultant and

MRRD.

The definition of a community for the purposes of block grant allocation will be based on the

following principles:

A community is a village of more than 25 families;

One Community Development Council will be established for each community.Development Councils can not be established for sub-sets of an existing village (e.g. avillage cannot be split into its constituent political or ethnic/qaumsub-divisions);

One block grant (budget) will be allocated to each new community in Year II at10,000 AFA per family with an upper limit of 3 million AFA per community. This

allocation2requires that the community develops one or more eligible sub-projectproposals within the budget frame. The possibility of introducing a second top-upgrant is currently under consideration.

1 i.e. villages chosen for annual implementation coverage should to the extent possible be more or lessadjacent to facilitate optimal utilization of facilitation staff and transport resources.2 This new allocation is subject to formal World Bank endorsement.


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The block grant of a community can be carried forward to the next year if it has notbeen fully committed or disbursed for specific projects during Year 1. It can only becarried forward from one year to the next. After that, the un-committed amountswould be cancelled.

A family is defined as a nuclear family consisting of a man, his wife (or wives) and

unmarried children, or a widow(er) and her/his unmarried children. The number of families

in the targeted village communities will be assessed by the Facilitating Partner, and this

enumeration can be verified through such means as a community meeting, consultations with

the local mullah(s), and existing village lists for voluntary contributions towards ashar,

mosque repair etc. Once village selection is confirmed (the community will have to confirm

its interest to participate during a mass meeting) and the number of families is agreed, the

block grant amount would be adjusted to reflect the more accurate population size, and

communicated to the community. The community must also be willing to contribute at least

10 % of the value of the block grant to development activities financed out of the block grant.

How to deal with different community sizes?

As stated above, the minimum size of a community potentially eligible for a block grant

allocation would be 25 families. Smaller settlements should be encouraged to join with other

ones to pool their block grant allocations for larger scale joint activities (e.g. a clinic, a

school, or a multi-village pipe water supply system). Where this is not possible, isolated

settlements below 25 families can be exceptionally included, if the rationale provided is

approved by the Oversight Consultant and MRRD.

While communities are encouraged to come together, it is not acceptable under NSP that they

split up in the interest of a higher block grant. In order to avoid detrimental community

divisions into two or more sub-areas or CDCs, which could lead to a negation or weakening

of the principles of solidarity, the following guidelines must be followed.

The sub-area may have a second CDC if some or all of the following criteria apply but

subject to approval of NSP/MRRD/OC in Kabul:

1. If the sub-area has a record or proof of separate community work, such as irrigation

2. If the sub-area has a separate council/shura existing for some years now

3. If the sub-area was listed as a separate entity in the nomination of representative(s) for

the Loya Jirga

How to facilitate the inclusion of recent returnees/IDPs?

An option to facilitate re-integration of IDPs and returning refugees is to communicate to

specific communities with a considerable IDP/refugee population, that the block grant

allocation can be increased upon the return of IDPs/refugees and their participation in project


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planning. This incentive could encourage communities with a high proportion of IDPs or

refugees to initiate consultation with these about their return during the project preparation

phase to obtain access to an increased block grant allocation. Where a return of

IDPs/refugees is planned, and IDPs/refugee families or family members return to their

communities during the project preparation phase, a reassessment of the population size

should be undertaken prior to final project development and costing to enable an adjustment

of the block grant allocation. Where such planning is undertaken, the Facilitating Partner

should assist the community in assessing whether the additional resources provided through

the enhanced block grant and the proposed project activities would enable a sustainable re-

integration of the returnees.

Hence, for all recent cases of returns of refugees or IDPs the following should be undertaken:

1. Re-count the number of families. This should be done by the CommunityDevelopment Council, assisted by the Facilitating Partner, and be cross-checked byMRRD and the Oversight Consultant;

2. Cross-check once again the above number with that of UNHCR to avoid any inflationof numbers and ensure consistency between data;

3. Adjust the block grant amount to the number of additional families, within the limitsfor block grant transfer (specified above);

4. For a return above 20 families (average cluster size), conduct in the briefest delays(not longer than 1 month after the return) a sub-election to include at least onereturnee representative member within the CDC3. If the number of returnee families is

below 20, the CDC must ensure some form of returnee participation into communityaffairs through Project Management Committees or Thematic Committees (e.g.literacy, parent-teacher, water etc.);

5. Ensure the inclusion of returnees, through the above mentioned participation, andthrough a full inclusion in identification, selection, implementation and/or monitoringof sub-projects which should be beneficial to returnee reintegration;

6. A special Returnee-CDC Reintegration Application should be submitted on a needsbasis to the OC/MRRD.

E. Conditions for Eligibility and Project Menu

The Community Development Council will be registered (Disbursement Form 5) with

MRRD after it has been verified that the election was conducted in compliance with the

election rules (see Chapter II.B and Disbursement Form 2). Then the community will be

eligible for the block Grant.

3 The number of representatives can be increased proportionally to number of returnee families vs. size

of community.


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NSP Operational Manual 15 December 2004 Page 10 of 54 Rev. Date: 15 December04

To make use of the block grant allocation, the community must develop a Community

Development Plan and an eligible sub-project proposal (or proposals), that fulfils the

following criteria:

is proposed by a representative Community Development Council(which hasbeen elected through a community-wide process),

is endorsed through a community-wide process,

provides equitable access to benefits,

is technically and financially sound,

includes an operation and maintenance plan4,

has at least 10% community contributions towards capital costs ,

includes a commitment to and plans for ensuring transparency of the use ofblock grant funds.

The community contribution towards capital costs can comprise cash, labour, or in kind

contributions such as construction materials and/or transport.5

The activities to be completedunder each sub-project instalment must be clearly specified (including community

contributions). The Facilitating Partner will monitor, assess and report quarterly to the NSP

as to whether this condition is being adequately met.

Toprepare a Sub-project proposal the community should take note that NSP will accept an

open menu of sub-projects within four types of investments, subject to a short negative list.

The four types of investments are6:

1. Community infrastructure(the investments will comply with defined technicalstandards, and will only comprise public goods);

2. Human capital development activities(e.g., time-bound literacy classes, hygieneeducation etc., that are not planned to incur recurrent costs from the state);

3. Self-help savings schemes for women and disabledthat would draw on bestpractice lessons from other projects and be based on a predefined methodology to bedeveloped by NSP (this practice can only comprise 10% of the total value of a blockgrant with an upper limit of AFA 250,000).

