USAID-RSPN Assessment and Strengthening Program (ASP)

Assessment and Strengthening Program (ASP) for Civil Society Organizations and Government of Pakistan’ is a five-year USAID-funded initiative that is aimed at strengthening the capacity of local organizations to effectively manage development funds. Within the next five years, USAID has plans to deliver a major portion of its development assistance directly through local organizations i.e. both the government and civil society organizations. ASP will help these local organizations develop their institutional capacities for handling U.S. Government funds, an important step in expanding the local share in the implementation of U.S. assistance programs.

ASP comprises the following five major components with the approach to address weaknesses, typically pertaining to technical and managerial skills in the areas of procurement and administration as well as effectiveness and transparency in financial management.

1. Pre-Award Assessment
2. Institutional Capacity Building
3. Annual Validation
4. Research
5. Awardees Capacity Building

1. Pre award assessment

Pre-Award Assessment is a mechanism to assess the capacities of an organization in terms of governance, policies and procedures. Under the ASP the pre-award assessment will focus on policies, procedures and structures relating to Control Environment, Financial Management and Accounting, Procurement Management Systems, Personnel Policies and Payroll Systems, Monitoring & Evaluation and Absorptive Capacity. It also includes a review of the organization’s Host Country Contracting capabilities, capacity to implement fixed amount reimbursement agreements, organization’s absorptive capacity and funds flow methodology analysis.

ASP-RSPN helped in enabling USAID and other donors to disburse cash compensation grants to the flood affected people by successfully completing the challenging Third Party Validation exercise of the Citizens’ Damage Compensation Program (CDCP) in 80 districts all across Pakistan. ASP-RSPN won plaudits for maintaining the quality of survey and ensuring independent assessment through an extensive and effective monitoring process. TPV of CDCP is an important assignment under pre-award assessments. CDCP is a government cash-grant program for recovery from the 2010 flood calamity in all four provinces i.e. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Baluchistan as well as Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Government of Pakistan and the development partners agreed to commission TPV of the survey of damaged houses in order to determine the accuracy of the data compiled by the provincial and regional governments to ascertain that the cash grant is disbursed to the deserving people in Phase II.

Five (5) Pre-Award Assessments of For-Profit organizations were completed in its 1st year of program implementation, enabling USAID contracting office to sign contracts with them on a fast track basis. As a mandatory requirement of USAID, these assessments aimed at the institutional gaps in the administrative, financial, procurement management systems of the following entities:

a. Abacus Consulting Private Limited

b. A.A. Associates Private Limited

c. National Development Consultants (NDC)

d. Halcrow Private Limited

e. NESPAK Engineering Consultants

2. Institutional Capacity Building

The capacity building process focuses both on specific organizational needs as well as over-all national development objectives and requirements. ASP makes a significant departure from the generally insular departmental approach being pursued so far to capacity building and administrative reform strategy. While stressing the implementing partner’s ownership of the process, ASP will provide professional input in the key areas of much needed institutional reform. ASP will build on the findings from the pre-award assessments to layout and implement capacity building plan targeting at institutional development. The capacity building plan will largely focus on developing a PMU, improving policies/procedures, reviewing & strengthening the organogram, ensuring adequate internal controls, improving financial management & procurement processes, increasing human resource capacity through on-job technical assistance and providing relevant tools and products for carrying out their functions. Customized training programs will be designed to impart skills identified in mapping report. ASP will be in a good position to develop enduring relevant frameworks of capacity building and institutional strengthening. Training, both classroom based & online, in Financial Management, HR, Procurement, Administration and M&E will also constitute to be a vital part of this component. 

MSDP Sindh

Municipal Service Delivery Program (MSDP) Sindh was initiated as the first assignment. MSDP envisages sustained improvement in municipal services delivery to address the basic needs of citizens in selected TMAs of Sindh province. A USAID funded USD 76.65 million Program, it revolves around four broad objectives; improvement in basic service delivery through infrastructure upgrades and citizen engagement; establishment of a collaborative partnership between USAID and government for improved policy design and implementation; development of a local MIS; and enhancing the capacities of local government administration.

