1

2

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 3

A. OVERVIEW ...................................................................................................................... 4

B. SECTORS .......................................................................................................................... 7

Health ..................................................................................................................................... 8

Education ............................................................................................................................... 9

Social Protection .................................................................................................................. 10

Agriculture and Rural Development .................................................................................... 11

Good Governance ................................................................................................................ 12

Infrastructure ........................................................................................................................ 12

C. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES ...................................................................... 13

3

INTRODUCTION

The Ministry of Economy evaluates annul activities and performances of all NGOs and

publishes the annual report. The current summary includes activities, performance, projects

and expenditures incurred during 2016.

The Ministry of Economy believes that NGOs alongside the private and public sector plays an

important role in providing services to people in need in Afghanistan. NGOs involvement in

socio-economic development projects, not only creates an opportunity for mobilisation of

resources from international community, but it also helps in building capacity and creating

employment. In order to improve NGOs effectiveness, and their involvement in Afghanistan,

the ministry strives to coordinate their activities and address challenges as they arise.

The Ministry of Economy has the legal mandate to monitor and evaluate the performance of

the non-governmental organisations in Afghanistan. It collects information through

established and well-known mechanisms within the Directorate of Non-Governmental

Organisation every six months. This summary is prepared based on the primary information

gathered directly from the NGOs and it depicts their activities throughout the year 2016.

Other sources, such as the Ministry of Finance, Donor Assistance Database (DAD),

Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) and annually statistical report of Central

Statistic Organization have also been used.

4

A. OVERVIEW

1. A total of 2,070 NGOs were operating within Afghanistan in the year 2016, of which

1,802 are national and 268 international NGOs. These NGOs have spent a total amount

of US$ 851.59 millions, which makes up to 11.5% of Afghanistan’s national budget in

2016.

2. Out of the US$ 851.59 million, 65.8 % was spent by the INGOs, whereas 34.2 % was

spent by local NGOs. Using the above finances, a total of 5,198 various projects were

executed for the same year.

3. Expenditure in 2016 by local NGOs have increased by more than 24% compared to

previous year, whereas INGOs expenditure has decreased by a little more than 4%.

4. The projects were funded via two aid disbursement modalities: on-budget (24%) and the

rest as off-budget (76 %).

5. A closer look at the report reveals that there is a huge geographical imbalance in NGO

spending at provincial level. In the year 2016, the total spending in Kabul was US$

294.28 million compared to spending in provinces such as Paktika which reported as low

as US$ 2.77 million. National NGOs have spent 34.2% of the entire expenditure in the

non-governmental sector and the INGOs have spent 65.8% of the funds.

34.20%

65.80%

Expenditure in 2016 National vs INGOs

National NGOs INGOs

5

2.77

3.77

4.16

4.38

4.69

5.59

6.54

7.59

8.09

8.37

9.05

9.15

9.3

10.09

11.17

11.5

12.27

12.4

12.8

14.12

14.4

19.52

19.72

20.02

22.19

22.65

27.51

32.35

34.33

40.32

41.29

41.86

53.35

294.28

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Paktika

Kapisa

Nuristan

Zabul

Nimruz

Panjshir

Urzgan

Farah

Logar

Sar Pul

Maidan Wardak

Badghis

Laghman

Parwan

Ghor

Samangan

Kunar

Paktia

Dykundi

Ghazni

Jawzjan

Kunduz

Baghlan

Khost

Helamand

Bamyan

Takhar

Faryab

Kandahar

Balkh

Herat

Badakhshan

Nangarhar

Kabul

Expenditure in US$ Millions

6

6. Assuming the current population at 29.1 million in Afghanistan, the average expenditure

per capita reveals a better picture of the imbalance. Kabul per capita spending was US$

65.05, which is far greater than US$ 6.27 per capita spending in Paktika.

7. Alongside provision of services, NGOs have an appropriate role in creating job

opportunities. In 2016 a total of 78,775 people (76% male vs 24% female) were

employed in the non-governmental sector. Our estimates indicate that there has been a 3

% increase in the recruitment of workers by NGOs compared to 2015.

8. In year 2016, the Ministry of Economy registered 326 new NGOs, out of which 12 were

international and 314 were national NGOs. Meanwhile a total of 143 NGOs (136 local

and 7 international NGOs) were dissolved after completing legal procedures.

