Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Aid Management Policy

Guidance Note No. 6

Aid Reporting

Prepared for Ministry of Finance and Development Partners

(3rd Edition)
October 2014

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Document Control
Document
Title

AMP Guideline #6: Aid Reporting

Document Owner
Date Last Updated
Location
Version (Major.Minor)
Status

Mustafa Aria
04/11/14
th
AMD, 5 Floor, Budget Building, Ministry of Finance
3.5
Released

History
Version

Date Assigned

3.5

04/11/14

3.4
3.3
3.2
3.1

29/08/14
26/08/14
13/08/14
06/08/14

3.0

01/08/14

2.3
2.2
2.1
2.0
1.3
1.2
1.1
1.0

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TITLE: AMP Guideline #6: Aid Reporting

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Revisions
Added sections for on- and off-line processing in the DAD; inserted
annexes for ODA Harmonised Reporting Template; added annex
for donor focal points; added annex for Afghanistans official
development partners.
Reviewed comments made by Greg Wilson.
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A new introduction written for the document. This is the first
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Preamble
This Guidance Note No. 6 is the sixth in a series of seven Guidance Notes prepared for both
internal use within the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) and for
Development Partners (DP).
This note is designed to support MoFs efforts for collecting and reporting of quality, reliable,
accurate and timely aid information in line with national and international commitments for
improving the transparency and mutual accountability of donor assistance in Afghanistan.
Further notes may be issued over time to provide further clarification and/or to cover other
topics related to implementation of the approved GIRoA Aid Management Policy (AMP).
Whilst ultimately the guidance offered is not binding on the Government or the DPs in the
sense of being mandatory in every detail, it outlines the ideal course to pursue for effective
reporting of aid information.

Other Guidance Notes in this Series

Guidance Note No 1: On-Budget Financing

Guidance Note No 2: Alignment of Donor Financed Projects with NPPs
Guidance Note No 3: Development Framework Agreements (DFA)
Guidance Note No 4: Finance Agreements (FA)
Guidance Note No 5: Joint Analysis, Research & Assessments (JARA)
Guidance Note No 7: Development Assistance Database Users Guide (DADUG)

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List of Abbreviations
Acronym

Definition

AMD

Aid Management Directorate

AMP

Aid Management Policy

DAD

Development Assistance Database

DCD

Development Cooperation Dialogue

DCR

Development Cooperation Report

DFA

Development Framework Agreement

DGB

Directorate General Budget

DP

Development Partner

FA

Financing Agreement

FY

Fiscal Year

MoF

Ministry of Finance

GIRoA

Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

NGO

Non-governmental Organisation

NPP

National Priority Program

ODA

Official Development Assistance

OECD

Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development

OFF

Other Official Flows

PFEML

Public Finance & Expenditure Management Law

TMAF

Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework

USD

United States Dollars

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Table of Contents
Introduction
Benefits of DAD

Scope and Coverage of Resource Flow

Scope of resource flows covered in DAD
Bilateral vs. multilateral contribution
Types of flows covered in DAD
Official development assistance
Humanitarian assistance
Other official assistance
Private charitable assistance
Financial Instruments

Reporting Arrangements
Bilateral assistance reporting
Multilateral assistance reporting
United Nations bodies reporting
Multilateral development banks reporting
Reporting Schedule
How Will Reported Data Be Used?
Definition of Key Terms Used in Reporting DAD

Other information on the DAD

Donor Profiles
Confidentiality
Security
Modes of Operation
Style Guide
What Support Resources Are Available?
Help Desk
User Manual
Enabling Environment Checklist
Contact Information

Annexes
Annex 1: List of Afghanistans Development Partners
Annex 2: ODA Reporting Harmonized Template
Annex 3: On-budget Mandatory Reporting Format
Annex 4: DAD Sectors and Sub-sectors
Annex 5: List of Donor Focal Points in the AMD

