Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Public Disclosure Authorized Report No: ICR00004450 IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT IDA-H6650 ON A Public Disclosure Authorized GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR(X31.8) MILLION (US$50 MILLION EQUIVALENT) TO THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN FOR THE Public Disclosure Authorized AFGHANISTAN ICT SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT ( P121755 ) August 10, 2018 Public Disclosure Authorized Digital Development Department South Asia Region CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective {Feb 01, 2018}) Currency Unit = Afghani (AFN) AFN 69.2 = US$1 US$ 1.42 = SDR 1 FISCAL YEAR July 1 - June 30 Regional Vice President: Hartwig Schafer Country Director: Shubham Chaudhuri Global Practice Director: Boutheina Guermazi Practice Manager: Jane Lesley Treadwell Task Team Leader(s): Rajendra Singh ICR Main Contributor: Masatake Yamamichi ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS $ All dollars are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated ATRA Afghan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority CIO Chief Information Officer CPF Country Partnership Framework ESMP Environmental and Social Management Plan GoIRA Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ICT Information and communication technologies ISP Innovation Support Program ISR Implementation Status and Results Report m-apps Mobile applications M&E Monitoring and evaluation MCIT Ministry of Communications and Information Technology MoE Ministry of Economy MoF Ministry of Finance NPV Net present value PDO Project Development Objective PMO Project Management Office SDP Service delivery platform SDR Special Drawing Rights CONTENTS DATA SHEET .......................................................................................................................... 1 I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES ....................................................... 5 A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL .........................................................................................................5 B. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES DURING IMPLEMENTATION (IF APPLICABLE) .......................................9 II. OUTCOME .................................................................................................................... 11 A. RELEVANCE OF PDOs ............................................................................................................ 11 ACHIEVEMENT OF PDOs (EFFICACY) .......................................................................................... 12 C. EFFICIENCY ........................................................................................................................... 18 D. JUSTIFICATION OF OVERALL OUTCOME RATING .................................................................... 19 E. OTHER OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS (if any) ............................................................................. 19 III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME ................................ 21 A. Key Factors During Preparation ............................................................................................. 21 B. Key Factors During Implementation ...................................................................................... 22 IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME .. 23 A. QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) ............................................................ 23 B. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE ..................................................... 24 C. BANK PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................................... 26 D. RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME ....................................................................................... 27 V. LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................. 28 ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS ........................................................... 29 ANNEX 2. BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION ......................... 37 ANNEX 3. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT ........................................................................... 39 ANNEX 4. EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS ........................................................................................... 40 ANNEX 5. BORROWER, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS ... 41 ANNEX 6. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS (IF ANY) ..................................................................... 42 The World Bank Afghanistan ICT Sector Development Project ( P121755 ) DATA SHEET BASIC INFORMATION Product Information Project ID Project Name P121755 Afghanistan ICT Sector Development Project Country Financing Instrument Afghanistan Emergency Recovery Loan Original EA Category Revised EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Organizations Borrower Implementing Agency Ministry of Finance Ministry of Communications and IT (MCIT) Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Project Development Objective is to expand connectivity, mainstream use of mobile applications in strategic sectors in the government and support development of the local IT industry. Page 1 of 46 The World Bank Afghanistan ICT Sector Development Project ( P121755 ) FINANCING Original Amount (US$) Revised Amount (US$) Actual Disbursed (US$) World Bank Financing 50,000,000 45,052,496 41,664,877 IDA-H6650 Total 50,000,000 45,052,496 41,664,877 Non-World Bank Financing Borrower 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 Total Project Cost 0 45,052,496 41,664,877 KEY DATES Approval Effectiveness MTR Review Original Closing Actual Closing 26-Apr-2011 14-Jun-2011 27-Jan-2014 30-Jun-2016 30-Dec-2017 RESTRUCTURING AND/OR ADDITIONAL FINANCING Date(s) Amount Disbursed (US$M) Key Revisions 22-Feb-2012 3.86 Other Change(s) 28-Feb-2015 28.68 Change in Loan Closing Date(s) Reallocation between Disbursement Categories 14-Jun-2017 41.58 Change in Loan Closing Date(s) KEY RATINGS Outcome Bank Performance M&E Quality Moderately Unsatisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Modest RATINGS OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN ISRs Actual No. Date ISR Archived DO Rating IP Rating Disbursements (US$M) 01 17-Sep-2011 Satisfactory Satisfactory 3.75 Page 2 of 46 The World Bank Afghanistan ICT Sector Development Project ( P121755 ) 02 19-Feb-2012 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 3.86 03 28-Oct-2012 Satisfactory Satisfactory 4.48 04 23-May-2013 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 7.98 05 24-Dec-2013 Satisfactory Satisfactory 18.68 06 20-Jun-2014 Satisfactory Satisfactory 21.46 07 21-Dec-2014 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 24.72 08 29-Jun-2015 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 30.78 09 12-Feb-2016 Satisfactory Satisfactory 34.83 10 01-Dec-2016 Satisfactory Satisfactory 39.64 11 30-Jun-2017 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 41.82 SECTORS AND THEMES Sectors Major Sector/Sector (%) Public Administration 14 Other Public Administration 14 Information and Communications Technologies 82 Public Administration - Information and 18 Communications Technologies ICT Infrastructure 56 ICT Services 5 Other Information and Communications Technologies 3 Education 4 Tertiary Education 4 Themes Major Theme/ Theme (Level 2)/ Theme (Level 3) (%) Page 3 of 46 The World Bank Afghanistan ICT Sector Development Project ( P121755 ) Private Sector Development 27 Business Enabling Environment 9 Regulation and Competition Policy 9 Jobs 2 Job Creation 2 Public Private Partnerships 10 Enterprise Development 6 MSME Development 6 Finance 6 Financial Infrastructure and Access 6 MSME Finance 6 Public Sector Management 11 Public Administration 11 Transparency, Accountability and Good 11 Governance Urban and Rural Development 66 Urban Development 2 Urban Infrastructure and Service Delivery 2 Rural Development 64 Rural Infrastructure and service delivery 64 ADM STAFF Role At Approval At ICR Regional Vice President: Isabel M. Guerrero Hartwig Schafer Country Director: Nicholas J. Krafft Shubham Chaudhuri Senior Global Practice Director: Jose Luis Irigoyen Boutheina Guermazi Practice Manager: Philippe Dongier Jane Lesley Treadwell Task Team Leader(s): Tenzin Dolma Norbhu Rajendra Singh ICR Contributing Author: Masatake Yamamichi Page 4 of 46 The World Bank Afghanistan ICT Sector Development Project ( P121755 ) I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL Context Country Context 1. In the years preceding project appraisal, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA) had made good progress in many areas of development. These included primary education, basic health services, irrigation rehabilitation, telecommunications and rural development. There was strong albeit fluctuating economic growth. GDP growth (annual %) varied between 1.1 percent (2003/2004) and 21 percent (2008/2009) while per capita income had increased from $210 in 2004 to $460 in 2009.1 2. These achievements, however, were fragile and security remained a serious obstacle to the delivery of reconstruction assistance and implementation of reconstruction programs. Afghanistan’s poverty and social indicators were among the lowest in the world, and despite ongoing reconstruction efforts, Afghanistan remained one of the poorest countries. The GoIRA’s capacity remained weak, and the pace of implementing reconstruction programs fell short of popular expectations. Afghanistan is also one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, which has presented significant challenges for ensuring essential services are offered to the rural population. In 2010, Afghanistan was ranked 155