Support to the Office of the Senior Minister and Governance Cluster

07 February 2014

 

 

The Office of the Senior Minister (OSM) is a specially created post that acts as a bridge between different line ministries and agencies, Afghan civil society, and the international community. Since its establishment, it has been filled by H.E. Hedayat Amin-Arsala, a long-serving Afghan statesman, former Vice-President, Finance Minister and Foreign Minister.

 

Following a competitive tender, Upper Quartile was tasked by DFID from June 2013 with providing advisory support to a Minister with a high degree of visibility in Afghan Government-international community relationships, and to support the Senior Minister in policy development and national programme implementation. This work, undertaken with logistical support from Adam Smith International (ASI), has included coordinating the Governance Cluster of line ministries and agencies responsible for promoting reform in public financial management, the civil service, the justice and rule of law sector, local government, in human rights and in addressing corruption.

 

Using Afghan associates, Upper Quartile also undertook a training needs assessment, creating capacity development and organizational reform plans to strengthen the OSM.

 

In October 2013, the Senior Minister resigned to stand as a candidate in the forthcoming Afghan Presidential elections, leading DFID to cut short what was intended as a two-year programme. Since then, the project has focused on supporting the designated head of the Governance Cluster, continuing to make progress on governance reform, particularly around audit and asset verification challenges, initiated a National Anti-Corruption Policy and Sub-National Planning Policy, and negotiated arrangements intended to establish a medium-term framework of support to the Afghan Government.

 

For further information please contact Dominic d’Angelo,