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Introduction
This note is designed to assist the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
(GIRoA) and its Development Partners (DP) efforts in reporting quality, reliable and timely
information regarding development assistance provided to Afghanistan--an important input
for improving budgetary decision making, strengthening mutual accountability systems, and
supporting DP efforts in reporting to their governments.
The first section of this guidance note describes the rationale and benefits of reporting aid
information through the Development Assistance Database (DAD). Additionally, the note
provides a short history of how the DAD was developed.
In the second section, the note outlines the scope of reporting requirements for the DAD,
including a breakdown of which types of aid are captured in the DAD and which are
currently excluded. It also provides definitions for commonly-used terms and concepts in aid
reporting, which will allow DPs and the GIRoA to operate within a single conceptual
framework and common understanding of aid information reported.
The third section of the concept note describes different reporting arrangements for
bilateral and multilateral institutions, including UN bodies and other multilateral institutions
such as the International Finance Institutions (IFIs). This section also includes information
about the reporting schedule and information on how reported information will be used.
Particularly important to note is the need for aid information to intersect with the national
budget cycle at predetermined times each year so that: (a) fiscal forecasting is as accurate as
possible, and (b) allocative decisions by GIRoA and DPs are made in an optimal fashion.
The fourth section of the report includes a more comprehensive list of definitions
commonly used in aid reporting, how the on- and off-line modes of reporting using the DAD
system function, and information on where DPs can get technical support with using the
DAD should they need it.
Finally, to reduce the burden on DPs for meeting aid reporting obligations, an enabling
environment checklist is provided which identifies institutional arrangements that, once put
in place, are likely to sustain the aid reporting process within their respective institutions and
to streamline the aid reporting process in future years. In order to enable consolidation and
aggregation of information reported without an undue burden on data entry staff to clean
data in the system, the note includes a data entry style guide. The style guide ensures that
all data entered into the DAD is reported in the same style and format.

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Benefits of the DAD

Afghanistan currently relies heavily on development assistance for carrying out many of its
core functions, including public service delivery, infrastructure development and stimulating
economic growth across the country. Therefore, availability of reliable, complete and timely
information on Official Development Assistance (ODA) through the DAD system is
important for a number of reasons:
Supporting the GIRoA and its DPs to track progress towards international financial
commitments made in major national and international conferences. The AMP cites
the need for development partners to provide timely and accurate information on
development aid. Timely aid information provides the basis upon which the GIRoA
and DPs can track development results, as per the agreed Tokyo and Kabul
frameworks, and other bilateral commitments;
Enhancing accountability by allowing the legislature, civil society organizations and
the general public to have access to information required for holding the government
and DPs accountable for the delivery of planned outputs and services. Under Article 4
of the General Provisions of Afghanistans Public Finance and Expenditure
Management Law (PFEML), MoF is responsible for reporting to the National
Assembly on the amounts of all public grants;
Assessing the alignment of ODA with national priorities and future planning of aid
flows by DPs--information that will help GoIRA with better longer-term
program/intervention planning and implementation;1
Tracking the flows of resources to particular provinces and sectors, which provides
the GIRoA with necessary information to identify gaps in development spending and
promotes balanced, fair, and efficient aid allocation;
Providing a consolidated repository of information on aid resources, rather than many
fragmented sets of information held across different institutions. This also supports
sound planning and responsive decisions and minimizes waste and duplication of
resources; and
Acting as a vital source of information for analytical work carried by different
stakeholders and institutions aimed at improving transparency and aid effectiveness.

This function has been recently added to the DAD and will be available to users in upcoming reporting years.

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Box 1: History of DAD

For Afghanistan, ODA typically makes up around 69 %2 of total revenues sources, mainly in
the form of grants. The official source of information about development assistance provided
to Afghanistan is the Development Assistance Database (DAD), which was created in 2003.
By 2009, the DAD was well-known among donors, but uptake among DPs was still slow for
various reasons, such as staff turnover, lack of awareness among different stakeholders, and
technical difficulties with the system. As a result, in 2011 GIRoA embarked on a series of
simplifications to the DAD adopting a dramatically simplified version of DAD developed
over the preceding 8-month period.
As a result of these changes, 2013 was the first full year of participation by almost all DPs in
the reporting mechanism of the GIRoA. Yet still only approximately 58 % of that years aid
commitments were documented in the DAD.
The DAD can provide an overall picture of amount of resources provided by Afghanistans
DPs and allow users to generate reports about specific donors, provinces, and sectors. The
system currently can capture the scope of all on and off-budget modalities and financial
instruments that qualify as ODA. The data can also be accessed in a number of formats. The
aim is to promote aid transparency and to help improve the design and effectiveness of aid
programs in Afghanistan.
The Aid Management Scorecard, an internal instrument used to monitor the degree and
quality of aid reporting, the amount of aid brought on-budget, and how well aligned aid
resources are to national priority program objectives, is also generated with data from DAD.
The Scorecard, produced monthly, is a one-page quick assessment tool used by senior
members of the GIRoA, mid-level managers and operational staff to monitor and evaluate
where aid management problems may be emerging, allowing them to respond promptly.
All information is publically available at:
http://sbps.budgetmof.gov.af/dad/#/Eng/CoreProject/List/1_1_1_1

MoF internal data [year? 2013?]

