Tuesday, 17 January 2012

First experience


Hello again,
My first days in my internship have mostly gone on studying documents. I have been given certain documents e.g. concept notes, project proposals, budgets, rules and regulations and etc to read. These seem like bunch of text books.
I have finished reading the concept note for a project called Improving Agriculture Input Delivery Systems for Afghanistan. The idea is to establish a project that can deal with all the inputs related to seed production and build the capacity of all the directorates and stakeholders that are involved in the input supply. The project has been presented to the World Bank and WB has agreed to fund it. It seems a very important but very complicated project.
It is important because if the project is properly implemented, Afghanistan will have a boost in its seed, especially wheat seed, production. The problem of hunger and basic food would be almost solved. However, it is really complicated as there are enormous numbers of stakeholders involved. The benefits of the stakeholders are quite diverse as some of them are government entities and some are private firms. In addition, there are many government policies that could create problems for private sector. Meanwhile, there are shortages of government policies and laws (e.g. pesticide law) where those are really necessary.
With all the above, the project is initiated and is in its preparation phase. I will keep you posted as it goes on.
Thanks,
Javid 

6 comments:

  1. Javid, this project is very interesting. Will you be working with the stakeholders directly? Best of luck.

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  2. Thanks Louis.
    yeah, I will be working with some stakeholders and these may include directorates of the ministry and farmers.
    Regards,

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  3. Sorry, Javid... I am still struggling through the Blogging process. It sounds as though you are able to experience a very exciting time in Afghanistan. In the U.S. there are so many policies in place and it sounds as though you will be there during the early planning and implementation periods. What an exciting opportunity!

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  4. It sounds as though there is hope that this project will be an answer to the hunger problem that you have identified. Is there any UN involvement in your project, since there is a connection to the World Bank? It will be important to learn how to appeal to the diverging interests engaged in your project and to see how government officials respond to other policy needs that will likely become apparent in your work. God luck with implementation!

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  5. Holly, UN is not involved in the project. But they are involved through their FAO program in the same sector. In addition to them, EU is having same kind of projects. Surely, the coordination will be a challenge and you are right, it might not be easy for the official to respond to various policies these organizations might have.

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