World Bank Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) 2018-2020

The World Bank reports in the Annual Progress Report for 2023 that ARTF-financed basic services projects made significant progress across the country at scale during the second year of implementation of the basic services programs in 2023. No funding is channeled through the de facto-authorities after August 2021. It is stated in the report that ARTF projects delivered basic services to 70 percent of the Afghan population and the projects continued to meet the ECA (Entry Criteria for Access and Equity) tailored for each project so that services remained accessible to women and girls, in line with the principled approach (by women for women).

The Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, ARTF has since its inception in 2002 been an important tool for development partners to support the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. The ARTF is Afghanistans main multi-donor mechanism for on-budget financing of civilian and development expenditures. It provides a mechanism for predictable on-budget financing of GoIRA development priorities within a robust fiduciary and monitoring framework; a platform for policy dialogue on key reforms with the government; and a means to coordinate support from international partners in line with an agreed financing strategy. Every investment project has an outcome that normally corresponds to the goal of the relevant National Priority Program. These are the project development objectives for the projects that Sida follows more closely: - Citizens' Charter Afghanistan Project: to improve the delivery of core infrastructure and social services to participating communities through strengthened Community Development Councils (CDCs). These services are part of a minimum service standards package that the government is committed to delivering to the citizens of Afghanistan. - EQRA: to increase equitable access to general education in disadvantaged provinces, especially for girls, improve the quality of the teaching-learning process and strengthen the Ministry of Educations planning capacity and accountability for results. - Women's economic empowerment: increase social and economic empowerment of poor rural women in selected communities. - Energy: to provide access to electricity or other social and economic infrastructure services to communities in the project area in order to strengthen community support for CASA-1000 transmission line. - The incentive program under the recurrent cost window: strengthening the policy framework to support state effectiveness, private investment, and social inclusion; and improving the policy and institutional framework for public financial management.