Standard Project Report 2016
All VST projects were implemented in urban or peri-urban areas with relatively better security, and as a result, all projects were completed without any interruptions. Although funding constraints meant that fewer beneficiaries could be reached, WFP managed to provide the full entitlement through cash-based transfers( CBT) to all participants. The use of CBT may have also contributed to the improved outcomes.
In 2016, the total number of enrolled male participants was 2,019, of whom 1,858 graduated, representing a 92 percent completion rate. The number of enrolled women was 18,393 with 18,229 graduates, equalling a 99 percent completion rate.
Progress Towards Gender Equality
WFP continued to ensure that gender considerations were taken into account during the design and implementation of WFP assistance, despite the fact that from a security and socio-cultural perspective Afghanistan remains a challenging environment in which to address gender inequality. Meanwhile, WFP has joined the Gender Transformation programme aimed at developing an‘ improvement plan’ for all units to ensure that all aspects of its programmes are gender-sensitive.
Gender is a major priority in Afghanistan. WFP has taken the lead in forming strategic partnerships with the First Lady’ s office, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Wome( UN Women), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations( FAO) and leading non-governmental organizations( NGOs). In addition, it has established an internal cross-functional gender working group( GWG), with membership reaching beyond the units traditionally kept accountable for gender, to include for instance procurement, logistics and security.
The GWG developed a Gender Strategy Framework, reflecting 11 priorities with ambitious targets for internal and external implementation. Detailed programme guidance has been developed to elaborate on the implications for design and implementation, female participation, and the mandatory involvement of women in the assessment, design, targeting and impact monitoring of WFP assistance. This was mandated for implementation throughout programme operations within the 2016 Annual Performance Plan.
WFP also developed compliance checklists for gender and protection. The checklists were framed around the 2015-2020 WFP Gender Policy and the WFP Afghanistan Specific Gender Strategy. The country office programme unit and the area and sub-offices made strong and continuous efforts to incorporate the Gender Marker and the Gender Catalogue of Activities into practice, focusing on both project design and implementation levels.
As a result, WFP has made strides of progress in the female participation ratio in 2016. The overall gender ratio in participation was 56 percent for female participation versus 44 percent for male participation. This tendency was also observed across the activities. The female participation for the general distributions under Strategic Objective 1, accounted for 25 percent; traditionally the majority of participants in this activity is male. Female participation in asset creation under Strategic Objective 2 accounted for 12 percent of participants and under Strategic Objective 4 activities,( treatment of moderate acute malnutrition, school meals and vocational skills training) female participation amounted to 68 percent of all participants. In particular, by consistently reaffirming the importance of women’ s engagement, women ' s participation in WFP ' s asset creation projects has dramatically improved.
WFP recognises that gender-based inequality affects opportunities, access to resources and participation in decision-making. Therefore, WFP and its partners continued to challenge and address gender-based inequality through systematic consultations with communities, local administrations and women shuras in order to involve women in decision-making and project design and implementation. WFP ' s efforts are reflected positively in the cross-cutting gender indicators, although there is scope to improve in 2017.
WFP continued to identify local capacity to develop customised gender training for all staff with the aim of familiarising WFP and cooperating partner staff with the corporate gender policy and values, and act effectively in designing gender-sensitive projects. Discussions with UN Women were held to conduct training on the gender maker for technical programme staff. WFP is a member of the‘ Gender in Humanitarian Action’ working group managed by UN Women and is a platform to explore innovative strategies for better engaging and targeting women and develop staff capacities.
Women ' s empowerment is an important part of WFP’ s work and WFP has been trying to achieve the objective of providing more balanced recruitment and learning opportunities for Afghan women and build a future talent pool for WFP vacancies. To further support women ' s economic empowerment, WFP partnered with UN Women to implement an internship programme for young Afghan women. The six-month internship programme was implemented for newly graduated women, in order to provide them exposure to different working environments. WFP provided this opportunity for 12 interns and eventually recruited four of them.
Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of( AF) 24 Single Country PRRO- 200447