65

.05

49

.82

43

.3

35

.85

34

.52

34

.28

31

.86

29

.79

29

.15

27

.92

27

.66

27

.5

27

.4

27

.33

26

.78

26

.19

23

.6

22

.1

21

.41

21

.27

20

.54

20

.29

18

.96

18

.34

18

.14

15

.92

14

.94

14

.94

14

.72

14

.71

14

.15

11

.3

8.4

1

6.2

7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Kab

ul

Bam

yan

Bad

akh

shan

Pan

jsh

ir

Nan

garh

ar

Kh

ost

Fary

ab

Bal

kh

Sam

anga

n

Nim

ruz

Nu

rist

an

Takh

ar

Kan

dah

ar

Dyk

un

di

Ku

nar

Jaw

zjan

Hel

man

d

Pak

tia

Her

at

Bag

hla

n

Lagh

man

Loga

r

Ku

nd

uz

Urz

gan

Bad

ghis

Gh

or

Mai

dan

War

dak

Par

wan

Sar

Pu

l

Fara

h

Zab

ul

Gh

azn

i

Kap

isa

Pak

tika

EXP

END

ITU

RE

IN U

S $

7

B. SECTORS

9. The NGO activities are focused in six major sectors: 1) health, 2) agriculture, 3)

education, 4) social protection, 5) infrastructure and 6) good governance. The graph

below shows the percentages of spending by national and international NGOs in each

sector respectively for the year 2016.

10. The imbalance in the expenditures across sectors is also evident in the report, for instance

health sector has received over 34.47 of the entire NGO spending whereas infrastructure

sector has received only 0.97 % of the funds. Furthermore, there is also an imbalance by

sector at provincial level, Kabul receiving most of the spending whereas the rest of the

country is getting less financing.

34.47%

32.99%

15.96%

10.03%

5.58%

0.97%

00% 05% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Health

Social Protection

Education

Agriculture and Rural Development

Good Governance

Infrastructure

Expenditure in Sectors, 2016

8

Health

11. In 2016, a total of 904 development projects were implemented in more than 31

provinces of Afghanistan, of which over 61% of the projects were carried out by

domestic NGOs, while the rest was implemented by INGOs.

12. The total cost of these projects amount to around US$ 294 million, which constitutes

about 34.47% of the entire expenditure by the non-governmental sector in the year 2016.

In this sector, the INGOs have spent 61% of the US$ 300 million and the rest was spent

by national NGOs. These figures show an increase of 20% for both national and

international NGOs respectively.

13. Projects in the health sector included the following areas: nursing, midwifery,

detoxification and treatments, mental health and rehabilitation, child health, capacity

building and implementation of surveys.

30

1

37

6

55

5

34

9

N A T I O N A L N G O S I N G O S

NUMBER OF PROJECTS

2015 2016

9

Education

14. This sector has received much attention from the non-governmental sector in 2016. A

total of 909 various projects were implemented in the education sector, with the national

NGOs share being only 43% of the projects.

15. The total cost of these projects were estimated around US$ 135.91 million that amounts

to 15.96% of the total NGOs spending this year. The share of INGOs in the education

sector was 76% of the expenditure while national NGOs had spent only 24% of the funds

and this shows an 8% decrease compared to 2015.

16. The main areas where these spending were made included: building schools, establishing

literacy courses and education, improving teachers' capacity and quality of education,

teaching foreign languages. Other activities were also conducted such as easing access to

schools for girls, creation of libraries in schools and capacity-building efforts in local

education departments in the remote provinces of the country.

569

$127

909

$136

0 200 400 600 800 1000

Number of Projects

Expenditure (in million US$)

Projects and Expenditure: National NGOs vs INGOs

2016 2015

10

Social Protection

17. Social protection is the third sector that received much of the expenditure from the non-

governmental sector: an amount of US$ 280.1 million, almost 32.99% of the entire NGOs

expenditure in 2016.

18. The development projects in this sector include humanitarian assistance to survivors of

wars and helping re-settlement of the internally displaced persons as well as returnees

from neighbouring countries. Projects such as raising awareness of persons’ legal and

civil rights, empowering women, promoting anti-violence behaviour and cash transfers to

families were also undertaken

19. A total of 2,345 projects were implemented in this sector, of which only 49% of the

projects and 29% of the funds in this sector was implemented by national NGOs, the rest

was undertaken by INGOs.

