Country Programme Evaluation Afghanistan

This report is an evaluation of the Department for International Development’s (DFID) country programme in Afghanistan from January 2002 to December 2007, commissioned by the Evaluation Department of DFID (EvD) and undertaken by ITAD Limited, an independent consultancy company. The team spent two weeks in London interviewing key stakeholders in Whitehall, and then undertook fieldwork in Kabul and Lashkar Gah (Helmand Province) during April 2008, with these locations reflecting the focus of DFID’s Afghanistan programme. This report was then prepared and subject to review and comment by EvD and DFID Afghanistan.

The evaluation period is 2002–2007, with updates provided for 2008. It covers (i) the final year of humanitarian assistance led by DFID’s Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Department (CHAD), (ii) the Transitional Country Assistance Plan (TCAP) and (iii) the 2005/6 Interim Strategy for Afghanistan, which was subsequently extended to 2008.

Afghanistan is a uniquely complex country, socially and politically. The evaluation notes the constraints and pressure that DFID staff are under and the high levels of commitment demonstrated throughout the history of the programme. Where the evaluation identifies problems, these should in no way reflect poorly on the professionalism of those involved; rather, it is an opportunity retrospectively to learn from the strengths and weaknesses of DFID’s approach to a volatile and intense environment that offers very few easy answers.