4. Productive asset transfers for vulnerable women and disabledthat would draw onbest practice lessons from other projects and will be based on a predefinedmethodology to be developed by NSP (e.g. sewing machines, looms etc. supported by

4 The O&M plan must include not only an operating budget, but a clear indication of a community-managed cost recovery system, such as a user-payer scheme. Without an adequate cost recovery system, thesustainability of the outputs is likely to decrease. This involves careful attention on the part of CDCs andFacilitating Partners - as well as OC/MRRD.5 The time spent by members of the Development Council will not be counted towards the communitycontribution, and cannot be compensated out of the block grant. If the community decides that members of theDevelopment Council should be compensated for their time, this should be from a community contribution overand above the 10% contributed towards the capital costs of projects.6 Investments in income generating assets if later included in the menu would draw on best practicelessons from other projects.


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training as required) (the value of the assets can only comprise 10% of the total valueof a block grant with an upper limit of AFA 150,000).

Increasing womens involvement in NSP Year 2

A. Creation of separate female

Community Development Councils

when possible and desirable7is

proposed in order to enhance

womens involvement and

decision-making.

B. Specific investments potentially

targeting women, see 2 to 4 above,

now become full-fledged

entitlements either for projects

directly benefiting women or for

community projects. Women can

either choose to invest their

entitlement into a larger

community project, if they wish to

do so, or alternatively, they may

select more women-focused

projects. Until a creative menu of

truly beneficial and sustainable

projects for women is further

explored within NSP, Facilitating

Partners and CDCs are

encouraged, but not restricted, to

promote human capital

development activities (i.e. 2

above) such as literacy and hygiene

education, which often offer an

initial firm basis on which to build

income generation and other

projects (i.e. 3 and 4 above) .

Box 1. On the Creation of Female CDCs and Corresponding Project Entitlements

Lessons learned from Year 1

1. While female participation in the CDC process has been higher than expected in Year

1, it has been found that the actual involvement of women in the selection,

implementation, monitoring of projects and in overall decision-making remains poor

despite a clear potential for progress in this area. To seize this opportunity for greater

involvement of women, innovative steps must be taken in Year 2 see section on block

grant entitlement below.

2. Another lesson learned from Year 1 is that cultural and other religious constraints have

been found to be obstacles which can be overcome through culturally sensitive social

organizational skills. As such, success in reaching and involving women may be more ofa factor of: a) having an adequate number of qualified female staff and b) a sophisticated

approach to social mobilization on the part of Facilitating Partners regardless of cultural

or other barriers8. As such, it is expected that Facilitating Partners will continue to

engage qualified female staff, and provide them with adequate training as a precondition

for success in reaching and involving women.

3. While mobilization and governance for women tends be prioritized, it is equally

important to reflect on the viability of projects proposed to and by women. Much work

remains to be done in this area to avoid the mushrooming of unsustainable and potentially

detrimental business ventures. An informed and participatory discussion needs to take

place in an effort to produce a list of adequate and promising projects for women based on

global and Afghan best practice, in addition to increasing the capacity of the Oversight

Consultant/MRRD to appraise these types of projects (distinct from engineering

capacity), with a clear emphasis on sustainability and overall impact on poverty reduction.

4. Finally, lessons from Year 1 demonstrate that more emphasis needs to be made to

identify vulnerable women (e.g. female-headed households) as well as disabled both

being entitled to asset transfers. Likewise, careful planning is needed of such asset

transfers to ensure that they contribute to sustainable poverty alleviation.

7 This measure is meant to encourage female participation and decision-making in areas where gender separationmay be appropriate to reach this objective. In more lenient areas, mixed CDCs may be more appropriate.8 In areas where the creation of female CDCs impossible due to cultural constraints, the Facilitating Partners arerequired to advise the OC/MRRD on what alternative is being chosen to address womens needs (e.g. women committees).


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Public infrastructure projects would include, but not necessarily be restricted to: irrigation

works; roads including culverts and small bridges; erosion protection; structures promoting

watershed management; water supply facilities; public baths (hamam); and school buildings.

When school buildings are proposed by the community, endorsement would be required from

Ministry of Education that these are included in the development plans of the ministry, and

that funding of operational costs would be provided (fully or with committed contributions

from other agencies). Please refer to Annex 1 for full instructions on how to proceed

regarding schools. Where clinics are proposed for block grants, endorsement is required by

the Ministry of Health that they are included in its development plans and that it will cover

the associated operational costs.

The project will notfund:

equipment or materials that are included in the annual implementation plans by otheragencies (e.g. by other government or NGO projects that are operating in the area);

political campaign materials or donations in any form;

weapons including (but not limited to), mines, guns and ammunition;

chainsaws;

pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals;9

investments detrimental to the environment;

land (purchase or lease), under any conditions;

construction, rehabilitation, or maintenance of any government office buildings;

payments of salaries to government servants or the salaries of the staff of government

subsidized organizations;

payments of salaries to CDC members10;

any activity on land that is considered dangerous due to security hazards or thepresence of unexploded mines or bombs, UXOs,

any activity on land that has disputed ownership or tenure rights;

any activity using child labour , i.e. labour from children below 15 years of age11;

any activity that will support drug crop production or processing of such crops.

The negative list will be reviewed and if necessary revised by NSP every year.

9 Exceptions may be considered based on an assessment by the NSP (with specialized consultantassistance, if required, and after no objection from IDA) in special situations such as eradication of infestationsof locusts or sun pest.10 While the project will not fund salaries of CDC members, the project can fund travel, accommodationand food costs of CDC members exclusively linked to programme or sub-project implementation, such astravels for procurement. These costs should be part of the sub-project proposal and be clearly identified assuch. An effort should be made by the community, as pointed out later in the Manual, to devise a cost recoverystrategy for O&M, and general running costs of the CDC with a view to creating a sustainable mechanismbefore the end of Year 2.11 International Labor Organization norm, adapted to Afghanistan.


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The table below defines the eligibility for block grant funding of different types of

subprojects that are not clearly public goods infrastructure. This list may not be exhaustive

and future sub-project proposals that fall in the grey area between public and private goods

will be reviewed by the NSP/MRRD/OC on a case by case basis.