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Scope of DAD Reporting Requirements

Types of assistance
Since 2001, Many DPs have provided financial assistance in support of Afghanistans
development, including contributions from both countries and multilateral organizations (see
Annex 1). These contributions include:
Official Development Assistance (ODA), including Humanitarian Assistance;
Multilateral grants;
Private contributions through non-governmental organizations and other charitable
organizations and foundations; and
Other Official Flows (OOF)
The section below provides more information about each of these categories of assistance (a
more comprehensive list of useful definitions pertaining to development assistance can also
be found on page 16-17).
Official Development Assistance
The main form of development assistance to Afghanistan, which is captured in the DAD, is
ODA. GIRoA uses the OECDs definition of ODA, which is as follows:
Financial flow by a donor partner to the GoIRA is reportable as ODA if it is:
1. Undertaken by the official sectors - including state and local governments, or by their
executive agencies; and
2. That the main objective of the transaction is to promote economic development and
welfare; and
3. Concessional in character with a grant element of at least 25 percent.
To avoid subjective interpretations of what types of assistance contribute to economic
development and welfare, GIRoA requests DPs to observe the following limits on ODA
reporting:
Not Reportable as ODA

The supply of military equipment and

services are not reportable as ODA;
While peacekeeping interventions are
not reportable as ODA, any additional
costs incurred in delivering the following
activities under UN-approved peace
operations is considered ODA: human
rights, election monitoring, rehabilitation
of demobilized soldiers, monitoring and
training of administrators (including
customs and police officers), advice on
economic stabilization, repatriation and
demobilization of soldiers, weapons
disposal and mine removal;
Activities
carried
out
for
nondevelopmental reasons, e.g. mine
clearance to allow military training are
not reportable as ODA;
Social and cultural programs are

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Reportable as ODA

Expenditures on police training and

contributions to police salaries are
reportable as ODA;

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considered ODA eligible if the programs

support capacity building of Afghan
institutions.
Cultural
programs
undertaken in Afghanistan with aim to
promote the culture of a DP, on the
other hand, are not to be reported as
ODA;
Assistance to refugees is counted as
ODA, including assistance provided to
refugees in the donor country but for a
period of not more than 12 months; and
Activities combatting terrorism are not
to be reportable as ODA.

Humanitarian Assistance
According to OECDs overall definition of ODA, humanitarian assistance refers to activities
that aim to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain and protect human dignity during and
in the aftermath of emergencies. It includes disaster prevention and preparedness,
reconstruction relief, relief coordination, protection and support services, emergency food aid
and other emergency/distress relief interventions. Currently, only some types of humanitarian
assistance are captured in the DAD, but GIRoA plans to collect information on all
humanitarian assistance starting in FY 2015.
Official vs. Private Contributions
Official transactions are those undertaken by government agencies, regardless of whether
these funds have been collected through taxation or through borrowing from public-private
cooperation. Private contributions, on the other hand, are those undertaken by firms, and
individuals residing in the DP countries.
Private Charitable Assistance
These are grants provided by NGOs and other charitable, academic and professional
organizations and foundations for development assistance and relief.
In accordance with Aid Management Policy (AMP), NGOs and charitable organizations are
defined as non-governmental and nonprofit entities that carry out a wide range of activities
including developmental, social, cultural, political and philanthropic. They may mobilize
resources from official or private funds.
The DAD does not currently capture private charitable resources that flow from outside of
Afghanistan. For now, only official resources channeled to NGOs and other charitable
organizations by DPs in Afghanistan are recorded.
The MoF plans to collect financial flows by NGOs, private and charitable organizations for
development assistance and relief in the near future. A separate guidance note will be
developed for this purpose.
Flows
Flows are transfers of resources either in cash or in the form of commodities or services.
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Other Official Flows (OOF)

Other Official Flows (OOF) are transactions undertaken by the official governments of DPs
that do not meet the conditions for eligibility as ODA, either because they are not
development interventions or because they are not concessional in character.
Currently, assistance in the form of OOF is not provided and thus not captured in the DAD. A
separate guidance note will be developed for reporting OOF in the future.
Financial Instruments
There are three types of financial instruments used by DPs for channeling resources to
Afghanistan:
1. Grants are transfers in cash or in kind for which no legal debt is incurred to GoIRA.
This is the main financial instrument that assistance is provided and reported in the DAD
by bilateral and multilateral agencies
2. Loans are transfers in cash or in kind for which legal debt occurs. As per OECD
guidance on ODA reporting, loans of one year of less are not counted as ODA.
Furthermore, repayment of principal of ODA loans are counted as negative flows
3. Debt relief refers to any form of debt reorganization that relieves the overall burden
of debt, by either altering the amount owing or repayment schedule. As per OECD
guidance on ODA reporting, debt relief provided by implementing Paris Club debt
reorganization is reportable as an ODA grant in the year of the reorganization.
Bilateral vs. Multilateral Contributions
Bilateral contributions are those undertaken by a donor country directly with GoIRA or
through its official development agency and/or with local and international non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) engaged in development and humanitarian assistance.
Bilateral contributions are provided both through the national budget (on-budget) and
directly contracted to third party agencies to implement projects and or deliver services (offbudget).
Multilateral contributions are defined by two criteria: i) the multilateral nature of the
institution i.e. the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank; and ii) the multilateral
characteristic of the contribution. In determining whether a contribution can be considered
multilateral, all of the following criteria must apply:3
a)

