ANNEX A: TECHNICAL APPLICATION TEMPLATE

AMANAT AFGHANISTAN
USAID CONTRACT NUMBER AID-306-H-17-00003

Instructions: Please carefully review directions and guidelines provided in the APS & in the shaded text
blocks. The applicant is required to meet the limit of characters necessary for each section. Application
must be signed by an authorized agent of the applicant. All application documents shall be completed
using the font “Source Sans Pro”, and the font size must not be smaller than 11.

SECTION I. BASIC ORGANIZATION INFORMATION

1. Organization’s legal name:

2. Date organization was founded and registration number:

3. Contact information and organization structure:

Organizational Structure – List key contact persons as well as key individuals, founding members
(president, directors, treasurer, etc.). The stated members are required to be authorized for action representing
the organization in decision making, currently existing and verifiable.

Key contact person(s) Name and title:

Legal address mentioned in license: (House #, Street Name, District and Province):

Active Phone #1: Active Phone #2:

Official Email:

Add as many key individuals as needed

Key individuals (s) Name and title:

Legal address mentioned in license: (House #, Street Name, District and Province):

Active Phone #1: Active Phone #2:

Official Email:

4. Briefly describe the organization’s vision, mission and objectives : (No more than 1,000 characters)

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 S/N Donor Agency Contract/Agr Activity Start & End Dates of the Total Contact Person (Business
or Organization eement Implementa Title of Contact/Agreement Budget Email)
Number tion Project (USD)
(Location)

1 Name & Position:

Email:

Tel:

2 Name & Position:

Email:

Tel:

3 Name & Position:

Email:

Tel:

4 Name & Position:

Email:

Tel:

5 Name & Position:

Email:

Tel:

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5. List contact information for five (5) references from previous donors or organizations (U.S.G and others) with whom your organization has
collaborated during the last three to five years. Personal emails are not accepted, only official emails, phone numbers and donor information are
required.

USAID/AMANAT grants team verify the past performances of the applicant based on the information provided herein. The grants team may
request further information if necessary.

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SECTION II. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
1. Title of the proposed activity (not to exceed 500 characters):

Promoting transparency and accountability in public school building construction projects through
community based montring program.

2. Duration of the Activity (Total number of months):

12 Months

2. Target audience: (For example, directorate, ministry, CSOs, youth, citizens, university students, any
entity, etc)

(a) Total Number of Beneficiaries:

Direct (Male & Female) Male: # Female:

#

Indirect (Male & Female) Male: # Female:#

(b) Demographic: (please specify if any marginalized group is targeted)

People with disabilities: #

Elderly: #

4. The geographical location of the proposed action: (Province, districts, village, etc)

5. Objectives of the proposed action: (Propose achievable and measurable objectives relevant to the activity) -
(not to exceed 1000 characters per objective)

5.1: Monitoring of 70 school construction projects, through community based monitoring program in
Nangarhar, Balkh and Herat provinces, in order to improve the quality, timeliness and value for money.

5.2: Establishing provincial monitoring boards in Nangarhar, Balkh and Herat provinces to promote
constructive engagement with provincial education department and citizens in performance monitoring
and hold the implementing agency accountable for taking corrective actions against identified deviations,
thereby enhancing transparency, accountability and sense of ownership among the community beneficiaries.

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5.3: Building the capacity of local monitors to undertake construction monitoring in four important
aspects of school buildings namely in preconstruction, construction, post construction and conduciveness
to learning, using easy-to –use community base monitoring manual and checklists.

by holding authorities and aid entities accountable for improving service delivery through constructive
engagement with gooverment in perofmance monitinrg

5.3: to buold capacity of local montros empowers citizens and increases aid effectiveness at local levels

5.2 to increase the quality and acocuntbilty of education services by enabling local people to evaluate and
direct the educational service avialbe to them as well as hold govermtn stakeholders accountable to the
pogram objectives. therby enhancing educational service qulayt.

5.2 to mobilize communities, empower them, and educate them so that they can hold public institutions
and aid implementers accountable by promoting the ownership among the community beneficiaries

5.2 to empower citizens in holding authorities and aid entities accountable and to create active and
responsible citizenship by decreasing the gap between the state, aid actors and the civil society

5.2 to develop a community monitoring mechanism for school construction projects that will involve
comminuties in monitoring school construction projects funded by the Government/Donors.

5.3 Enhanced technical capacity of local monitors To train local montirs and government officials
5.4 to conduct moitring of 100 construction projects in 3 provinces of afghsitan through local montirs

5.5 to detect problems in selected projects whih reluts in enhance quality and timeliness

5.4 to mobilsie communites to elect thre represntive as local montirs

5.4 to improved access to information on infrastructure projects

5.2: builds the capacity of communities and citizens by developing easy-to-use monitoring tools with measurable
performance indicators.
5.3: generates hard data and evidence that serve as bases for recommendations on how to improve the service
delivery monitored.
5.4:

5.5:

6. Assessment of the Problem (Clearly state the problem(s) you are seeking to address.) - (not to exceed 3,000
characters)

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The government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has fulfilled to the extent possible, the people’s
Demand in accessing to quality education services, which is a fundamental human right and a major
driver of personal and social development.