As part of promoting technical soundness, each activity must take into account environmentaland social impacts as defined in the governments Environmental and Social Safeguards

Framework. Since most of the works are expected to be small community-based projects,

environmental risks are generally considered to be minimal. To ensure compliance with the

safeguards framework, all proposals must include completed simple environmental and social

checklists developed by NSP, which describe impacts and mitigations measures, if any. See

Disbursement Form 7c and Chapter 7 (Social, Environmental and Mine Risk Safeguards.

Sub-Project Proposal

Generally

Eligible for

Block Grant

funding

Eligible under the

Women/Disabledcategory

Eligible under

the Asset

Transfer

category

Comment

Diesel Water Pump (irrigation) No No No On negative list

Micro Hydropower Yes - - Equity & O&M plan

Generator for electricity Yes - - Realistic O&M plan

Public Bath (Hamam) Yes - - Realistic O&M plan

Bakery No Yes Yes Business plan & O&M

Mill (diesel) Yes - - O&M plan

Mill (water) Yes - - O&M plan

Carpet/gelim weaving No Yes Yes Equity & Business plan

Tailoring No Yes Yes Equity & Business plan

Farm animals (goats, cow, etc) No Yes Yes Equity & Business plan

Farm inputs (fertilizer, seed) No Yes Yes Equity & Business plan

Grocery store No No Yes Business plan

Tractor No No No

Thresher No No No

Truck, Bus No No No

Religious buildings No No No

Cash donation for disabled No No No

Land leveling for agriculture No No No

Vocational training Yes Yes - Equity in access to benefit

Literacy training Yes Yes - Equity in access to benefit

Other training (computer, tractoretc)

Yes Yes Yes Equity in access to benefit

Check dam (over 3 metres) No No No

Once it is determined through an appraisal of the project proposal (Disbursement Form 7 and

Section III.B) by NSP that the eligibility criteria listed above have been complied with, the

funds will be paid directly from the NSP to a community, according to a defined payment

schedule based on the Tripartite Agreement (see Chapter IV.C and Disbursement Form 8).


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The result of the appraisal of the community project proposal will be confirmed on the first

page of Disbursement Form 7.

II. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

A. Community

For the purposes of the NSP, a community is defined as a village consisting of at least 25

families that is able to identify a need and come together to access NSP funds. Communities

will be identified on the basis of existing local settlement and social patterns. However, this

would not prevent different distinct villages from joining together to develop assets (e.g. a

school, or a pipe water system) that serves more than one village. In such a situation, people

from all areas that make direct use of the asset should be included as part of the community

for the purposes of the planning, implementation, and maintenance of the joint asset. The

block grant for such joint projects will be equal to the aggregate amount for the collaborating

communities or a portion thereof as required and agreed by the communities. In order toprevent any potential external pressure or influence on the selection of a large project, and

ensure the design and implementation of technically feasible and adequate projects, it is

highly recommended that communities and/or CDCs grouping together be limited to seven.

When more than seven communities join together for the development and management of a

common project, special permission must be sought from the Oversight Consultant and

MRRD.

While a community will be assisted by NSP financially, a key characteristic of this approach

is that it promotes a high level of community participation and ownership during all phases of

the project cycle. As such, functions of the community will include:

Identifying and prioritising needs;

Electing the Community Development Council and relevant Project ManagementCommittees;

Preparation of a community development plan and sub-project proposals;

Providing community contributions;

Participating in field appraisal, project launch ceremony, and all other communitymeetings related to the project;

Management of project implementation by the community through its CommunityDevelopment Council or Project Management Committee(s);

Providing oversight of project implementation with regard to quality and use of funds;

Maintaining the asset after completion with community cost contributions.

B. Community Development Council and Project Management Committees


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The Community Development Council (CDC) will be a community-based decision making

body which is elected by the community through elections based on a secret ballot. As the

representative body of the community with regard to the NSP, the Development Council will

be responsible for overseeing the preparation of the Community Development Plan (defining

community needs and priorities, and the project or sub-projects to address some or all of

these priorities), and the preparation and implementation of individual sub-projects. The

Development Council should at least comprise a Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary. The

Development Council should obtain the endorsement through community meetings

regarding:

decisions on development priorities, and the final selection of project proposalsdeveloped on the basis of agreed priorities,

the size and composition of community contributions, and the use of project funds,

transparency arrangements,

arrangements for maintenance of completed projects.The Community Development Council will sign an overall Tripartite Agreement

(Disbursement Form 8) with NSP and the Facilitating Partner on behalf of the community.

Depending on the number of sub-projects to be managed, smaller Community Project

Management Committees may be established to prepare and manage individual sub-projects,

but they will report to the Community Development Council and the community-wide

meetings. On the other hand, if a community chooses to implement only one or two sub-

projects, the Development Council may manage implementation of those projects. These

representative Development Councils must be registered with NSP as a condition for

receiving assistance and overseeing the management of communally owned property(Disbursement Form 5). A Community Project Management Committee (which can be

identical with the Development Council and should comprise at least a Chairperson,

Secretary, Treasurer, and Storekeeper) nominated by a community wide assembly will be

able to withdraw funds and procure goods and services for implementation of the project after

being registered with the NSP (Disbursement Form 4).

Specifically, the Community Development Council will be responsible for:

Overseeing preparation of the community development plan;

Convening community wide meetings; Overseeing planning and preparation of individual sub-projects through the

community project management committees;


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Mobilizing community contributions for a) contribution to capital costs of projects;b) operation and maintenance costs of outputs/assets and c) operation andmaintenance costs of CDC 12;

Ensuring community participation during all phases;

Presenting the sub-project plans at appraisal;

Managing and supervising sub-project implementation;

Overseeing (or directly handling) procurement and financial management at thecommunity level;

Reporting to the community and to NSP on project progress and use of funds.

The Community Development Council will be established through an election which will be

conducted according to the following rules:

Everybody in the community who is entitled to vote in government elections isentitled to be registered as a voter;

Each person has one vote ;

The voting will be conducted through a secret ballot;

Both men and women are eligible to vote and to be members of the CommunityDevelopment Council;

Predefined candidate lists and electioneering are prohibited; and

At least 40% of eligible voters must have voted for an election to be valid.

Development councils elected under an election that does not comply with these rules will

not be eligible for funding under the NSP.

Regarding the first point above, registering as a voter is an entitlement, not an obligation.