The multilateral institution conducts all or part of the activities in favor of

development and welfare;
b) The recipient institution i) is an international agency, institution or organization
whose members are governments; or ii) is a fund managed by multilateral agency; and
c) Funds are pooled so that they lose their identity and become an integral part of the
recipients institution asset.
The multi-donor trust funds managed by either multilateral or bilateral agencies fall under
this category.
3

This criteria follows OECD guidelines on multilateral contributions.

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Tables 1 and 2 show different categories of bilateral and multilateral contributions, both
concessional and non-concessional. In Afghanistan, the vast majority of official contributions
are in the form of ODA.
Table 1: Overview of bilateral resource flows.

Concessional

Non-concessional

Official

Official development assistance

Humanitarian assistance
NGOs, foundations and other charitable flows5

Other official flows (OOF)4

Private

None

Table 2: Overview of multilateral resource flows.

Concessional

Non-concessional

Multilateral
agencies
engaged in
development

Grant6

None

Types of Financial Contributions Captured in the DAD

Table 3, below, distinguishes between contributions captured in the DAD and contributions
that are currently excluded. In future years, the DAD will be expanded to include a wider
range of information and provide a more complete picture of how much assistance is entering
Afghanistan each year and how it is being used.
Table 3: Types of Financial Contributions captured in DAD (FY 2014)
Type of Contributions

Included in DAD Reporting for FY 2014

Official Development Assistance (ODA)

Yes

Multilateral Grants

Partially

Humanitarian Assistance (HA)

Partially

Private Charitable Assistance

No

Other Official Flows (OOF)

No

These are not currently recorded in the DAD.

These are not currently recorded in the DAD.
6
These are partially recorded in the DAD.
5

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Reporting Arrangements
Reporting on Bilateral Assistance
Bilateral donors are required to report their ODA, including humanitarian assistance, either
directly into the DAD or in the ODA Harmonised Reporting Template (in Microsoft Excel
format) (see Annex 2). ODA flows reported should include both transactions made through
the national budget and through off-budget systems (see figures 1 and 2 below).
The DAD has different data requirements for on- and off-budget assistance. While a bilateral
donor is responsible to provide data for all entry fields in the off-budget model of DAD or the
harmonized excel sheet, information on fewer fields is required for the on-budget
contribution. The details of the fields mandatory for the on-budget assistance is provided in
an annex at the end of this guidance note (see Annex 3).
Non-discretionary on-budget funding where a bilateral donor effectively controls or direct the
use of funds is classified as bilateral assistance. In such case, the bilateral agency is
responsible for reporting the assistance.
To avoid duplication in counting, reporting for ODA provided to NGOs, foundations and
other charitable organizations is the responsibly of bilateral donors.
In cases where a bilateral donor makes a multilateral contribution i.e. channeling ODA
through established trust fund mechanisms, or provides funding to a multilateral agency i.e.
UN, the bilateral donor is required to report the aggregate amount of this contribution only.
Details of the allocation to projects, alignment data and other information are the
responsibility of the agency managing the trust fund.
Bilateral donors are also required to follow the Guidance Note on Alignment (No. 2) for
specific steps for reporting alignment data against governments priority programs. When
funding in support of NPPs is channeled through multilateral agencies, the latter will be
responsible to provide alignment data.
Reporting on Multilateral Assistance
Data collection from multilateral agencies covers their regular (core) budgets and
contributions from other bilateral and multilateral agencies managed in the form of Trust
Funds or stand-alone projects.
Reporting should be limited to expenditures from the agencies regular (core) budgets that
involve cross border transactions, along with details of the contributions through other
bilateral and multilateral mechanisms that the agencies administer.
Contributions made by the GoIRA to an agency e.g. through cost-sharing and co-financing
are not reported in the DAD since the DAD captures cross-border flows only.
Multilateral agencies may transfer funds to other multilateral agencies. To avoid double
counting, the agency responsible for undertaking the expenditure should report the amount.

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Figure 1: Reporting role for agencies involved in on-budget assistance.

Figure 2: Reporting role for agencies involved in off-budget assistance.