Since 2001, there has been significant progress in enrollment of children in schools, currently more then
than nine million children are studying in 16,105 schools, of which almost 40% are girls are students.
However, there are still three millions of school age children who do not have access to educational
services. Therefore, the Ministry and its national and international partners have a long way ahead to
provide basic educational services to all children of Afghanistan.

The influx of refugees returning to country and high population growth resulted in rapid increase in
enrollment which put tremendous demand of new schools and the existing schools became more crowded
and over utilized. Of the 16,105 schools only about 7911 currently have school buildings, with the
remaining 8194 schools have no building and students studying under temporary shelter , tent or in open
spaces.

To Address the School building shortage across the country, The Government of Afghanistan has put the
construction of school buildings in its top priority and aimed to construct 6000 new school buildings over
the course of upcoming three years in order to provide conducive learning environment to the school
children’s of Afghanistan. To achieve this target, the construction work for 1946 new buildings and 701
missing items are planned under EQRA Program funded by the World Bank and other 439 schools are
planned by Ministry of Urban Development and Land through government discretionary budget. The
government also taken a loan of 50 Million USD from Saudi Arabia for construction of 500 more schools.
Moreover, the government is exploring various mechanisms to fund the construction work of the balance
schools.

Given that the significant portion of the ministry of education’s budget is spent on the construction of
school buildings, it is vulnerable to high level of corruption at the political, administrative (central and
local), and classroom levels. The corruption exist in every phase of the project lifecycle, from needs
assessment to procurement, contract implementation to monitoring and takes various forms such as theft,
embezzlement, diversion, and other types of wastage and loss in the system. There are disconcerting
reports on substandard quality classrooms, ghost schools, time delays, over budget and premature
deterioration of school buildings.

Arguably, the most wide-ranging and consistent investigations of corruption related to the Afghan
education system (and specifically USAID support) have been done by SIGAR. A range of SIGAR
assessment reports and correspondence, from 2009-2016, have highlighted key vulnerability to corruption
issues in school construction projects including insufficient planning, poor safety, poor quality control,
waste, fraud and abuse of funds, structural damage soon after construction ,deficiencies in the
construction of Teacher Training facilities, and ghost schools.

Similarly, the Independent joint anti-corruption monitoring and evaluation committee (MEC) conducted
‘Vulnerability to Corruption Assessment’ of the Ministry of Education which reveals that the oversight of
school building construction projects, monitoring of the progress and verification of quality in remote ,
hard to reach settings are vulnerable to the corruptions. The MEC Reports highlighted that MoE projects

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in insecure provinces have not been effectively monitored which paves the way for corruption and the
creation of “ghost schools.” Another vulnerability to corruption is local social conflict regarding the land
or quality of the site where the school is to be built – this may result in projects that are vulnerable to
corruption.

Multiple senior officials interviewed by MEC indicated that there is lack of transparency in procurement
process and contracts were either sold by the successful bidder to another bidder, or distributed among
several bidders who were operating as part of a cartel.

According to MEC Report, There is corruption between Provincial Educational Directorates with the
construction companies through making business deals which negatively affects the quality of projects.
The report also states that the engineers who are responsible for monitoring and evaluation of the
construction projects (schools building) from MoE side collude with the implementer company by
fraudulently introducing costly variations and extensions after the project has been awarded or approving
the use of substandard materials or processes to raise individual profit margins. The MoE engineers
know the gaps of the project and the low quality of the project as they regularly monitor, but they collude
with company and make their report positive.

The review of Construction projects contract shows that the contractor is reluctant to deliver the project
on timely manner as per the project schedule and 98 percent of the projects get extension which is
opposite of procurement law and they have not been charged any punishment by the Ministry as the
Ministry high officials are part of corruption.

Project-level experience provides evidence in support of the impact of transparency and oversight in
construction projects. For example, the Kecamatan Development project in Indonesia involved close local
oversight which produced savings of between 25 to 56 percent over conventional infrastructure projects.
Similarly, in Bangladesh a study of community oversight of infrastructure projects found that costs and
completion times of projects were more than 25 percent lower while the longevity of assets were four
times longer with community involvement. (Kenny 2010)

Evidence can be found that transparency, combined with oversight can play a significant role in reducing
corruption in the construction sector. Data from World Bank financed roads contracts in 28 countries
suggest that those countries where the citizen are more able to exercise their voice and accountability
mechanisms experience lower costs in public infrastructure projects, such as rehabilitation of roads.