ASP-RSPN assisted MSDP Sindh through the P&D Department and prepared the PC-I in the light of the design and technical parameters identified through a series of meetings with P&D. The PC-I was prepared by ASP-RSPN in record time of three (3) weeks. In contrast, government PC-Is take months, and sometimes years to come to function.

ASP-RSPN also prepared the Financial Management, Needs Assessment and Monitoring & Evaluation frameworks for the Municipal Services Delivery Program, Sindh. This assistance will be followed by 2nd and 3rd phase of Capacity Building plan during the 2nd year of program implementation.

Sindh Basic Education Program

ASP-RSPN developed a three phased Capacity Building (CB) Plan (pre-obligation and post-obligation) based on the Risk Mitigation Framework (RMF) of SBEP.

GOS and USAID Pakistan signed an agreement for SBEP on September 22, 2011, envisaging a grant of USD 155 million by USAID. The goal of the Sindh Basic Education Program is to increase and sustain student enrolment in primary, middle and secondary schools.

ASP-RSPN supported SBEP in meeting the USAID’s pre-obligation requirements and developed from scratch the project’s PC-I in minimum possible time. PC-I has since been cleared by USAID and Education department Sindh after detailed discussions and a series of meetings with the relevant institutions. A number of meetings were also held during completion of the pre-obligation capacity building interventions of SBEP.

3. Research

The research component, using the research to policy approach, focuses on the thematic areas related to strengthening institutional capacity and processes. ASP’s research focuses on streamlining processes and standardizing procedures aimed to improve efficiency and effectiveness of operations including developing frameworks, models and manuals for long term sustainability. ASP is expected to become a repository of best practices, and a platform to disseminate the same at appropriate levels of policy-making and implementation.

Revolving Fund Account (RFA) / Assignment Account

Project Management Unit (PMU) and GOP Project Cycles

ASP having the mandate to explore key areas of GoP with a ‘Research to Policy’ initiative launched interventions in strategic areas of development governance by instigating two (2) research projects of vital importance to the government i.e. Project Management Units (PMUs) and GoP’s Project Cycle. ASP initiated research work on these areas during November 2011 with the objective to firstly identify problems in the existing rules/policies & procedures and secondly recommend possible enhancements, suggesting policy reforms through new/revised procedures. During the quarter significant progress has been made including compilation and detailed review of existing literature with a number of strategic level dialogues/meetings held both at federal and provincial levels. ASP’s research team is foreseeing a number of areas to be considered for improvement including the role of Planning Commission, raising the approval limits of CDWP & ECNEC, reducing the approval delays of PC-I, improving the quality of PC-I document, activation of Planning Cells, institutionalizing Public-Private Partnerships, importance of PMU and Project Director, ISO certification of Planning Commission processes & procedures. The activity is expected to be completed during the next quarter endeavoring for implementation of improved processes in these areas through ASP.

Public Financial Mangement (PFM) Framework)

USAID identified another major assignment for ASP-RPSN Research i.e., Public Financial Management (PFM) Framework. Keeping in view the significance of assessing financial management system at the institutional level, the research is aimed at development of PFM-related indicators to cover budget credibility, transparency, predictability, accounting, reporting & reporting efficiencies and adequacies, external scrutiny and audit requirements. ASP-RSPN reviewed a few assessments conducted by Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Program and developed a detailed concept note for the PFM assessments framework. A joint meeting of ASP-RSPN with USAID and European Commission (EC) was held in this regard in November 2011.

4. Awardees Capacity Building

This component focuses on targeting the following broad areas:

• Policies and Procedures, through the development and updation of FM, Procurement, HR, Internal Audit and IT manuals
• General and Specialized Trainings, in the areas of USAID and GOP Rules and Regulations, M&E, Project Management and Gender sensitization
• Infrastructure Development, via development of Management Information Systems, software and hardware updation

ASP-RSPN, conducted a number of trainings under the Awardees Capacity Building in the following areas:

• Gender issues and mainstreaming
• Disaster Management
• Government rules and Regulations
• USAID Rules and Regulations

The trainings were participated by the staff of ASP, RSPN and NRSP and ASP’s Provincial Program offices.