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Reporting by United Nations Bodies

UN funds and programs and specialized agencies are requested to report all their
expenditures in Afghanistan, including the costs of running country offices. For the purpose
of clarity, these agencies are required to report their regular (core) budget separately from the
funding they receive and manage in country from other bilateral and multilateral donors.
Separating core from non-core funding allows the MoF to identify the spending agencies as
either donors, first-level implementing agencies, or both, in the DAD system. The non-core
funding reported by the UN will be accounted for under the contribution of the bilateral or
multilateral agency providing the funding.
Reporting by IFIs
IFIs are required to report on both grants and loans. The process described for multilateral
assistance above will be used to distinguish between regular budgets and funding for
management of which a multilateral development bank is responsible.

Reporting Schedule
Over the course of the Afghan fiscal year (Dec 22-Dec 21) the following reporting events
take place7. In order for the MoF to process the data in a timely manner for the budget
preparation, DAD, the Development Cooperation Report (DCR) and other products, DPs are
requested to follow the deadlines below for sharing information:
Month

Description

Deadline

Request for preliminary Overseas Development Assistance

(ODA) aggregate data for previous year sent to donors.
Responses needed by the end of February.

End of
February

Request for 3-year forward spending plans sent to donors.

Responses needed by the end of April.

End of April

Information about on-budget financing is prepared for the

Qatya.

February

Request for complete and disaggregated data for the previous

year sent to donor. Responses needed by mid-July.

March

Compilation of preliminary aggregate ODA data for previous

year and donors 3-year forward spending plans.

April

Preliminary aggregate of ODA data for previous year and

outlook on aid published. Press release issued by the GIRoA.

Development Assistance Database updated.

Request for disaggregated data for the previous year sent to

donors. Responses needed by mid-June.

Mid-June

Request for aggregated next years commitment sent to

Mid-June

January

May

Step #

Mid-July

This timetable is summarized in a reference poster, a copy of which is available from the AMD, MOF.

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donors. Response needed by mid-June.

10

Development Assistance Database updated.

11

First round of Donor Coordination Dialogs (DCD) meetings

held.

12

MTBF prepared.

13

Disaggregated commitments confirmed.

14

Aggregates next year projected commitments confirmed.

15

Second round of Donor Coordination Dialogs (DCD) meetings

held.

16

Budget hearings held.

August

17

Budget hearings held.

September

18

Online database update

19

Development Cooperation Report released.

October

20

Core Donor Consultation (CDC) meetings held.

November

21

CDC findings confirmed.

December

22

Publication of complete disaggregated data.

23

Development Assistance Database updated.

June

July

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Use of Reported Data

Aid information will be used for a number of purposes, depending on the GIRoA stakeholder
that uses the information, which of the numerous fora it will be used in, and the type of
information used.
Aid information reported in the DAD will be:
1. Analysed and used as the basis for tables and charts in the annual DCR. The DCR is
published each year to increase public transparency on the amount of development
assistance Afghanistan receives each year and how it will be used;
2. Used as the basis for content published on the Directorate General Budget (DGB) and
the Ministry of Finance web sites and other media tools;
3. Used as the basis for press releases made by the MoF;
4. Available in the online database and accessible by the public in Afghanistan and
abroad;
5. Used in the Aid Management Scorecard, an internal management tool for
monitoring the progress and effectiveness of the Aid Management Policy. The
scorecard is produced monthly and disseminated to senior managers of the MoF.
6. Available for use by DPs in their reporting to their respective governments and
legislatures

Definition of Key Terms Used in DAD Reporting

Alignment: Refers to the process of aligning DP contributions with the GIRoAs NPP
strategy and ensuring that the underlying principles of all donor programs and projects are
consistent with the NPPs stated approach. Alignment is fully achieved when donor funded
projects and the National Priority Programs have common, unified and consistent objectives,
plans, programs, projects and deliverables. For more information on alignment, please refer
to Guidance Note 2.
Bilateral Contribution: Bilateral contributions are those provided by a donor country
directly to GIRoA. They also include transactions with non-governmental organisations
active in development and other internal development-related transactions.
Commitments: A firm obligation expressed in writing and backed by the necessary funds,
undertaken by an official donor to provide specific assistance to GoIRA or a multilateral
organization. Commitments are documented in a financing agreement (FA) between the
GIRoA and the Development Partner(s). A commitment can be for one or more years.
Commitments made in a single year that are planned for disbursement over a number of years
are referred to as Multi-year Commitments.
Concessional and Non-concessional: Grants are wholly concessional by definition. Nonconcessional loans are those provided at or close to market rates. Concessional loans are
those that are provided at terms more favorable to the recipient.
Development Partners: Refers to all donor governments, and their specialized agencies and
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organizations that are involved in development cooperation in Afghanistan, including OECD