However, in declaring whether the election for the Council is valid, an estimate of all eligible

voters, not all registered voters should be used. Whether the community wishes to extend

voting entitlements to people who are not eligible to vote in government elections is a matter

for the community to decide.

In the case of the secret ballot, it is essential to remove, or at least minimise, the opportunity

for undue influence to be exerted when people are voting. The exact mechanism to ensure

this will need to be determined on a case-by-case basis, but the underlying principle is that

each individual should cast his or her vote in private.13

12 While time and input of CDC members cannot count as community contribution, the CDC may wish todiscuss its own mechanisms for compensating those dedicating themselves to community affairs management.In some communities, this has taken the form of assistance in land cultivation.With regard to additional costs of CDC members: while the CDC members initial costs of accommodation,food and travel incurred exclusively for the programme or the implementation of sub-projects can be charged toeach project (and clearly identified as such), it is imperative that the community begins to devise its ownsustainable solution for cost recovery.13 This could involve separate ballot boxes for men and women, decisions on whether the ballot paperwill have a list of all interested eligible cluster members, or whether the name of the candidate for which a vote


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Prohibition of candidature and electioneering is critical to reduce the likelihood of elite

capture and intimidation, recognising that it will not remove it. To avoid the problem of

selecting unwilling candidates, community members will prior to the election have an

opportunity to declare, that they are not prepared to accept the position if elected. All

members of the community are candidates until they take the positive step to declare

themselves ineligible.

To have functioning Development Councils, the number of representatives should be between

5 and 15 persons depending on the size of the community. The Development Councils

should select a Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. For the Development Council to have

the authority to make decisions over resources it must also have a quorum of the community

involved in the election. For the first round of NSP, a quorum is defined as 40% of all

eligible voters. It is government policy to increase this percentage over the life of the

program

To ensure inclusiveness in terms of different socio-economic, factional, and ethnic/tribal(qaum) sub-divisions within the community, the election process should be based on division

of the community into groups of families (clusters), which will each elect one representative

for the Development Council. Since neighbours are usually also relatives, the division into

clusters will also reducepurdah restrictions on women and thereby facilitate their active

involvement in discussions of the qualities required for representatives and in the election

itself. The size of such clusters will vary depending on the size of the community, but should

not exceed about 20 families. The clusters would in turn serve as the framework for

community wide consultations on proposals from the Development Council, through a

process where the elected councillors consult with and seek feed-back from their electoratebefore decisions on priorities, sub-projects, and community contributions are finalized.

Since communities will only have one Development Council, local solutions should be

agreed for large communities (>300 families) with assistance from the Facilitating Partner.

One such solution could be a two-tier voting process, where candidates elected by clusters of

20 families elect a smaller Development Council (see diagram on following page and also

refer to paragraph How to deal with different community sizes, earlier in the Operations

Manual).

The combination of high levels of illiteracy and the prohibition of predefined candidate lists

and electioneering will present a range of challenges to the Facilitating Partners. However,

both aspects are so central to the program that innovative and creative solutions will need to

is cast is written on the ballot paper. If either of these solutions is agreed, assistance would have to be providedto illiterate voters by the Facilitating Partner, and a process to verify votes cast on a sample basis would alsoneed to be agreed. Another issue that may require different local solutions is whether the names of women canbe listed on ballot papers, and where this is not possible, how the number of eligible women voters isestablished, and how votes are cast for female candidates.


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be developed. Since the elections will take place in small clusters of households many of

whom know each other, such solutions are possible. An obvious solution is for the

Facilitating Partner to assist the illiterate members of the community. An alternative is to

prepare ballot papers in the forms of maps of the village, with people marking the address of

the person that they wish to vote for and a symbol for the person within that address (e.g.

distinct symbol for oldest male, oldest female, etc).


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Box 2.

On Governance: 5 Pillars of Governance

Priorities for Year 2 communities - Lessons learned from Year 1

While the issue of governance and institutional strengthening will be deepened throughout

participatory discussions in Year 2, it is important that a few pillars of governance be

commonly understood by Facilitating Partners and practised by Community Development

Councils (CDCs). These include:

Pillar 1. Maintenance of an inclusive and representative council. This entails potential

sub-elections to integrate returnee communities, when applicable, as well as an

attempt in Year 2 to create separate Councils for women to enable them to be full

stakeholders in the management of their own development.

Pillar 2. Regular meetings between the CDC and the larger community (e.g. once a

month) in order to ensure fluid communication of proposal status, project progress

and creation of new committees, when applicable. This is important to ensure that the

CDC continues to nurture a democratic and participatory culture.

Pillar 3. CDC visibility and public notice boards need to be an integral part of the

transparency process to keep the larger community informed of project budget

expenditure, progress as well as new ideas and opportunities. In view of the low rate

of literacy these information tools must be visual and simple to understand for greater

outreach.

Pillar 4. Project books and meeting documents should be kept at the CDC level. The

community ownership of the programme must be built through responsibility for

adequate documentation and maintenance of records at the community level, and notlocated with Facilitating Partners .

Pillar 5. Creation of Project Management Committees and/or thematic committees

such as parent-teacher committees, water user associations (mir-ab), health, literacy

or youth committees should be encouraged as a way to involve other members of the

community (in the interest of inclusion, transparency and participation), avoid the

over-burdening of CDC members, and create a greater dynamic of learning and self-

management of community affairs.

In addition to these 5 pillars, the issue of mandate of the CDC, development of by-laws or

constitution of the CDC as well as rules for conducting new elections will be tackled in Year

2. Further guidance on these issues will be provided through participatory exchanges between

Facilitating Partners and the OC/MRRD as the year unfolds.


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Option 1: Mixed CDCs


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Option 2: Gender-segregated CDCs

DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS

Male and Female

DEVELOPMENT

COUNCILS

Elected Male and Female

Cluster

Representatives

Household Clusters


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CDC & CLUSTER CONSULTATIONS


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C. Facilitating Partner

The primary role of the Facilitating Partner is to provide support and guidance to the

community in meeting the requirements of NSP as described in this manual.The Facilitating Partner will report to the NSP. An agreement will be signed with the

community on the community development plan regarding the exact inputs to be provided

and services to be performed by the Facilitating Partner (Disbursement Form 8).

