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Emergency Infrastructure Reconstruction Project (US$33 million Grant) rehabilitated water supply and sanitation in secondary cities, sanitation in Kabul, and basic electricity for several cities. The project’s urban public works generated short-term employment opportunities. The project closed in June 30, 2006 and activities included:

Rehabilitation of Water Supply Systems happened in 11 provincial cities (Kandahar, Qalat, Mazar, Shiberghan, Kunduz, Taloqan, Charikar, Mehterlam, Jalalabad, Ghazni, and Gardez). The project undertook rehabilitation and redesign of existing systems, sector development analysis, planning for future operations, and feasibility studies for system expansion. Civil works for upgrading water utility facilities in each of the 11 provincial towns was completed, including new warehouses (except Kandahar), fully equipped workshops, and new office buildings (except Jalalabad, only rehabilitation works in Charikar and Ghazni). About 132 km of pipes were laid, increasing the distribution network by about 30 percent to 585 km. Preliminary data on the 11 provincial towns indicated that overall production capacity has risen from 15,000 to 25,000 cubic meters per day, which translates into an improvement of the average water availability from 6.5 to 10.5 liters per capita per day.

Solid Waste Management in Kabul: Between October 2002 and May 2004, over 120,000 cubic meters of solid waste was collected, and 46 community organizations were formed to help solve sanitation problems in Kabul. Teams of professional female hygiene and health educators have, in addition to reaching out to over 68,000 students, visited 160,000 households to teach families safe ways to dispose of garbage.

Sanitation Improvements in Kabul: Works have been completed to rehabilitate the Gazak dumpsite, repair eight existing and construct eight new public toilet complexes, and pilot sanitary improvements for row houses in District 11. In addition, the municipality has been provided with new equipment to improve solid waste collection and the disposal system in Kabul.

Labor-Intensive Municipal Public Works Program: Launched in December 2002 and completed in April 2004, this program implemented over 100 labor-intensive projects for infrastructure improvement and repair in Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazari Sharif, and Herat. The cash-for-work program generated significant temporary employment (supplying the equivalent of work for 43,000 people for an average of 10 days). Achievements include: over 43,000 meters of road graveling and leveling in four cities; cleaning, construction, and excavation of almost 61,000m of side ditches in Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar; construction of 74 shallow wells and 17 deep wells in Kabul; the planting of 21,000 saplings in Mazar; and site cleaning of 32,000 square meters in Kandahar.

Increasing Power Supply: In January 2003, the 45 megawatt Northwest Kabul Thermal Power Station was re-commissioned, after being inactive for 14 years. At the time, this almost doubled the available power supply in Kabul, particularly critical during the winter months, when demand increases by one third. In addition to providing essential tools and equipment and urgent spare parts for distribution systems, several diesel generators have been installed in smaller provincial cities throughout the country which had little or no access to electricity, including Faizabad, Baghdis, Bamiyan, Samanghan, and Uruzgan.

Power Sector Master Plan: A final master plan to develop Afghanistan’s power sector was completed in October 2004. It provides the basis for future investments in power generation and transmission up to 2020.

The Emergency Community Empowerment and Public Works Project (US$42 million Grant): It supported local income generation and infrastructure rehabilitation through labor-intensive public works. It also strengthened governance at the community level through elected Community Development Councils that planned and managed small reconstruction and development projects funded by block grants. The project was completed on December 31, 2004.

Programmatic Support for Institutional Building (US$80 million Credit and US$80 million Grant): Two consecutive programmatic support credits for institution building and have been aimed at supporting the implementation of the government’s mediumterm development strategy. The government has made significant progress in implementing important economic reforms since the World Bank financed the first Programmatic Support for Institution Building project in July 2004. Notable among thesem achievements are improvements in fiduciary standards; adoption of modern civil service, budget, and procurement laws; and initiation of a significant merit-based recruitment process. The second operation, approved in December 2005, aimed to deepen, broaden, and sustain the reforms underway in the areas of public administration and fiscal management. It also supported the implementation of reforms that lead to a more efficient allocation of fiscal resources in the areas of human development—health and education, in particular—and private sector development.

The Emergency Education Rehabilitation and Development Project (US$15 million Grant) has assisted the rehabilitation of universities through capitation grants, given grants to communities to manage community schools, supported the Ministry of Education to develop a medium-term policy framework and an education management information system (EMIS), and established a government intranet and a global distance learning center. Special emphasis has been placed on increasing access to educational opportunities for girls. The project was successfully completed on 30 June 2006.

Activities included:

Female Internet Café: A group of female students at Kabul University were assisted by the grant to establish an internet café in April 2005. The café is completely run by female students and is financially self sufficient. The female internet café has so fartrained 300 university students in basic computer programs. Moreover, the café has helped nurture a better environment for students—especially females—by giving them a safe environment where they can access the internet and computer programs.

Rehabilitating Primary Schools with Community Participation: Grants have been provided for the rehabilitation of approximately 100 primary schools in Bamyan, Logar, Parwan, Kapisa, and Badakhshan provinces. Nearly 700 schools in these provinces have established School Management Committees, which allow communities oversight of their children’s education. The communities cover 25 percent of the cost of school rehabilitation and construction, while the Ministry of Education covers the remainder with grant funds. The physical rehabilitation of schools is also combined with teacher training and other educational inputs.

Educational Management Information System (EMIS): The first Education Management Information System has been established in the Ministry of Education with the completion of database development from school survey 2004. Detailed data of teachers, administrative staff and school buildings from approximately 7800 schools and 110,000 teachers is available in the user-friendly Access database in Dari, Pashto, and English.

Support for the Ministry of Education at the Provincial Level: High-frequency radio communication equipment has been provided to each of Afghanistan’s 32 provincial education offices to improve school monitoring activities and communications with the Ministry of Education based in Kabul.

Support for Policy Development: Technical Assistance has been provided to the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education to develop a medium-term policy framework.

Kabul Distance Learning Center: A distance learning center was established in Kabul in November 2002. It is now used to facilitate sharing of development knowledge between people in Afghanistan and their counterparts around the world through new information and communications technologies. The center is part of the World Bank-Global Development Learning Network.

Government Internet Connectivity Project: Eight government agencies (Ministries of Finance, Rural Reconstruction and Development, Foreign Affairs, and Communication; the President’s Office; the AACA; and the Central Bank) have been connected to the internet, have access to email for the first time, and are also connected to the Kabul Distance Learning Center.