donors, non-traditional donors, multilateral organizations, and vertical funds.
Currency: The reporting currency in the DAD is USD and Afs. DPs may wish to enter in
USD or their currency of their country. The DAD system will automatically convert the
currency based on the current Da Afghanistan Bank (central bank) exchange rate.
Disbursements: Refers to the release of funds or the purchase of goods or services.
Disbursements record the actual international transfer of financial resources, or of goods or
services valued at the cost to the donor. It can take several years to disburse a commitment.
Discretionary vs. Non-discretionary Assistance: Aid can be discretionary, meaning that it
is left to the GIRoA to determine how best to use the funds. Alternatively, it can be nondiscretionary, which means the use of funds is constrained in some way by the development
partner and/or GIRoA.
Direct Budget Support: A method of financing GoIRA budget through a transfer of
resources from a donor to the national treasury and managed in accordance with the GoIRA
budgetary procedures. Funds transferred to the national treasury managed according to
different budgetary procedures from those of the partner country, with the intention or
earmarking the resources for specific uses, are therefore excluded.
Fiscal Year (FY): Refers to Afghan Fiscal Year, which is Dec 21 to December 22. The
disbursement and commitments dates in the DAD should be reported on the actual
day/month/year. Reports will be generated in the Afghan FY.
Grant: Transfers made in cash, goods or services for which no repayment is required.
Humanitarian Assistance: Assistance designed to save lives, alleviate suffering and
maintain and protect human dignity during and in the aftermath of emergencies. To be
classified as humanitarian, aid should be consistent with the humanitarian principles of
humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. Humanitarian aid includes:
Disaster prevention and preparedness;
The provision of shelter, food, water and sanitation, health services and other items of
assistance for the benefit of affected people and to facilitate the return to normal lives
and livelihoods;
Measures to promote and protect the safety, welfare and dignity of civilians and those
no longer taking part in hostilities and rehabilitation, and
Reconstruction and transition assistance while the emergency situation persists.
Activities to protect the security of persons or property through the use or display of
force are excluded. Humanitarian assistance also includes aid to refugees in
developing countries, but not to those in donor countries. Relief food aid comprises
supplies of food, and associated costs, provided for humanitarian relief purposes

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Loan (also Credit): Transfers for which repayment is required. Only loans with maturities of
over one year are reported.
Multilateral Organisations: Multilateral organizations are international institutions with
governmental membership. They include organizations to which donors contributions may
be reported either in whole or in part as multilateral ODA as well as organizations that serve
only as channels for bilateral ODA.
Official Development Assistance: Grants or loans to GoIRA and to multilateral agencies,
which are: (a) undertaken by the official sector; (b) with promotion of economic development
and welfare as the main objective; (c) at concessional financial terms (if a loan, having
a grant element of at least 25 per cent). In addition to financial flows, technical cooperation is included in aid. Grants, loans and credits for military purposes are excluded.
Transfer payments to private individuals (e.g. pensions, reparations or insurance payouts) are
in general not counted.
Other Official Flows (OOF): Transactions by the official sector with GoIRA which do not
meet the conditions for eligibility as Official Development Assistance, either because they
are not primarily aimed at development, or because they have a grant element of less than 25
per cent. OFF is not recorded recorded in the DAD.
Off-budget: Any inflow of resources or spending that are excluded from the national budget
and not managed through the government systems.
On-budget: All inflows of resources or spending, program and project aid, that is aligned
with the plans of budgetary units, are captured in the budget documentation, are appropriated
by the Parliament and managed through the treasury system.
Pledges: A promise to make a commitment in the future. Pledges are non-binding and are
often made at the very earliest stages of political engagement between a country and a
bilateral or multilateral development partner. Not all pledges made will become
commitments.
Projects: A time-bound collection of activities, usually involving an implementing partner,
aimed at delivery of a specific set of outputs using a specific set of inputs. The project uses
the inputs with technical assistance to create a set of deliverables. If the theory of change and
intervention logic of the project is sound, then when the outputs are applied to the
environment in which the project operates, specific outputs will be produced to contribute to
a particular outcome and make some degree of impact on the environment. Projects are the
quanta used to deliver a program of development.
Ongoing Projects: Existing projects that the donor is funding, either directly or through an
implementing partner, for which information exists in the DAD.
New projects: Projects that are agreed to between the GIRoA and the development
partner(s), but for which implementation have not yet commenced and for which no
information exists in the DAD.
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Closed Projects: Projects that are closed both operationally and financially.
Sector Classification: DAD uses a sector classification based on the ANDS pillar structure.
Annex 4 includes a full listing of ANDS sectors and sub-sectors used in the DAD. Each
project can be assigned to one sector and sub-sector only. For projects cutting across several
sectors, the code corresponding to the largest component of the aid activity will be used. A
multi-sector code field will be added to the DAD in the near future.