In each province one or more Facilitating Partners will deploy community facilitators and

technical specialists for three districts at a time to cover a target of up to 216 communities per

year.14 Depending on capacity, individual Facilitating Partners will undertake these activities

in one or more districts, or in one or more provinces.

The roles of the Facilitating Partners are to: Facilitate elections of inclusive CDCs;

Facilitate consultative community project planning comprising CommunityDevelopment Plans and sub-project proposals;

Provide technical assistance to develop sub-project proposals through either:

o facilitating community access to technical assistance available in the market orfrom other agencies; or,

o technical assistance provided by the Facilitating Partner,15

Provide technical assistance to communities during implementation;

Provide training to communities (e.g. book-keeping, procurement, contracting)16;

Conduct monitoring and reporting.

The expected outputs of the Facilitating Partners are:

Eligible project proposals (measured by the number of projects appraised andapproved by the NSP);

14 Where feasible, the Facilitating Partner is expected to recruit and deploy female field staff to enable

involvement of women in the targeted communities in the prioritisation, decision-making, and implementationof projects.15 While the preferred approach under NSP is for communities to avail themselves of technical assistancefor project design through the market, it is recognized that this may not be feasible in many rural areas, and thatin such situations, technical assistance will have to be provided by the Facilitating Partner.16 While there is a clear recognition that CDCs may have to be initially supported by Facilitating Partners(FPs) in the procurement process, it is imperative that this support be given in the form of capacity-buildingrather than substitution of the CDCs role in procurement. As such, should FPs and/or OC/MRRD get involvedin collection of bids, neither should be involved in the bid evaluation process, and at least one member of theCDC or members of the procurement committee should be part of the process, for reasons of transparency andlearning.


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Implementation of funded projects (measured by the number of projects completed inaccordance with design standards and in a sustainable manner);

Depending on the number of districts and number of communities defined in the Facilitating

Partners contract, performance will be assessed against the following annual target outputs

for year 1. Achieving or exceeding the targets as defined in the table below will be a key

determinant for extension/expansion of the contracts of the Facilitating Partners.

Provinces(X)

Districts(X)

A

Number ofcommunitieswith CDCs

B 1

Subprojectproposals

submitted (thosemeeting appraisal

criteria)

B 2

Appraised andapprovedsubprojectproposals

C1

Subprojectsunder

implementation(% of funded

projects)

C2

Subprojectscompleted

D

Percentageof

subprojectsfunctioning3 months

aftercompletion

1st

batch 24 80% of A = 19 80% of A = 19 80% of A2 = 19 80% of C1=15

80% of C2= 12

2nd

batch 24 80% of A = 19 80% of A = 19 80% of A2 = 19 80% of C1=15

3rd batch 24 80% of A = 19 80% of A = 19 80% of A2 = 19

Aggregate

target

72 57 57 57 30

The table above assumes that the Facilitating Partners staff is deployed so that facilitation of

project preparation and implementation in a district is undertaken in three successive batches,

each with a four month period for community planning, project preparation and appraisal,

followed by an implementation period depending on the type of project that is undertaken.

The table reflects that some of the target communities in the 3rdbatch would still be in the

process of project preparation and appraisal by the end of year 1, and that implementation, if

started, would not be completed. Likewise, for some of the target communities in the 2nd

batch, ongoing implementation would not be completed by the end of year 1. Since not all

Facilitating Partners may choose to deploy their field staff for coverage of their annual target

as outlined above, an aggregate target is provided for expected outputs in a district in year 1.

The NSP will hold Facilitating Partners accountable for performance against outputs, but the

NSP will provide flexibility to its partners in the choice of specific facilitation methods and

work planning. The Facilitating Partners may use facilitation methods that they deem

appropriate while respecting the eligibility criteria to achieve the outputs against which the

eligibility of community project proposals will be appraised (see Section I.E above), and may

also plan the deployment of their staff and sequencing of activities in ways they consider

optimal for achieving their overall output targets.

D. Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development


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MRRD will be responsible for overall management and supervision of the National Solidarity

Program (NSP). Within the ministry, the NSP will be managed by an Oversight Consultant

working with MRRD counterparts in the Community Led Development Department to

strengthen capacity for community development and program management. The Oversight

Consultant will support the Community-Led Development Department regarding:

Management of the NSP block grants for community projects (including effectingfund transfers, tranche payments, financial management, and accounting);

Supervision of the performance of Facilitating Partners (including contractmanagement, contracting of Facilitating Partners beyond those recruited by MRRD

prior to the Oversight Consultant being recruited in order to secure services ofFacilitating Partners to cover all 32 provinces at the scale required);

Appraisal of community project proposals;

Planning and conducting training for the field staff of Facilitating Partners (eitherdirectly or through sub-contracting);

Undertaking technical and financial monitoring, and producing consolidated progressreports, and

Managing an information and communication campaign.

E. NSP Steering Committee

A Steering Committee acts in an advisory capacity to MRRD on overall program policy

formulation and direction, and oversees program implementation. At present, the Steering

Committee is composed of representatives from MRRD and Ministry of Finance (MoF). An

External Review Committee consisting of donors, UN agencies, the Independent Commission

for Human Rights, MoF and MRRD meets on a regular basis to review and endorse all policyand contractual issues.

Discussions are underway to broaden the membership of the Steering Committee by merging

the two bodies. An inter-ministerial committee has been established for policy advice and

coordination. The committee is chaired by MRRD and comprises the ministries of Finance,

Agriculture, Public Health, Education, Irrigation, Labor & Social Affairs, Womens Affairs,

Public Works, Reconstruction, Foreign Affairs, and Refugees.


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ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

III. CYCLE OF ACTIVITIES

This section covers the activities to be undertaken during preparation, appraisal,

implementation and completion of the sub-project cycle. The goal is to facilitate an inclusive

participatory process within the community which results in an equitable community

development plan including a series of sub-projects that are eligible for funding under the

NSP and/or eligible for funding from other existing programs. The long-term goal is the

creation of community institutions that are to strengthen the communitys ability to mobilize,

consult, plan, finance, implement and evaluate their own development.