The MEC Reports mention that the communities were not allowed to oversee the implementation of
school construction projects nether have any information about the project scope of work. There is no
formalize regular and substantive meetings between schools and communities, for involvement in
education solutions. As the ministry of educations efforts in fighting corruption prove to be ineffective.
For this reason, the citizenry is encouraged to get involved in curbing this menace from the bureaucracy
by participating in monitoring government projects. School shuras’ advocacy, cooperation and
coordination with their wider communities can work towards improving access to and quality of
education, Promote local ownership and cultural diversity – as well as reducing corruption.

There is the need to promote accountability by establishing Safe and effective monitoring systems, by
which corruption on the project can be reported by the public, by project staff, and by the independent
assessor. Community involvement in planning, design, procurement , construction oversight and post

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construction stages of school construction projects is necessary to ensure compliance with quality,
timeliness and value for money as well as to hold the implementing agencies accountable for taking
corrective actions for the identified deviations from project plans. Combating corruption is not only the
concern of the national leadership and the anti-corruption agencies but every citizen particularly the
grassroots, who should benefit from these projects. The most pernicious impact of corruption is social
damage, thus the grassroots who are the helpless victims continue to suffer a miserable life.

Corruption in school construction projects poses great risk to the entire education system outcome, which
erodes social trust and worsens inequality. Its major impact is the loss of scarce government resources
resulting to poor delivery of basic social services. It pevents creation of conducive leranign envioermtn
for the students of afghstan herby negatively impacting the learning process and ultimalty undermining
the formation of educated, competent, and ethical individuals for future leadership and the labour force.

It should be realized, however, that

MEC Recommends that through Citizen actions and other forms of civil and/or local oversight – actions
that could make a difference, e.g., at Community Development Council level, or by civil society
monitoring, or by publishing better data.

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Education is. It is regarded as a foundational right, whose achievement is a precondition for a person’s
ability to claim and enjoy many other rights. However, in societies where corruption is rampant, there is a
great risk that the entire education system will be undermined.

The challenge is how

as the school buildg consrction has been pointed as one of highly valunerble area of corruption in the
misnry of education in afghtsna.

Indpendent joint anti corruption montring and evaltuin committee has conduct a ‘Vulnerability to
Corruption Assessment’ of the Ministry of Education.
is the first comprehensive evaluation of corruption vulnerabilities across the entire Ministry.
MEC findigns indicate that school construction is particulary alunrble to corruption
consequence, communities have comprehensively lost faith in the system.

Ministry is the largest public employer in the country, employing some 262,000 people, or 68
percent of government employment.
Ministry will always be vulnerable to high levels of corruption

MEC propse solution to decrease corruption

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MEC Vulnerability to Corruption Assessment reports higlts incomplete school buildgns

construction and reconstruction projects are inherently risky since they require goods, materials and
equipment, all of which can be diverted or become difficult to track in unstable environments

Based on MEC report

Another vulnerability in the development of school buildings in remote areas is oversight of the
quality of the construction, as would be the case with any other infrastructure project. In hard to
reach or kinetic settings, the monitoring of progress and verification of quality both pose serious
vulnerabilities to corruption. Afghanistan’s recent history, with extensive international attention to
infrastructure projects in many sectors, continues to struggle with these risks.
Given the sums that are spent in the procurement sector, every phase of the procurement process,
from needs assessment to contract implementation to monitoring, is vulnerable to corruption.
According to OECD93 about 20-25 percent of countries’ annual procurement budgets are wasted
because of corruption and Afghanistan is a prime example
Lack of transparency at bidding stage
Multiple senior officials interviewed by MEC indicated that contracts were either sold by the
successful bidder to another bidder, or distributed among several bidders who were operating as part
of a cartel. According MEC’s previous report on Conflict of Interest, 94 an official from the National
Procurement Authority reported that pilot studies indicate about 80 percent of bids and contracts
during the past 13 years were affected by corruption. MECs recent findings/interviews for this
MVCA support this claim.

Examples from interview with MoE staff and management involved in procurement give a sense of
the variety of the problems:

An interviewee remarked about limits on interactions with contractors, ‘They cannot punish, they
cannot cancel the project or cannot stop the processing of project budgets. A network consisting of
contractors and procurement officials are together doing corruption.’

Recommdnations
When school shuras are active and engaged they can be very effective in promoting and supporting
education in their communities

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MoE has an M&E capability to check on the technical quality of educational delivery, but this is
small, internal, and under resourced.

Promote and formalize regular and substantive meetings between schools and communities, for
involvement in education solutions. The process of consulting school communities during this MEC
analysis provided a measure of hope to those involved, as most had never before been asked about
these issues and were encouraged that their voices be heard. School community members
requested more regular and substantive meetings between parents and schools.