Other Information on the DAD

Donor Profiles
Donor profiles are at the core of information reported in the DAD. A donor profile is setup
for each DP who provides official development assistance to Afghanistan.
Confidentiality
DAD data on ODA are accessible to the public with no restrictions on disclosure of
information or its uses. Information reported in the DAD is considered of public value and
should already be in the public domain.
Modes of Operation
The DAD operates in two modes: offline and online.
DAD Offline
In the offline mode, information is temporarily and locally stored on the users computer. To
use the offline DAD a desktop application has to be installed. That application is used instead
of a web browser (like Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari). The offline DAD works
without an Internet connection. When an internet connection becomes available, offline data
is uploaded from the application via the Internet to the online DAD. In the case where
installation of a desktop application on the users computer is not possible, the online DAD is
better suited.
DAD Online
In online mode, the DAD is accessed via the Internet and a standard web browser (like
Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari) on the users computer. A desktop application
is not needed as all operations are performed in the browser which is already installed on the
users computer. Online mode is typically used when a reliable Internet connection is
available with sufficient bandwidth to allow updating to take place in a reasonable amount of
time, as and when changes are made.
Style Guide
The following general style guide should be following when entering data in the DAD:
Text fields should be punctuated and spelled according to English (UK) as used by the
DAD. Words like synthesize, criticize and politicize should be spelled as synthesise,
criticise and politicise.
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 Text fields that do not contain sentence fragments should use a capital letter for the
first letter of the first word of the sentence and a delimiting full stop.
Text fields that contain sentence fragments should be entered in Title Case.
Date fields should be entered as dd/mm/yyyy.
All currency amounts should be denominated in US dollars but do not need the dollar
sign entered.
All currency amounts should be entered in either whole numbers or with two decimal
places of precision.

What Support Resources Are Available?

Help Desk
The Help Desk (operated by the ICT Unit of the Directorate General Budget, Ministry of
Finance) stands ready to help end users of the DAD with technical issues they encounter that
cannot be resolved by their respective donor focal point.
The Help Desk can be reached at:
Skype ID: dgb_helpdesk
Mobile: +93 752 052 407
Email: helpdesk@budgetmof.gov.af
User Manual
The user manual for the DAD online application is available from the login screen of the
system (see figure 1). The manual is also available after an end user has logged in, by
clicking the link in the top-right corner of the working area of the web page.

Figure 4: The login screen has a link to download the DAD user manual.

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The Enabling Environment Checklist

Introduction
The Enabling Environment Checklist lists various institutional arrangements that are likely
to result in sustained use of the DAD system and the corresponding reporting protocol.
The enabling environment includes arrangements that are not necessarily technology-related
but that good practice would suggest impact the sustainability of the aid reporting protocol.
Checklist
The checklist asks the following questions about the development partner agency:
Are staff in the agency aware of the GIRoAs Aid Management Policy and its
requirement for timely and accurate aid reporting?
Has the agency nominated a focal point for aid reporting?
The primary focal point is: ___________________________
Is there a succession plan in place for the focal point should they leave or be away
from work during critical reporting periods? Who is the secondary focal point?
The secondary focal point is: ___________________________
Does the agency have documented process, which includes the reporting obligations
using the DAD?
Have the focal points been issued with DAD credentials by the AMD of the Ministry
of Finance?
Does the agency have access to the DAD support materials (the DAD User Manual,
this guidance note, the Aid Reporting Cycle reference chart)?
Is the agencys senior management supportive of reporting in DAD online
application?
Are there any external policies, which your organization must comply with that would
prevent the agency from reporting in the DAD?
Does the agency have sufficient bandwidth to access the DAD online? A
recommended amount of bandwidth is at least 256kbps.
Does the agencys IT function permit access to the DAD application URL?
Does the agency limit the behavior of the Internet browser that may affect access to
the DAD online?
Contact Information
Aid Coordination Unit, Sulaiman Ahmad, ahmad.sulaiman@budgetmof.gov.af,
Donor Focal Points, please see Annex 5 for a complete list of AMDs donor focal
points.