A. Preparation

During this phase of the cycle, Facilitating Partners will help:

mobilize the community including facilitating the establishment through elections of aCommunity Development Council and related project implementation committees asagreed with the community;

facilitate a participatory planning process that includes women and the weakersections of the community;

Communities

MRRD - NSPCommunity-Led DevelopmentDepartment and NSP Oversight

Consultant

MRRD NSPCommunity-Led DevelopmentDepartment and NSP Oversight

Consultant

NSP Steering

Committee

Facilitating

Partner FacilitatingPartner

FacilitatingPartner

National Level

ProvincialLevel

District and

CommunityLevel


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strengthen community capacity to identify and prioritise needs;

assist the community to prepare a Community Profile with baseline data(Disbursement Form 1);

facilitate the preparation of a Community Development Plan (Disbursement Form 6)and proposals for specific project(s) with budget(s);

provide technical assistance to develop sub-project proposals (Disbursement Form 7)for appraisal through either:

o facilitating community access to technical assistance available in the market orfrom other agencies; or,

o technical assistance provided by the Facilitating Partner,

sign off on the Community Development Plan and sub-project proposal(s) withrespect to technical quality, financial feasibility and inclusive communityinvolvement in planning and decision making before they are submitted to NSP.

The community will:

elect an inclusive Community Development Council and establish ProjectManagement Committees as needed for sub-projects;

develop a Community Development Plan (including priority sub-project proposalswith budgets and community cost contributions and O&M arrangements as well as

projects which can be financed and implemented by the community itself);

obtain inputs and endorsement from the community (if necessary through separatemeetings with men and women) regarding the Community Development Plan;

mobilize the required technical expertise to help develop designs within giventechnical standards;17

agree on rules for dissemination of budget and expenditure information; submit the community development plan and proposal(s) to NSP.

The training manual provides more in-depth guidance on the processes which can be

followed during each phase, however, the Facilitating Partner will have flexibility in the

choice of the facilitation methodology for undertaking the activities listed above.

B. Appraisal

The community (with the assistance of the Facilitating Partner) will complete and submit a

Community Development Plan and standard sub-project proposal(s) (including technical

designs and cost schedules) to the provincial representative of the NSP. (See DisbursementForm 6 and 7 for standard format for the community development plan and sub-project

application form). The Community Development Plan constitutes a medium term investment

plan for a particular community, which would provide the basis for additional future

17 This may involve getting the required technical assistance from the market (payment can be madedirectly as part of the community contribution, or retroactively if and when a project is appraised and foundeligible for funding), or getting this assistance from the Facilitating Partner, where it is unavailable in themarket.


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development activities whether funded by NSP or other sources, and also represent for the

first time ever a bottom-up input to higher level planning at the district, provincial, and

national level.

Appraisal of the community proposal and budget are conducted by the NSP. The Facilitating

Partner will help communities prepare and implement sub-project proposals and bepositioned as allies of the community, while the NSP staff will formally appraise proposals

and make funding decisions.

The NSP will be responsible for appraisal of all community project proposals to determine

whether they meet the eligibility criteria. This will be done using a standard appraisal tool

(Disbursement Form 7c) by the NSP technical staff from the provincial office (and involving

relevant government agencies, e.g. for education). The appraisal will be done using a

transparent procedure. Eligibility criteria, indicators and means of verification are listed in

the table below. The criteria will be made known to the community in order to limit the

discretionary power of the NSP. A proposal is evaluated based on these criteria and assessedduring a field visit to the community. During this appraisal visit the appropriate levels of

installments will be discussed and agreed upon. In the absence of special agreements the

installments will be 50: 40: 10 %.

The community is then informed by the NSP regarding the result of the appraisal, which may

be a) approval of funding for the proposed plan, b) rejection for non-compliance with NSP

rules (e.g. project is on the negative list), c) requiring the community to revise its proposal

with regard to either the election of the Community Development Council, the planning

process, the budget, or the technical standards.

The provincial NSP office will undertake field verification on a sample basis of whether

elections of Community Development Councils conform with the basic principles defined in

this manual. In addition, the national level NSP office will undertake periodic field

supervision audits on a sample basis of the appraisal process to ensure that eligibility criteria

are complied with.

Upon completion of appraisal and approval by NSP of a community sub-project proposal, a

Tripartite Agreement will be signed between the Community Development Council, NSP,

and the Facilitating Partner regarding the financing of the sub-project, disbursement schedule

and benchmarks triggering installments and the general obligations of each of the parties tothe agreement (see Section IV, C).


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Sub-Project Eligibility and Appraisal Criteria

Core

Principles Eligibility Criteria Indicator Means of Verification

Does Proposal

Meet Eligibility

Criteria?

1.

Representativecommunityinstitution

Establishment of a

community widedecision makingprocess and electionof a representativeCDC

CDC elected with

representation from differentgeographical and occupationalsections40% of eligible votersparticipated in the election

CDC Registration Form; CDC registration certificate; Form 2; Proposal submitted by CDC

(YES) (NO)

2.BeneficiaryParticipation

CommunityDevelopment Planendorsed through acommunity-wideprocess

Community-wide meetingsheld;60% of families participatedin decision meeting.Decisions/priorities of womentaken into account

Random interviews withcommunities; Interviews with womensgroup members; Minutes of decision makingcommunity meetings

3.Equity

Sub-project providesbeneficiariesequitable access tobenefits

Persons from differentgeographical and occupationalsections of the community canaccess benefits

Confirmation of sub-projectmap of beneficiaries throughrandom interviews withcommunity

Check proposal onbeneficiaries and equity

4.TechnicalSoundness

Sub-project istechnically sound

Sub-project complies withappraisal criteria for technicalquality standards, and theproject negative list.

Check proposal for technicalquality (problem statement,goals & objectives, engineeringdesigns, implementationarrangements, risks andconstraints)

5.FinancialSoundness

Sub-project isfinancially sound

Sub-project complies withappraisal criteria for financialsoundness and corresponds tothe technical layout.

Check proposal for financialquality (project budget,procurement plan, disbursementschedule)

6.Compatibility

with social &environmentalsafeguards

Sub-project issocially and

environmental sound

Sub-project complies withappraisal criteria,

environmental and socialsafeguards issues, and theproject negative list.