In the longer term, devolve responsibility for education to school communities, Community
Development Councils (CDCs) and Cluster CDCs, districts and provinces, encouraging and enabling
citizens’ participation and oversight in line with the Citizens’ Charter National Priority Program
(CCNPP). A considerable amount of training and professional development will be necessary, but it
should be seen as the destination towards which long term policy planning should be aimed. 98

Promote local ownership and cultural diversity by supporting communities to build schools using
locally available materials and indigenous design (ref. UNESCO), adhering to MoE standards and
universal design principles. Despite the known corruption vulnerabilities, continue to contract local
communities in sourcing material and labor in

Corruption is likely to enter construction projects at the following risk-points:

Project identification
The parties involved in project identification may include the relevant government official responsible for approving
the project and potential project owners, funders and contractors who may also play a part in the construction and
operation processes. Corruption can occur where one or more of these individuals seek to choose a project primarily
for their own illicit profit or benefit.
Project financing
The parties to project financing transactions include the project owner who is seeking funding for the project,
prospective funders, and consultants advising those parties in relation to, for example, the viability of the project.
Corruption can occur where one or more of these individuals corruptly secures and/or manages a financing
arrangement for the project, by way of bribery or fraud or both.
Project planning, design and regulatory approval
The parties involved in the planning and design phases include the project owner, government departments
responsible for issuing planning permissions and other approvals, the architect, and design consultants. An example
of corrupt practices during the planning and design phases can be bribes by the project owner to a government or
local official in order to obtain planning permission or approval for a design which does not meet the relevant criteria
or regulations.
Pre-qualification and tendering
There are many opportunities for corruption to enter during the project pre-qualification and tendering stage. The
contractual structure of construction projects can be very complex and may involve many layers of delegation. For
example, the project owner may contract directly with a main contractor and with consulting engineers; alternatively,
the project owner may contract out the whole project to a managing contractor, or the project owner may contract
with several different contractors for different packages. Corruption can occur in relation to any of these contracts.
Project execution
Example of corruption during project execution include lowest price bidders fraudulently introducing costly variations
and extensions after the project has been awarded or secretly using substandard materials or processes to raise

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individual profit margins (For more examples see: Global Infrastructure Anti-Corruption Centre 2008 and Kenny
2007).
Operation and maintenance
Corruption can also enter in the project operation and maintenance stage, again in relation to overcharging, rigged
service contracts or corrupted inspections. In many projects, the cost of operation and maintenance will exceed the
actual capital cost of construction and offer significant opportunities for bribery and fraud (Global Infrastructure Anti-
Corruption Centre, n.d. a).
Programmatic approaches to counter corruption build on the involvement of all stakeholders of private
infrastructure projects in order to put in place and ensure proper enforcement of robust anti-corruption
mechanisms. Experts have stressed the need for specific project controls which can mitigate corruption
risks. These include: cost management, schedule management, quality control, contract management and
robust monitoring and investigative measures that help detect corruption and amplify warning signs

Anti-corruption strategies in education can make use of (a)

transparency-promoting tools, such as ICTs, participatory budgeting,
Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys, and social audits, and (b)
accountability-promoting tools, such as performance-based contracting,
teacher codes of conduct, community monitoring, complaints
mechanisms, salary reform, procurement reform, and public financial
management reforms.

Corruption in education occurs

. It takes various forms.

School construction challenges ,shortcomings,

The government school construction program, implantation agrganemtn,

EQRA Program

Poor quality

Delays in completion

Overcost

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Poor condition of learning in terms sof ventaltion, lighting not supporting

Ghpst schools

Corruption accentuates problems of sluggish economic growth and under- development..

A World Bank study on the Philippine Government reveals that more than 50 percent of funding for
infrastructure projects is wasted to corruption. The Ombudsman’s Office,

the country’s standing remains to be low and consistently sliding down. By the end of year 2005, the
country ranks 77th with a score of 3.47. This is from rank 76th in year 2004 and 66th in year 2003.

Communities not engaged in montiring

Capacity of ISD,MRRD constant supervison

No institutlklanl arrnagemnt for stakhodlers evaluate the progress

there were a plethora of reports on corruption that came out, including anomalies in the education
sectors,Afgshnatan as one of the most corrupt in Asia, billions of Dollars lost in procurement-related
corruption, and ghost projects in both textbook delivery and school-building projects.

There are many schools across the country with exposure and vulnerability to Natural disaster such as
flooding, avalanche, earthquake and many more. Suitable rehabilitation works in terms of structural and
Nonstructural measures are required to protect the students of these schools from the associated risks.

Shortage of school builduigns-

Overcrowded classoroms-This reflects the persisting problem of overcrowded classrooms with a class of 60 to 70
packed like sardines in a classroom meant only for 45. That signifies that 25% (non-blue schools) of the total
number of schools nationwide are experiencing classroom shortage. Overcrowding not only makes it more difficult
for the teacher to teach her students properly, it also prevents the students
from more comfortably learning in school.

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To help remedy the situation, the government has been implementing different school building programs
EQRA Schools
Indian Govemrn Schools
Urban Dvelopment
6000 Schools
Government dosrtoavry budget

Isues

Qulaity

The challenge then is to ensure that the resources are used well, and that leakages due to abuse and corruption are
prevented. But how can one do this? This manual hopes to teach you just that: How can an ordinary school member
make sure that his/her new classrooms are well built and free from corruption?

