Written question asked by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative) on Friday, 14 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 18 November 2008. It was answered by Douglas Alexander (Labour) on Tuesday, 25 November 2008 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Afghanistan: Overseas Aid

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) how the continuing effectiveness of development projects completed in (a) Afghanistan and (b) Iraq in each of the last five years is assessed;

Answer: The need to ensure our projects deliver lasting benefits is central to the design of all projects, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. Particular attention is given in project design to ensure that our partner organisations (in particular governments) have the resources (money and capacities) to continue to provide the benefits the project was designed to deliver. Project implementation progress is closely monitored through formal annual reviews—and once complete, a thorough Project Completion Report (PCR) is undertaken to assess future impact and lessons learned. Thereafter, ongoing operation of completed individual projects lies with the recipient partner. To the extent of our knowledge, all the completed projects in both Iraq and Afghanistan are still delivering the expected benefits.In addition, DFID's Evaluation Department manage a series of independent country evaluations which build on all PCRs and further reviews to provide further assessment of the impact of programmes. These evaluations are mandatory for all countries where DFID has major involvement and are timed to fit into the country planning cycle so that lessons learned are incorporated into future interventions. An evaluation of the Afghanistan country programme is currently ongoing.

Secondary information