The government’s capacity building programme is five years old but there has been no evaluation of its effectiveness.
The Commission of Administrative Reforms and Civil Services reasons that evaluation should take place once the programme ends.
Hashmatullah Hashemi, the member of the recruitment committee and commissioner, says that an evaluation launched mid-way through the programme had to be abandoned because of staff shortage. “We carried out an evaluation mid-way … the level of recruitment was low so the result was negative. It has not been tried again and hence it is not possible to comment on the effectiveness of the programme,” says Hashemi.
The programme started in 2012. Some 1,500 people were to find employment as a result of training but with two months to go before the programme winds up only 800 have found jobs. Hashemi, however, says that the employment of 400 individuals is under process.
Nader Naderi, the head of Administrative Reforms and Civil Services, says only 42 individuals were absorbed through the programme in 2014. According to his information, 50,000 USD was spent on each person employed.
The authorities blame lack of coordination between the Commission of Administrative Reforms and Civil Services and the concerned ministries for the delay in the recruitment process. But they still say the capacity building programme has speeded up employment.
Hashemi says, “Earlier the case was that when a vacant post was identified they (ministries) used to ask us to suggest qualified persons but now the ministries share the information about vacant posts in the beginning of a fiscal year.”
NTA or National Technical Aid was approved by the government in 2012 for the purpose of transparency, accountability, prevention of financial and administrative frauds. The budget for its implementation is provided by the optional budget of the concerned ministries in coordination with the finance ministry. The ministry claims NTA is effective though no one in government has reviewed it for its effectiveness. Mohammad Aqa Kohistani, administrative assistant in the ministry, says, “If we compare the situation to 10 years ago, the number of foreign advisors has decreased a lot so this shows it is beneficial.” He claims the five-year-old NTA was not evaluated because it is new.