As a citizen , we can effectively particpae with governance, by helping account for government
Services, through keenly and systematically checking if the government services are done the way they should be
according to project plans.

7. Technical Approach: (Describe the specific activities that you will implement to address the problems and
achieve the project objectives listed above. Be sure to identify how your activities will reduce the impacts of
corruption in public services. Focus the discussion on what activities you will conduct and how you will do it.) (not
to exceed 10,000 characters)

The PDS community based monitoring program draws on the principle of two basic collective rights of every citizen
such as the right to participate in governance and the right to information which promotes transparency.
Communities, endowed with these rights are free to intervene and to express their will for the improvement of their
life. Government institutions and instrumentalities, as duty holders, are compelled to respond to the rightful and
appropriate demands of the people. Monitoring findings will serve as valuable inputs to government on how to
manage public resources efficiently.

Priority Development Services will enter in memorandum of understanding (MoU) with provincial education
department to implement community based monitoring program for school construction with the aim to
promotes social accountability and prevent corruption in school building construction projects through
participation of volunteer community monitors, school head and teachers, thereby enhancing transparency ,
accountability and efficiency in better education services.

The Community Based monitoring team is a means for constructive engagement between government and citizens
in performance monitoring with a common objective or goal of improving service delivery. The team will provide
evidence-based reports to provincial education department to disclose potential corruption in the implementation of
public school construction projects.

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The Priority Development services will build the community based monitoring team’s capacity on the construction
monitoring methodology to evaluate the project’s quality, schedule and budget performance that are
implemented in their area using easy -to - use toolkit and to hold relevant implementing authorities accountable
for the exposed anomalies in EQRA school construction projects through providing recommendations/feedback
for resolving flaws/deviations in project implementation.

PDS will develop the easy to understand construction monitoring manual and project phases checklists to equip the
monitoring team members with appropriate but simplified technical skills and pertinent information on project
implementation. It is hoped that the layman community monitors will better appreciate standard specifications on
infrastructure project implementation and thus enable them to assess substandard project outputs. Equipping and
motivating them to actively participate in social concerns will lead to an increased public oversight on school
construction projects. Tangible outputs will be measured or judged based on standards not just on plain opinion.

The program will target monitoring of 70 schools construction projects for the entire period of its construction
,funded under EQRA program by volunteer community based monitoring team in Nangarhar, Balkh and Herat
provinces in order to empower citizens to take an active role in promoting integrity and accountability.

Priority Development services will work with communities to elect community monitors who volunteer to monitor
construction projects on behalf of their communities. The Elected community member, School Head and teachers
will form a community based monitoring team. The community based monitoring team will be trained and
supported by priority development services through provisioning of knowledge and carefully designed customized
monitoring tools who will monitor a series of metrics and phenomenon related to integrity, which can illustrate the
quality of construction projects and their impact on the targeted communities.

PDS also will document and disseminate the results and lessons of community based monitoring program in order
to raise awareness and motivate further civil society participation in monitoring public works and other government
projects

The following methodology will be used empowers citizens and increases aid effectiveness at local levels through
Community Based Monitoring program:

1) Selecting Communities:

The Target schools for community based monitoring will be chosen in consultation with provincial education
directorate. The recently awarded EQRA school construction projects which is located in remote areas will be
selected with preference given to girls schools.

The Priority Development services employees will meet with the community development councils to explain the
intent of the program and its benefit.

2) Electing Community Monitors and Forming community based monitoring team:

Each participating community will be asked to select one volunteer as community monitor. She/ He should
preferably be literate, of good reputation within the community and able to volunteer several hours each week to
monitor construction activities.

Subsequently a community based monitoring team will be formed comprise of the followings :

 Volunteer community monitor : The CDC will elect there representative and officially introduce them as
local monitors. they should be literate, well respected people in the community and well known for their
honesty.
 School head. The school principal or the school head is the highest ranking official in the school
community and thus is pivotal in the monitoring initiative. The direction and vision of the school is usually
put in his/her hands. He/ She is most accountable in ensuring the development of his/her school and is
highly interested in the prospect of new classrooms.

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  Teachers. The Teachers will also elect there representative since they are one of the most affected
members of the school given that having a good classroom will make it easier for them to teach well. With
fewer students in an enclosed classroom, they wouldn’t have to strain their lungs just to get themselves
heard by the class.

3) Capacity building of community based monitoring team:

The task of an independent monitor is never easy. It requires preparations like understanding the project cycle,
program of work and the activities contained therein. The community based monitoring team also need to know the
basics and technicalities of monitoring and evaluation and do the actual monitoring activities.
Once the community based monitoring team is identified, These volunteers will receive technical and social
accountability training from Priority Development service staff through a briefing orientation for one week which
will be divided in the following four session:

Session 1: Social Training:

The members of the community based monitoring team will receive social training covering the following topics:

 The importance of citizen participation in governance and monitoring of government services.

