PriSEC was established in 2017 to facilitate coordinate and follow-up on the implementation of private sector reforms priorities presented at London conference,
The World Bank Group contracted ACE to increase the effectiveness of PriSEC as the platform to drive private sector reforms in Afghanistan, using the PSD (Private Sector development) NPP (National Priority Program) as the umbrella framework. Major achievements of the project by ACE are as below:

• Conducted an assessment of PriSEC and its Secretariat;
• Revised the PSD NPP document and translated the document into Dari;
• Restructured PriSEC Working Groups;;
• Developed Working Group ToRs, PriSEC meeting templates and content packages
• Developed a Communication Strategy and Workplan;
• Aligned key stakeholders strategic plan with PSD NPP strategic priorities;
• Developed and managed PriSEC communications channels;
• Developed presentations and reports to Economic Committee of Council of Minsters;
• Conducted export mapping process;
• Established different technical sub-committees under WGs such as coordination committee for implementation of NES and ABC and value chain analysis for top 10 import and export items;
• Developed Public Private Dialogues (PPDs) concept and conducted PPDs in all regional zones of the country;
• Developed PSD NPP implementation plan concept (50 by 5, or 50/5);
• Developed 4 DBI Road maps (Paying Taxes, Getting Credit, Trading Across Borders, and Construction Permit);
• Conducted Capacity Building Programs for PriSEC members and key stakeholders; and
• Conducted 64 successful Working Groups meetings and 300 technical meetings.

ACE is responsible to play the role of Scheme Coordinator on this project. Since June 2017, ACE has been performing below activities to strengthen coordination between NGOPs, GIROA, and DFAT, which will result into NGOPs achieving their goals set out by the AACRS project until May 2018.

• ACE is bridging the communications gap between NGOPs, GIROA and DFAT for enhancing collaborative opportunities and to refine the project approaches in future.

• ACE is visiting the AACRS field activities to ensure cross learning opportunities among NGOPs staff.

• ACE is regularly reporting the AACRS progress to GIROA and DFAT on behalf of NGOPs.

The ‘Identification and Prioritization of National Level Government to Business (G2B) Services Regulatory Reforms’ project constitutes part of the broader ‘Karmondena (EZ-Kar Regulatory Reform Program’.

This private sector development project, which is funded by the World Bank Group and implemented by MoEC, is being undertaken by ACE in conjunction with our partner firm, the Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG).

The project’s aim is to formulate and implement a series of commercial reforms that will make Afghanistan a more attractive place to do business, primarily by reducing the weight of commercial bureaucracy and increasing the efficiency of business regulation. The project will maintain a particular focus on implementing reforms across the construction sector. ACE will be working with both MoEc and PriSEC to identify and implement the necessary reforms.

PMCG and ACE’s technical approach to the project across its 20-month lifespan can be summarised accordingly:

• To deliver to our Afghan public and private sector partners the technical capacity to transform the stifling bureaucracy that cripples business growth, job creation, and revenue collection
• To demonstrate that meaningful change is possible and generate the political will to achieve it
• To document, by the project’s end, meaningful reforms that reduce the time, cost, and complexity of construction permitting in the municipalities of Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Herat.

The Livelihood Improvement in Tajik-Afghan Cross-border Areas (LITACA) project is the first socio-economic development project between the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Republic of Tajikistan executed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) —Tajikistan Office on the Tajik side and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) —Afghanistan and the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) of the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on the Afghan side. The project is funded by the Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).LITACA II is a 3-year initiative (2018 – 2020) aiming to improve living standards and promote stability and security in border provinces of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. These aims will be achieved by reducing poverty and supporting economic development and cross-border collaboration among the communities along the Tajik-Afghan border.

As part of this initiative, UNDP contracted ACE to provide on-the-job training and subsequent employment to 240 trainees in North & Northeast Provinces. The project has already identified and selected the 240 trainees during the inception period of the project in 2018.

Under this project, ACE is required to perform the following activities:

• Activity 1: Production of inception report;

• Activity 2: Identification and selection of enterprises to provide unsalaried on-the-job training and subsequent salaried employment to the job-seekers;

• Activity 3: Placement of the selected job-seekers in on-the-job training, and oversight of the training;

• Activity 4: Facilitation of the transition of graduated trainees to salaried employment, and oversight of the employment; and

• Activity 5: Knowledge Capturing and Reporting.

The purpose of this programme was to improve provincial governance in the areas of fiscal & development planning, public engagement, representation of citizens & enhanced delivery of public services in 16 provinces across Afghanistan. This programme strengthened the sub-national government system in Afghanistan to enable the government of Islamic republic of Afghanistan (GIoRa) to improve provincial governance & it’s functionality by fostering a combination of top-down & bottom-up consultative processes between central and provincial levels to formulate plans & budgets that align with local community priorities, national developmental priorities, & available resources.

