OVERVIEW

The Afghanistan Engineering Support Program (AESP) provides architectural and engineering services, and trains staff and technicians working for Afghan Ministries in the energy, transportation, water, sanitation, and communication sectors. The $72 million project began in November 2009 and ends in November 2015. Its main goals are raising the level of engineering skills in the Afghan government and businesses, and increasing the quality of engineering works in the country.   

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

• Energy engineering: Provide planning, design and quality assurance services in electric power transmission and generation projects throughout Afghanistan.
• Transportation engineering: Facilitate third-party quality assurance oversight for road and airport construction, master planning and engineering support for provincial reconstruction teams. 
• Vertical structures: Provide technical support and design services for education, health and judicial facilities.
• Technical services: Conduct technical reviews of existing dam and hydro-electric power facilities and perform assessments of potential dams for flood control, irrigation and power generation.
• Capacity building: Train local staff in project management, computer-aided design, building standards and technical specifications, communication, technical writing and leadership.
• Empowerment of female engineering students: Facilitate work experience for female engineering students through an internship program. 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Woman engineering internship program: Facilitated engineering work experience for four female engineering students; hired one former intern as a Junior Civil Engineer.
• Capacity building: Trained 114 local national staff via seminars focusing on writing, safety, construction and health.
• Gender equality: Facilitated the hiring of a female architect and a female junior civil engineer at Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the national public utility provider, and the implementing partner for the project.
• Transportation engineering: Supported Gardez-Khost Road construction by providing software and technical assistance to improve project scheduling efforts to the contractor; reviewed and finalized drawings to facilitate turnover of roads to the Ministry of Public Works.
• Energy engineering: Completed inspections and data collection for electrical utility equipment throughout Kabul, and helped DABS obtain contracted engineering and other technical services. 
• Vertical structures: Completed master planning, design, design review and quality assurance projects for 22 buildings, including schools, teacher training centers and hospitals.
• Sustainability/operations and maintenance: Completed operations and cost estimates for 21 USAID-funded construction projects; provided the estimates to relevant Afghan agencies for assistance in planning and budgeting.
• Water resources: Inspected four hydro-electric dams, prepared and reviewed cost estimates for two dams and reviewed the river hydraulics related to a bridge failure.
• Water and sanitation: Installed water supply treatment and distribution systems at Sardar Kabuli Girls High SchooI; installed systems for wastewater collection and disposal.