 The benefits of constructive engagement and collaboration with government.
 Social accountability mechanism, Varieties of Corruption, Corruption’s Factors and Consequences,
corruption awareness, community mobilization.
 Legal Frameworks against Corruption, Accountability, Transparency and Monitoring.
 The right of every child to quality school building for better education and the citizen’s role in checking
proper school building implementation.

Session 2: Training on using the Community based monitoring Manual and Checklist in school building
monitoring.

Priority Development services will prepare an easy to use construction monitoring manual and checklists for non
technical people as a guide to monitor each stage of school building construction such as pre-construction ,
construction , post construction and conduciveness to learning stages.

The objectives of this session is to allow the team enough time to learn how to use the checklist together and to
clarify areas on the checklist that need clarification

Session 3: Training on Construction Monitoring:

After learning how to use the checklist, the community based monitoring team will further deepen their capacity in
monitoring school building through receiving training on construction monitoring which covers material quality
( Concrete, Cement, Sand, Steel, Gravel, Stone, Bricks) building techniques, and how to test the quality of materials
in simple but effective ways. The training teaches the community monitors how to use provided monitoring tools,
conduct surveys, follow checklists and collect data.

The technical trainings will assist the local monitors on how to verify quality of materials and other
Technical issues that may arise during monitoring and will orient them on the red flags they should look for during
monitoring visits.

Session 4: planning workshop.

The planning workshop will be done after the team has been trained on how to use the Checklist and the monitoring
points that need to be considered. The objective is to prepare an action plan for effective and efficient performance
of tasks and delivery of outputs. The Community based monitoring team will identify the specific activities they

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must undertake to perform tasks or deliver expected outputs, the difficulties/challenges they might encounter and
the strategies they will employ to address the difficulties/challenges.

Provincial Education Department of the ministry of education are the key stakeholders at provincial and district
levels for the projects implementation, they have the authority and responsibility to monitor projects in the
respective provinces . They are considered significantly important in supporting PDS’s community-based
monitoring program. With this, PDS will provide social and technical trainings to engineering department of
Nanagrhar, Herat and Balkh provincial education directorate. It is hoped that it shall affect the policies and their
practices to hold the project implementers accountable, and together with the communities to hold project
implementers accountable.

4) Collecting Information

Community based monitoring team will collect all necessary project documents by requesting from provincial
education department. After collecting the project documents, community monitors conduct a baseline survey of the
community. They interview 10 respondents who are stakeholders for their project. The survey helps introduce the
monitoring program to the community & collects information on community knowledge and participation in the
project.

5) Monitoring the construction work

The Community Based Monitoring team will visit the project three times a week, meets with the site engineer, and
check the construction progress and the quality of materials using the contract, bill of quantity, and infrastructure
project blueprints. If problems are revealed, the community monitor with the provincial Coordinator of priority
development services will try to resolve the problems first then discuss the problems with the contractor with the
aim of convincing the contractor to resolve them.

In order to systemize the Community-Based Monitoring approach, PDS will develop construction monitoring
manual which provides general information about the program structure, how monitoring works and what principles
should be used during the monitoring of infrastructure projects. This manual is used to train the local monitors by
proving the information in a user-friendly language, the technical manual teaches the local monitors about
specification of stones and its prosperities, cement and its variety, laboratory testing methods of cement, ways of
cement storage, Mortar and its variety, concrete and its properties, durability and workability of concrete, sample
testing methods for quality of concrete, the way of mixing of concrete, different marks of concrete.. The technical
training manual is developed in both Dari and Pashto languages.

The Team will extensively use the checklist specifically designed for monitoring of construction projects which is
an easy-to-use guide for ordinary, non-technical people which they can bring during the actual monitoring visits to
the project site. This will aid the monitors in inspecting the implementation of the school building project. The
Checklists will be prepared for four major stages of a construction projects as below:

- Preconstruction stage:

The checklist will guide the monitors to asses if the planning and preparation activities before commencement of
school construction project has been carried out properly. The Monitoring team will find out if the land documents
are available and if the site is suitable for construction considering the environmental hazards.

The Monitoring team will ascertain if pre-engineered survey was conducted and if the survey confirm that the
building to be constructed fit the land area? The Team will also receive a copy of Scope of work which contain the
components of the school buildings to be constructed and the materials to be used. It specifies the amount and the
type of supplies that the contractor should provide.

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Finally the team will find out if contractor who construct the building has been chosen through a bidding process to
ensure that the government will get the cheapest price for the service.

- Construction stage

The checklist will extensively be used to monitor the construction projects to conform that the school building
construction is being done according to quality standards. The community based monitoring team will check the
workmanship and material used in earthwork, excavation, concrete works, masonry work, carpentry works and
painting.

- Post-construction stages

The Community based monitoring team will make sure that the project deliver all the required components which
was contracted and will enumerates the standard components of a complete school building. The Team will check
whether the item is present or absent.