Under this Project, ACE performed the following activities from October 2020 – December 2020

• Developed an Inter-ministerial Advocacy and Communication Framework (IMACF) with specific workplan and follow up mechanism in consultation with MoEc, engaging ten (10) already identified key central line ministers and presented to ISLA for approval and sharing with MoEc.
• Developed a presentation based on the approved outline and presented to ISLA for approval.
• Held a consultation workshop with the already identified ten (10) Central Line Ministers in collaboration with the MoEc to collect the suggestions and feedback from the senior officials for drafting the IMACF.
• Shared the first draft with work plan and follow-up mechanism with ISLA for review and approval.
• An event management plan was developed by ACE and shared with ISLA for review and approval for conducting a one-day national conference the aim of which was Knowledge Sharing and engaging senior political and administrative officials from 16 target provinces.
• An event management plan was developed and shared with ISLA for review and approval, as a result, ACE conducted a National Youth and Women conference in Kabul engaging youth and women representatives from 16 selected provinces.

Summative Evaluation Pilot Case Study, DFID, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Global Mine Action Programme 2 (GMAP2)

The DFID funded GMAP2 (Global Mine Action Programme 2) continues the important work of two predecessor Global Mine Action Programmes, one in 2010 – 2013 & one in 2014 – 2018, referred to as GMAP1. GMAP 2 successfully operated from January 2014 until March 2018 with an aim to tackle the humanitarian & development impact of landmines & explosive remnants of war (ERW). The expected results include making safe 150 km2 land; enabling 800,000 people to live their lives free from the threat of mines; and helping 100,000 adults and children to understand the dangers of landmines.

ACE’s Role – September 2020 – October 2020

Following the completion of the GMAP2 programme, DFID contracted UK-based firm ITAD to conduct the summative evaluation of GMAP2. The summative evaluation aims to assess the programme’s contribution to outcome level changes across 7-10 country case studies. The evaluation will also focus on cross cutting issues of mine action including gender, conflict sensitivity & value for money. To support on data collection and analysis in Afghanistan, ITAD contracted ACE to conduct GMAP2 summative evaluation case studies in Balkh, Jawzjan, Kandahar, and Zabul provinces. The purpose of this project was to test the case study approach, including data collection tools & process to generate lessons to inform the design of the summative evaluation case studies. Under this agreement, ACE conducted a light literature review; performed primary field data collection through Covid-sensitive, field-based key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with over 100 diverse stakeholders from local villagers to government representatives; translated, cleaned and organized the data; and performed preliminary data analysis to submit to ITAD for the comprehensive analysis and evaluation.

International Trade Centre (ITC) is the lead implementing agency for the Advancing Afghan Trade (AAT) Project, funded by the European Union (EU). Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, ITC is a multilateral agency dedicated to supporting the internationalization of SMEs by fostering inclusive and sustainable growth and development through trade and international business development. For the AAT Project, the ITC is the lead implementing agency and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is the focal point for the project in Afghanistan. The objective of the project is to strengthen institutional capacity to formulate and implement effective national trade policies and strategies that also reflect an active engagement with the private sector.

The AAT Project contracted ACE to support the Exports Promotion Directorate (EPD) of Afghanistan in its role within the NES Executive Secretariat in managing the implementation of the NES. Under this project ACE provides the below major supports to the NES Executive Secretariat: 

• • Project Management;
  • Institutional Coordination;
  • Tracking NES implementation; and
  • Financial planning for NES implementation

The International Trade Centre (ITC) has a unique mandate in the United Nations system to promote increased competitiveness of SMEs in developing, transition and least developed countries and assist them to better use trade as a platform for growth, development and employment creation.

ITC is implementing Advancing Afghan Trade, an EU-funded trade-related assistance project in Afghanistan. Its objective is to improve conditions for regional cooperation and trade as a lever for economic and human development and poverty reduction in Afghanistan, through technical assistance to the Afghan Government and the private sector.

ITC contracted ACE to work with ITC and the Executive Committee on Private Sector Development (PriSEC) within GIRoA on the design and production of a media campaign to increase traders’ awareness of new simplified export procedures and other changes in export requirements, to ensure that a maximum amount of Afghan traders reap the benefits of the new regulations.

Under this project, WeBrand team at ACE will produce 2 animations videos in both Dari and Pashto and will coordinate to air the videos on 16 TV spots on Tolo and Lemar TV channels in Afghanistan.