Check proposal forenvironmental and social quality

7.CommunityCommitment

Sub-project hascommunitycontribution towardscapital costs

Minimum of 10% of capitalcosts committed (cash, kind orlabor)

Check proposalRandom interviews withcommunities

8.Sustainability

Proposed project hascommunityarrangements foroperation &maintenance (O&M)

O & M plan with budgetcommitted and training planprepared18

Check proposalRandom interviews withcommunities

9.Transparency

Accept principles oftransparency

regarding budgetingand expenditures

Budget (and later accounts)posted in public places and

through meetings (e.g. in themosque and womensmeetings)

Check proposalRandom interviews with

villagers (both men and women)

18 The O&M plan must include not only an operating budget, but a clear indication of a community-managed cost recovery system, such as a user-payer scheme. Cost recovery rates should be established at a levelthat will enable payment of: a) running costs (e.g. fuel for a generator or pump), b) repairs and maintenance andc) replacement of the assets when its operational life-time is over. Without an adequate cost recovery system,the sustainability of the outputs is likely to decrease. This involves careful attention on the part of CDCs andFacilitating Partners - as well as OC/MRRD.


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10.Mine Risk

Mine Risk Safety hasbeen assessed

Questionnaire on Mine RiskSafety has been filled out

Check proposalForm 7a

C. Sub-Project Implementation

The primary responsibility for sub-project implementation will rest with the community (the

Community Development Council, Project Management Committee, and the greater

community). Clear divisions of responsibility between the Development Council members

and Project Management Committee members will increase accountability. Three or more

persons at the community level should be identified as responsible for most implementation

activities such as procurement, bookkeeping, supervision, storage and accounting. This will

not only promote transparency and continuity at the community level but it will also ensure

that more than one person in the community has the necessary skills/training to perform the

task.

Depending on the type of sub-project, the community may either be capable of undertaking

implementation itself, or may require external assistance regarding specialized technical

skills or services (e.g. masons for school construction, or lining and hand pump installation

for dug wells for drinking water). The procurement of such services will follow established

procedures (see Annex 3 Procurement Forms).

If a community is using its block grant for more than one sub-project, parallel

implementation is an option, if sufficient capacity is present, since this will speed up overall

implementation, and enable completion of projects within the constraints defined by local

climate and altitude.The Facilitating Partner will support the community during this process with regard to:

technical assistance on an as needed basis (e.g. procedures for procurement of goodsor contractors);

implementation (e.g. advice on implementation organization, and supervision ofworks and construction quality)

training on matters such as book-keeping, contracting, maintenance tasks etc.

D. Monitoring by the Community

The community wide assembly will agree on the methods and schedule of reporting to thecommunity (on financial and physical progress) by the Community Development Council

and the relevant Project Management Committees. The methods for information

dissemination should ensure that women are informed about project activities. The

community will also agree on key indicators to monitor joint decision making, project

progress, and transparency. Monitoring against these indicators will be reported in the

Community Progress Reporting Form used by the Facilitating Partners (Reporting Form 16a).


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In the community, all records and accounts must be available for inspection by the members

of the community, the Facilitating Partner, and NSP. The arrangements to ensure

transparency shall include regular community wide information meetings, display of all

relevant information on implementation progress and expenditures on notice boards

accessible to the public, and/or announcements of project-related information atJumma

prayers.

E. Physical and Financial Progress Monitoring

The Facilitating Partner will be responsible for physical and financial progress monitoring on

a monthly basis (Reporting Form 6) with summary progress reports and on a quarterly basis

with more comprehensive status reporting (Reporting Forms 19 and 19a). These reports

constitute an input to the overall quarterly progress reporting by NSP (Reporting Form 8).

The Facilitating Partner will report to NSP on process, achievement of implementation

benchmarks, and quality of works as defined in the Tripartite Agreement. Achievement of

implementation benchmarks will be tied to the release of funding to the community.

The NSP staff will perform sample audits of the support for the community carried out by the

Facilitating Partner regarding elections of Community Development Councils, preparation of

sub-project proposals that comply with NSP eligibility criteria, recommendations for release

of block grant instalments based on achievement of agreed activities, and the adequacy and

realism of progress reporting (Reporting Form 5).

F. Sub-project Completion

A completion report will be prepared by the community and the Facilitating Partner

(Reporting Form 1). The completed project will be inspected by the NSP, and a Certificate of

Completion (Reporting Form 2) will be issued to the community provided the sub-project is

technically sound and that all funds received from NSP have been reconciled. NSP may

approve that any savings that are remaining may be allocated to be used by the community to

increase the scope of the community development plan during the current or following year.

The NSP form submission / disbursement process is presented in the following diagram.


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NSP Form Disbursement Process

ilization

PO submitsOC Kabul

Fo

Election

C/FP submitsto OC PO

Form 2

Form 3

Form 4

Form 5

Registration Phase

Form 1

Form 6

Design Phase

SubprojectIdentification Proposal Submission

Form 7

Project Plan

CDCRegistration

1. PO submits to Kabul2. Kabul final approval

3. Block Grant Disbursementbased on Form 8,9 & SPS

Form 8

Form 9

Tripartiteagreement

SPS

Compagreed

Subproj

(Summary Project Sheet)

Proposal Approved

$

Planning Phase

BankRegistration 2 Weeks


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IV. FINANCING AND FUND-FLOW SYSTEM

A. Overall Fund-Flow Arrangements

The overall flow of funds to communities will be managed by the NSP based on the process

outlined below, which summarizes the previous chapters in this manual:

1. The Facilitating Partner provides a Community Profile (Disbursement Form 1) including

a preliminary assessment of the block grant entitlement of the community to the

provincial office of NSP/RRD/OC.

2. Elections for the Community Development Council are held, and the Facilitating Partner

certifies that the elections were held in accordance with NSP rules (Disbursement Form

2). The provincial NSP office (Oversight Consultant and MRRD staff) undertakes

sample verification checks.

3. After completion of Community Development Council elections and certification of

these, representatives of the council go to the provincial NSP office to undertake two

tasks:

a. Submit an application to the provincial NSP/RRD/OC office (Disbursement Form 3)for registration of the Community Development Council (Disbursement Form 5).

b. Submit a form authorizing three community representatives to withdraw block grantfunds on behalf of the Community Development Council (Disbursement Form 4).Where functioning bank branches exist in the provincial center, an application to opena bank account is submitted (Disbursement Form 4a) together with an authorization

from the Community Development Council for nominated persons to makewithdrawals from the account (Disbursement Form 4b).

4. With support from the Facilitating Partner, the Community Development Council in

consultation with the community at large agrees on a Community Development Plan,

which constitutes a medium term development and investment plan for the community in

question (Disbursement Form 6). The Community Development Plan is submitted to the

provincial NSP/RRD/OC office. Each community development plan will include a list of

priority investment needs (i.e. one or more sub-projects) within the budget envelope

defined by the block grant, the contribution that the community is mobilizing, and funds

that can be accessed from other programs.