- Conduciveness to learning

The checklists will also guide the monitoring team to check if the classroom is conducive for learning. It is
important to take note of this to ensure that the building is properly constructed to achieve its purpose. This will also
inform the infrastructure service department of the ministry of education about possible modifications for their
school building designs.
The community based monitoring team will determine if the classroom is well-ventilated? Sufficiently lighted?
Spacious enough for the students? Building site sanitary? Building free from health threats? And the school building
have safety features?

6) Processing the monitoring checklists and generating results:

The information from the checklists will be consolidated and analyzed to determine if the school building
constructed efficiently in terms of cost, time, quality, quantity and process? The community based monitoring team
will assess the deviation from standards that occurred and will raise the highlighted common concerns. The team
will answer the following questions as summary of their findings:
Was the implementation timely? Why?
Was it value for cost? Why?
Was the quantity enough and did it follow standards?
Is it a quality School building? Why?
Were processes followed? Why or why not?

7) Reporting and Communicating Outcomes and conducting dialogues

The Community Based Monitoring Team will discuss their findings and provide initial recommendations to the
contractor and to the PED engineer or to their representatives if they are not around. The Team will provide weekly
monitoring report to PDS provincial coordinator . These findings and recommendations are transmitted in formal
communications to the implementing agency and to the contractor. The following two mechanism will be used to
disseminate the results of teams findings:

a. Problem solving sessions with contractor

This session will be arranged on weekly basis at project site in which the Provincial education department engineer
and contractor representative will attend the meeting. The monitoring team will communicate the results of their
findings and Identify the solutions together with the stakeholders and the
Decision makers. The main objective of this session is to share the results of project, especially the emerging issues
from the monitors, and looking at how to address these issues together.

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Corrections and other recommendations agreed upon are followed up in subsequent meetings and project visits. A
copy of these corrections and other recommendations are furnished to the Provincial monitoring Board.

a. Community Feedback Meeting

It’s an event that community monitors provide their activity feedback to their relevant community. This event
conducting once per month in a project by their community monitors.

8) Local Advocacy

Unresolved issues are presented by priority development service Afghanistan to the provincial monitoring board .
This board is established in each province by priority development services . It is composed of government officials
from line ministries, the provincial governor’s office, Provincial Council members, donors, contractors, and
community representatives. After getting information from PDS , PMB visits the project and ask the company/
contractors to resolve the problems.

9) Establishment of Provincial Monitoring Boards

PDS will establish the Provincial Monitoring Boards (PMB) in targeted provinces .The PMB is a forum of all
involved stakeholders in the construction projects that consist of members from provincial governor’s office,
provincial council, line-departments ,chaired by Head of the Provincial education director and facilitated by priority
development services . Roles of the PMB are to hold infrastructure project implementers accountable, help
communities to solve the detected problems in the infrastructure projects, and assess the projects quality regularly.
Provincial Monitoring Boards meet on monthly and ad-hoc basis, the meeting is arranged by PDS where local
monitors who have detected problems are also present to share the problems, in all cases the implementers of
infrastructure projects in which problems were detected were also invited to the meeting to convince them in
resolving the detected problems. Provincial Monitoring Board members also conduct field visits to the problematic
projects, and they have the authority to stop the projects until the problems are resolved by implementing
Construction Company.

10) National Advocacy

Issues that cannot be solved at the provincial level are taken to the national level by PDS Advocacy and
Communication department. These issues might include access to information at a national level by advocating for
legislation change. When there are specific project issues, PDS works with the infrastructure service department of
the ministry of education in Kabul to get a response to local concerns.

It is Expected that the Community based monitoring program will increase vigilance by the community from school
construction projects of the deterred corrupt practices and will expose a number of anomalies in EQRA projects
which is geared to effectively contribute in the decrease if not totally eradication of the incidence of corruption in
construction projects. Eventually, the delivery of basic services to the intended beneficiaries will be improved.

7.1 List of the Activities According to the Stated Objectives:

Objective #1: Monitoring of 70 school construction projects, through community based monitoring
program in Nangarhar, Balkh and Herat provinces, in order to improve the quality, timeliness and value
for money

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Activities:

1) Entering into memorandum of understanding with provincial education directorate for

conducting community based monitoring program of school construction projects
2) Selecting Communities in consultation with Provincial Education Directorate: The recently
awarded EQRA school construction projects which is located in remote areas will be selected with
preference given to girls schools
3) Electing Community Monitors and Forming community based monitoring team:
4) Collecting Information: The Required documents such as drawing, BoQ, Contracts will be received from
Provincial education directorate
5) Monitoring the construction work: The Community Based Monitoring team will visit the project three
times a week extensively use the checklist specifically designed for monitoring of construction projects in
pre-construction, construction, post construction and conduciveness to learning stages.
6) Reporting and Communicating Outcomes and conducting dialogues through Problem solving sessions with
contractor and Community Feedback Meeting.
7) Local advocacy for rectifying unresolved issues in provincial monitoring boards
8) National advocacy to resolve the pending issues at national level with infrastructure service department of
the ministry of education

Objective #2: Establishing provincial monitoring boards in Nangarhar, Balkh and Herat provinces to
promote constructive engagement with provincial education department and citizens in performance
monitoring and hold the implementing agency accountable for taking corrective actions against identified
deviations, thereby enhancing transparency, accountability and sense of ownership among the community
beneficiaries.

