SIGAR 18-69 AUDIT REPORT
WHAT SIGAR FOUND
SIGAR found that, after 3 years and $89.7 million spent,
USAID/Afghanistan has not fully assessed the extent to which
Promote is meeting its overarching goal of improving the status of
more than 75,000 young women in Afghanistan's public, private, and
civil society sectors. Three key factors limit the agency’s ability to
determine whether it is meeting its goal.
First, since the start of the program, USAID/Afghanistan made
extensive changes to the four components’ performance indicators
designed to measure progress, thus limiting the agency’s ability to
assess the components’ performance over time. From the 78 original
performance indicators, USAID/Afghanistan modified 32, deleted 23,
and added 13 new indicators. Of the indicators USAID/Afghanistan
modified, it changed the definitions for 12, changed the targets for
11, and changed both for 9. Specifically, USAID/Afghanistan lowered
the targets for 12 indicators. For example, the agency reduced WLD’s
target for the number of participants obtaining new or better
employment from 12,500 to 1,824 participants, an 85 percent
reduction
Second, USAID/Afghanistan did not perform a baseline study until
more than 2 years into the program. Because it did not complete a
baseline study early in Promote’s implementation, the agency lacks a
starting point from which to monitor and evaluate the program’s
progress over its first 2 years, and to measure its overall impact in
Afghanistan.
Third, despite warnings from its contractor, USAID/Afghanistan
deviated from the original intent of the program when it modified the
WIE contract to increase the number of participants by 7,500 from
2,000 to 9,500 while also shortening the period of performance by
1 year. SIGAR found that USAID/Afghanistan’s justification for the
changes to WIE did not meet USAID Automated Directives System
(ADS) requirements and was misleading because USAID/Afghanistan
did not base the programming changes on program results, and
instead proposed changes to support an Afghan government
initiative. Additionally, it did not include feedback from the contractor
on the potential negative impacts of the proposed programming
changes, some of which actually occurred. These changes slowed the
component’s progress toward meeting its performance indicator
targets.
Instead of assessing the overall program, USAID/Afghanistan
measures the performance of the four individual components. SIGAR
found that the components had mixed performance in meeting their
goals. WLD’s goal is for 25,000 women to apply advanced
management and leadership skills in the public, private, and civil society sectors. WIE’s goal is to help at least 40,000 women increase their participation in the private sector
through employment and increased business growth. WIG’s goal is to place at least 3,000 university graduates into
full-time jobs, with advancement potential, in the Afghan government. Musharikat’s goal is to build a coalition of
more than 5,000 national, provincial, and local activists and civil society organizations to advocate for women’s
equality and empowerment in Afghanistan. As of September 30, 2017, only one component—Musharikat—was
meeting its performance indicator targets. The other three components did not meet key indicator targets. For
example, WLD missed its target for the number of women who entered leadership positions within the Afghan civil
service, and WIE and WIG both missed the target for the number of women who received new or better employment.
Although the midterm evaluations for WLD and WIE showed mixed results, the Gender Office, which oversees the
Promote program for USAID/Afghanistan, said there was not anything in the WLD and WIE evaluations that the
agency did not already know. USAID/Afghanistan postponed the midterm evaluations for WIG and Musharikat until
they were further along in their implementation. In its comments on a draft of this report, USAID said the WIG
midterm evaluation is in process and the Musharikat midterm evaluation will begin in October 2018. USAID expects
to complete both evaluations by December 2018. There is no USAID requirement for when an overall assessment
needs to be performed, but ADS guidance states that assessments should be timed so they can inform decisions,
such as course corrections. However, in January 2018, USAID/Afghanistan said it did not plan to conduct an overall
assessment of Promote until the program ends in 2020 or 2021. -
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USAID's Promoting Gender Equity in National Priority Programs
Promoting Gender Equity in National Priority Programs (Promote) - usaid