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Annexes

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Annex 1: List of Afghanistans Development Partners

1. Bilateral Donors
Funding Source

Funding Agency

Australia

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia (DFAT)

Austria

Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BMA)

Belgium

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoF)

Canada

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

International Development Research Center (IDRC)
Canadian Government (CG)

China

Government Of China

Cyprus

Cyprus Government

Czech Republic

Czech Republic Development Agency

Government of Czech Republic

Denmark

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)

Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA)

Finland

Finnish Government (FG)

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)

France

French Development Agency (AFD)

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE)

Germany

Bundesministerium fr Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Enteicklung

(BMZ)
Federal Foreign Office (FFO)

Greece

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (YPEJ)

Hungary

Government of Hungary

India

Government Of India

Iran

Government of Iran

Ireland

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)

Italy

Italy Development Cooperation Office

Japan

Japanese Government (JG)

Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Japanese Overseas Development Co-operation (JODC)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)

Kazakhstan

Government of Kazakhstan

South Korea

Government of South Korean

Kuwait

Government of Kuwait

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Lithuania

Government of Lithuania

Luxembourg

Lux-Development (LuxDev)

Netherlands

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)

Netherlands Gov. through Netherlands Investment Bank for Developing
Countries (NG/NIO)

Norway

Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD)

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)
Norway Embassy

Pakistan

Government of Pakistan

Poland

Government of Poland

Russia

Government of Russia

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Development Fund

Singapore

Government of Singapore

Spain

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Sweden

Swedish International Development Agency (Sida)

Switzerland

Swiss Confederation, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (CS,FDFA)

Swiss agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Turkey

Turkish Armed Forces

Turkish International Cooperation & Development Agency

United Arab Emirates

Committee of Humanitarian Assistance & Development in Afghanistan

(CHADA)

United Kingdom

Department for International Development (DIFD)

Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

United States of America

INL - International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Section (INL)

Commanders Emergency Response program (CERP)
Peace Corps
US Department of Agriculture (USDoA)
US Department of Defense (USDoD)
US Department of State (USDoS)
US Agency for International Development (USAID)
US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)
CSTC-A Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan (CSTC-A)
US Treasury
US Department of Justice (USDoJ)

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2. Multilateral Donors
United Nations Agency, Fund
or Commission (UN)
ESCAP

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

FAO

Food and Agricultural Organisation

IAEA-TCF

International Atomic Energy Agency (Contributions to Technical

Cooperation Fund)

IFAD

International Fund for Agricultural Development

UN Habitat

United Nations Human Settlement Programme

UNAMA

United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNEP

United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

UNFPA

United Nations Population Fund

UNHCR

United Nations Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees

UNICEF

United Nations Childrens Fund

UNIDO

United Nations Industrial Development Organisation

UNILO

International Labour Organization

UNITAR

United Nations Institute for Training and Research

UNMAS

United Nations Mine Action Service

UNOCHA

United Nations Office of Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs

UNODC

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

UNV

United Nations Volunteers

UNWOMEN

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of

Women

WFP

World Food Programme

WHO

World Health Organization

European Union (EU)

EC

European Commission

ECHO

European Community Humanitarian Office

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World Bank Group (WB)

IDA

International Development Association

IFC

International Finance Corporation

MIGA

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency

Other
IMF

International Monetary Fund

WTO

World Trade Organisation

ADB

Asian Development Bank

IsDB

Islamic Development Bank

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Annex 2: ODA Reporting Harmonized Template

This page will be laid out in landscape when the content is moved to Microsoft Word for
final formatting and preparation for distribution.

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Annex 3: On-budget Mandatory Fields in the DAD

To be specified by the ICT Unit 4th November 2014.

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Annex 4: DAD Sectors & Sub-sectors

#

Sector

Security

Sub-Sector
1.1 National Defense
1.2 National Security & Police
1.3 Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups
1.4 De-Mining

Governance & Public Administration Reform

& Human Rights

2.1 Governance & Public Administration

2.2 Human Rights

Justice & Rule of Law

3.1 Justice & Rule of Law

Religious Affairs

4.1 Religious Affairs

Energy

5.1 Energy

Transport

6.1 Transport

Urban Development

7.1 Urban Development

Mining

8.1 Mining

Information & Communications Technology

9.1 Information & Communications Technology

10

Water

10.1 Water

11

Education

11.1 Primary & Secondary Education

11.2 Higher Education
11.3 Science & Research
11.4 Sports

12

Culture, Media & Youth

12.1 Culture
12.2 Media
12.3 Youth

13

Health & Nutrition

13.1 Health & Nutrition

14

Agriculture & Rural Development

14.1 Agriculture

15

Social Protection

15.1 Social Protection

16
17

Refugees, Returnees & IDPS

16.2 Refugees, Returnees & IDPS

Private Sector Development & Trade

17.1 Private Sector Development & Trade

14.2 Rural Development

17.2 Public Finance

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Annex 5: List of Donor Focal Points in the AMD

Sector

Name

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Phone/Skype

Email

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