Activities:

1. Establishment of Provincial Monitoring Boards:

The PMB is a forum of all involved stakeholders in the construction projects that consist of members from
provincial governor’s office, provincial council, line-departments ,chaired by Head of the Provincial education
director and facilitated by priority development services . Roles of the PMB are to hold infrastructure project
implementers accountable, help communities to solve the detected problems in the infrastructure projects, and assess
the projects quality regularly

2. Field viists of the memebrs of provincial montring board:

Provincial Monitoring Board members also conduct field visits to the problematic projects, and they have the
authority to stop the projects until the problems are resolved by implementing Construction Company

Objective #3: Building the capacity of local monitors to undertake construction monitoring in four
important aspects of school buildings namely in preconstruction, construction, post construction and
conduciveness to learning, using easy-to –use community base monitoring manual and checklists.

Activities:

1) Capacity building of community based monitoring team:

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The community based monitoring team will receive technical and social accountability training from Priority
Development service staff through a briefing orientation for one week which will be divided in the following four
session:

Session 1: Social Training:

Session 2: Training on using the Community based monitoring Manual and Checklist in school building
monitoring.
Session 3: Training on Construction Monitoring:
Session 4: planning workshop.

8. Expected Results: (List the expected results and impacts of your proposed activities in the short-term and long-
term.) (not to exceed 5,000 characters)

1. it is expected that 70 school construction projects will be implanted as per the scope of work, improved
quality, as per schedual without delays and approved budget without cost increase

2. it is expected to establish provincial montring board in nangrahr, balkh, and herat provinces help
communities to solve the detected problems in the infrastructure projects, and assess the projects quality regularly

3. the community based montiring team will recive traianing on social and technical aspect of construction projects
using easy -to - use monting checklists and to hold relevant implementing authorities accountable for the exposed
anomalies in EQRA school construction projects through providing recommendations/feedback for resolving
flaws/deviations in project implementation

4.

9. Gender Mainstreaming: (Describe how your activities will help gender engagement or will address corruption
problems that particularly victimize women. Describe the likely impacts that your activities have on men and on
women.) (not to exceed 2,000 characters)

Monitoring was and will never be a job for men. Women and children who are often left at home are
the innocent but mindful witness whenever there are new government projects in an area. These
women and children provide feedback based on what they saw and heard. At times, they ask good
questions on the process of construction work “Why do you pour cement to a muddy road?” “Why
was the mixture of cement and aggregates watery?” Children also report anomalous transaction like
“Why did the barangay captain brought home bags of cement and steel bars after a drinking spree
with the project supervisor?” “The contractor used Pozzoland not Portland cement.” These and many
more are some of the indirect interventions of woman and children in the field of monitoring.

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10. Sustainability: (Describe how your activities and your expected results will persist over time, especially after
your project is completed.) (not to exceed 2,000 characters)

As a result of this case, the regional director of the DPWH issued a directive to the district DPWH office in Abra
requiring that projects in the province be funded only after they had obtained a clear monitoring report from
CCAGG.
Recognizing the critical role the organization plays in preventing corruption, the national Commission on
Audit (COA) entered into a partnership with CCAGG to conduct participatory audits of projects and
programs.

CCAGG will organize, mentor, and train community members and civil society groups in three regions of
the northern Philippines to undertake citizen monitoring of public works and participatory budgeting.
These activities will be carried out through the development of a capacity-building scheme. CCAGG also
will document and disseminate the results and lessons of citizen audits in order to raise awareness and
motivate further civil society participation in monitoring public works and other government projects.

SECTION III. EXPERIENCE AND CAPACITY

1. List the proposed staff who will implement this project.

2. Indicate whether you intend to partner with other organizations to conduct this activity. If so, please
list them. (not to exceed 1,000 characters)

3. Demonstrate how the existing or proposed team is capable or has the past experience to implement the
proposed activity and achieve the desired results. (not to exceed 3,000 characters)

By affixing my signature below, I certify that to the best of my knowledge, the information provided in
this application is accurate and correct – USAID/AMANAT grants team is authorized to verify the
information and conduct refence check:

Submitted by (name and title): ____________________________________________________

Signature: _____________________________________ Date: __________________________

FOR USAID/AMANAT PROJECT USE ONLY

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Date received _______________ APS Reference No.19.004
The undersigned hereby certifies that: (a) the prospective grantee has received an official delivery
receipt for its Grant Application vial official grants email, (b) confirmation email is communicated,
(c) a reference number (GA) has been assigned
Grants Manager_____________________ Date ________________

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