1159

$83

1186

$198

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Number of Projects

Expenditure (in million US$)

Projects and Expenditure: National NGOs vs INGOs

INGOs Natioanl NGOs

11

Agriculture and Rural Development

20. Arguably agriculture and rural development is the backbone of rural livelihood in

Afghanistan. Agriculture and rural development sector provides 40% share of the

country’s employment and 23% of its GDP in 2016.

21. A total of 561 development projects worth US$ 111 million was the share of agriculture

sector. This comprises around 10.03% of the total NGO expenditure in the year 2016. Of

the US$ 111 million, approximately 30% was spent by national NGOs and the rest was

executed through INGOs.

22. The activities of the NGOs in the agriculture and livestock sector include improvement of

the plantation systems, distribution of improved seeds and its promotion, promotion of

research in agriculture, mechanization of agriculture sector in Afghanistan and creation of

modern irrigation systems. Water management is a major issue within the agriculture

sector, therefore projects such as construction of dams and creation of modern irrigation

systems were also implemented.

101

252

$13 $39

174

342

$21

$64

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Number of Projects Expenditure (inmillion US$)

Agriculture Sector

2015 2016

12

Good Governance

23. In the year 2016, a total of 416 development projects were implemented in this sector.

National NGOs implemented around 57% of the projects, while INGOs implemented the

rest.

24. The total cost of these projects stands at US$ 47.5 million, this comprises 5.58% of all

NGO expenditures in the year 2016. Furthermore, INGOs have spent around 52% of the

amount in this sector and the remaining share was executed by the national NGOs.

25. Programs through these projects were monitoring court proceedings, eradication of

violence against children, youth and women, peace-building initiatives, raising awareness

on human rights, reducing corruption, promoting freedom of expression, and promoting

other advocacy fronts.

Infrastructure

26. This sector has received the smallest amount of the NGO spending in the year 2016, US$

8.23 million. This encompasses only 0.97% of the entire NGO expenditure in

Afghanistan. A small number of 40 NGOs (25 national NGOs and 15 INGOs) operate in

Afghanistan this sector. Developing a country’s infrastructure is key in achieving better

growth rates and prosperity.

27. These figures indicate that the government and donors do not encourage NGOs to get

involved in this sector.

28. A total of 108 infrastructure projects were executed in the year 2016, of which national

NGOs implemented 51 projects.

29. The work done in this sector involves construction of roads, bridges, culverts, schools,

hospitals, clinics, small diversion dams, irrigation and water supply systems, wells,

installation and running of hydroelectric power turbines for generation of electric power.

13

C. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

30. In 2016, insecurity was the biggest challenge for NGOs. In Kabul

alone 29 major security incidents occurred which has directly and

indirectly affected NGOs performance. Other main challenges narrated

were local rivalries, cultural hindrances and issues of tax

payments/penalties.

31. There is a need for putting forward a wider discussion among all the stakeholders e.g.

NGOs, government entities, international donor partners and local communities to debate

areas and sectors that NGOs operate. The Ministry of Economy will strive to steer and

coordinate these to align NGO efforts with the government’s and the country’s priorities.

32. Our analysis indicate that NGO activities are heavily concentrated around the capital and

a number of provinces. There are provinces with extremely low NGO presence or NGO

supported projects. We can take this opportunity to increase the outreach base to cover

most of Afghanistan, particularly most remote and rural areas where the need for basic

services are higher than cities.

33. There is room for improvement in increasing the capacity for service delivery and

professionalism within the national and international NGOs. This was reported to be an

obstacle in the way of better service delivery to citizens.

34. Many NGOs in Afghanistan are involved in several sectors. To promote professionalism

and enhance efficiency, it is time to promote a discussion among the NGOs to evaluate

how to be efficient with the limited resources available to each single NGO. One possible

avenue is for NGOs to narrow the scope of their work into smaller number of sectors

rather than working in various sectors at the cost of effectiveness.

35. The activities of most of the NGOs are dependent upon the funds from donor sources and

government agencies in the country, sustainability of the projects in this sector has

always been an avenue that further work and collaboration could be done.

14