OVERVIEW

The Assistance to Legislative Bodies of Afghanistan (ALBA) Project supports the development of the Afghan Parliament as a strong, effective and independent legislative institution. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has assisted Afghanistan’s current National Assembly since its inception and continues to provide training to the members in both houses, political staff, administrative and leadership offices.  The ALBA project focuses on committees as the driving engine of the parliament. In addition to institutionalizing parliamentary procedures and development, ALBA activities improve parliament’s constituency outreach efforts, communications and coordination at the sub-national level.

ACTIVITIES

• Strengthening the legislative process within both houses of parliament through training and mentoring on legislation drafting and analysis
• Providing issue-based, hands-on training to enable parliamentary staff to conduct budget analysis and legislative research
• Improving the capacity of the parliament to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch through Commission Support Units (CSU) for all Upper House legislative commissions; CSUs are designed to assist in planning, research and analysis, and for preparing bill summaries, proposed amendments and a final commission report.
• Enhancing outreach efforts of the parliament to constituents and the public through public forums and transparent commission meetings
• Increasing institutional development of the parliament with a major focus on building strong legislative commissions to actively review legislation and conduct policy oversight

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Strengthened the Parliamentary Anti-corruption Caucus’s ability to gather information from civil society and government, oversee government spending, and hold governmental offices accountable for activity and mandate achievements
• Launched two initial Commission Support Units within the parliament, which improved implementation and oversight of the Banking and Tax Management Law as well as to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism.
• Supported the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to facilitate the cabinet confirmation process after the establishment of the National Unity Government
• Improved legislation and amendments to more than 39 laws
• Increased government accountability through 113 provincial monitoring trips, budget scrutiny, preparation of analytical reports on bill costing, and parliamentary hearings
• Conducted 18 conferences involving parliament, civil society, provincial governors and other stakeholders to improve legislative outreach and public engagement
• Conducted nine trainings to strengthen the capacity of 185 members of parliament to undertake reforms
• Provided 115 fellowships (including 39 for women) to place recent graduates in key areas of parliament, including the secretariat and commissions