5. If required, NSP at the provincial and central level coordinates with relevant line

ministries, so that it is ensured that sub-project proposals for schools or clinics fit with

the sector plans of the concerned ministry, and that operating costs are budgeted by the

ministry in question. NSP assists the community to obtain verification regarding these

issues from the concerned line ministries, and communicates this information in writing

to the community in question.


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6. With support from the Facilitating Partner, the Community Development Council in

consultation with the community at large develops one or more sub-project proposals

within the available funding envelope (block grant allocation, community contribution,

funding from other sources). The sub-project proposal(s) is submitted to the provincial

NSP office (Disbursement Form 7).

7. Each sub-project proposal will be appraised individually, but implementation and

funding of sub-projects can take place simultaneously, if the community has the capacity

to manage this. While an overall Tripartite Agreement (Disbursement Form 8) for the

community development plan (or the elements of this plan for which funding is

available) will be signed between the community, NSP, and the Facilitating Partner,

copies of the first page of Disbursement Form 7 (Sub-project approval request) will be

attached to the Tripartite Agreement. This will cover the specific plans and budgets for

each approved sub-project.

8. After the Tripartite Agreement has been signed the CDC requests the release of the firstinstallment by the NSP/RRD/OC. (Disbursement Form 9)

9. Funds for approved sub-project proposals will be channeled directly from the NSP to the

community based on an agreed installment system of financing. The nominated

community representatives will be accompanied by the Facilitating Partner to the

provincial NSP office for (at least) the first block grant disbursement. The NSP office

will keep a copy of the community letter of authorization and the photos of the

nominated representatives for future verification. A minimum of three signatories are

required for withdrawal of funds.

10. The first block grant installment (normally 50% of the block grant funding for a

particular sub-project) will be released. The installment will be released from the NSP at

central level to the community (CDC) using either the banking system, where this is

functioning, or a government registeredHawala. Where theHawalasystem operates at

the community level, the fund transfer may take place there to reduce security risks and

expedite disbursements to communities.

11. The second block grant installment (normally 40% of the sub-project block grant

funding) will be released when 80% of the first installment has been spent or80% of the

agreed activities under the first installment have been completed and the CDC certifiesthrough the FP that:

a. Implementation progress toward the agreed activities under this installment asdescribed in the sub-project proposal is satisfactory;

b. the required community cost contribution has been provided;


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c. the community at large has been regularly updated by the CommunityDevelopment Council about project progress and expenditures (e.g. meetings,notice board);

d. community procurement has been undertaken in compliance with NSP rules;

e. The installment has been requested of the NSP/RRD/OC through

Disbursement Form 9.12. The provincial NSP office (Oversight Consultant and RRD staff) undertakes sample

verification checks of achievement of activities under each installment and

implementation quality.

13. The final block grant installment (normally 10% of the sub project block grant funding)

will be released when 80% of the second installment has been spent (supported by a

simple financial statement) andthe FP certifies 80% sub-project completion and

fulfillment of the same five requirements outlined above (see a to e) as conditions for the

second installment. The CDC and the FP shall guarantee to submit a 100% sub-project

completion report (Reporting Form 1) including a simple financial report upon

completion of the project. Then the completion of the Sub-project will be certified from

the NSP/RRD/OC to the community (Reporting Form 2).

14. In the case of types of sub-projects which require large capital outlays for pieces of

equipment that constitute the main costs of the sub-project (e.g., diesel generators and

hnad pumps), the normal 50:40:10 breakdown of payment tranches need not necessarily

apply, but should apply in most cases.

15. The provincial NSP office (Oversight Consultant and RRD staff) undertakes sample

verification checks of achievement of activities under each installment andimplementation quality.

B. Fund Transfer Mechanism

The Tripartite Agreement defines the schedule of disbursement installments on the basis of

an agreed plan of physical progress of a particular sub-project. Funds will be transferred

using a fixed price or lump-sum method of financing based on several installments (at least

three) per sub-project. The size of individual payments under each tranche (amounts) must

be determined based not only on the technical requirements of the sub-project, but also on

security concerns at the community level. However as a norm, the first installment can notexceed 50% of the sub-project costs.

Where local banks function at the provincial level, communities can maintain a checking

account and make withdrawals and payments as required. Where a banking system is not

functioning, and funds are transferred throughHawalaagents, the community can arrange

with the NSP that specific payments are made directly at the NSP provincial office to

suppliers and contractors in the presence of the community representatives. This would limit


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the amount of cash that communities will have to transport, store, and handle. Likewise,

whereHawalaagents do not agree to operate under this arrangement, the transfer of block

grant funds may take place in the community provided theHawalasystem operates at this

level. This would also serve to avoid that provincial NSP/RRD/OC offices would have to

keep cash, would reduce security risks associated with transport of cash by community

representatives, and would expedite disbursements to communities, Where practiced, the

transaction would have to be witnessed and certified by the Facilitating Partner.

Unless there are exceptional circumstances, payment for implementation will be made in

three installments/tranches agreed between MRRD and the CDC on the basis of the funding

requirements of the sub-project in question (the first installment should normally not exceed

50% of total sub-project costs). The first installment will be paid following signing of the

Tripartite Agreement, the second installment after achievement of agreed implementation

activities, and the third installment upon 80% completion of the project supported by a

financial statement accounting for 80% of sub-project funds received. Examples of financial

reporting forms at the community, provincial and national levels, accompanied by

explanatory text, are set out in Annex 2: NSP Accounting Forms.

If a community is using its block grant for more than one sub-project, an assessment will be

made by NSP whether the projects can be funded and implemented in parallel or sequentially

(i.e. the first sub-project must be completed before funding for the next sub-project is

released). The criterion for parallel funding and implementation is that one of the sub-

projects must be identified by women and address their defined needs. In all other cases

where block grants are used for more than one sub-project, these will be financed

sequentially.

C. Tripartite Agreement

The Tripartite Agreement represents the contract between the NSP and the community and is

a complete statement of the obligations and responsibilities of the parties to th

National Solidarity Manual Operations Manual (Dec 2004)

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Transcript of National Solidarity Manual Operations Manual (Dec 2004)