Kaizen is supporting the Department of Agriculture Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure USAID funds for Gomal Zam Dam Command Area Development Project are well and properly spent in accordance with Agency and Government of Pakistan regulations.
The Gomal Zam Dam Command Area Development Project is the last phase of the Gomal Zam Multipurpose Dam Project to build an irrigation system for water productivity, food self-sufficiency, and income from high-value crops. The project was designed to create jobs, new industries, and increased opportunity for better livelihoods—especially for women—in this fragile ecosystem. USAID partnered with the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, providing $22 million to fund construction and implementation. Subsequently, the Agency conducted a public financial management and risk assessment that identified potential transaction-level fiduciary risks that could negatively impact the project.
Highlights
- Enhanced staff capacity to procure and manage infrastructure-related services
- Ensured internal control policies exist and are followed by everyone
- Confirmed monthly financial statements are properly produced and reviewed
- Verified compliance with government budgeting and financial management processes
- Strengthened internal audit functions to identify and mitigate risks
Kaizen’s extensive efforts have resulted in substantial cost savings [PKR 18 million] to the project and streamlined the scope of work with consultants for design and supervision activities.
USAID engaged Kaizen to provide financial management and capacity-building support to Department of Agriculture Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (DOA-KP) to address these risks and gaps. Kaizen fielded senior consultants on a demand-driven basis to many divisions of the DOA-KP, with a focus on human resource management, procurement, operational procedure mainstreaming, staff training, financial management, monitoring and evaluation, and gender mainstreaming. The consultants also supplemented efforts of critical in-house staff, gave on-the-job training, oversaw procurements, reviewed financial transactions, helped revise standard operating procedures, and supported the related change management.
Kaizen’s approach sustainably strengthened DOA-KP’s institutional capabilities. The team addressed the challenges facing public institutions that lack capacity to account for and manage funds to meet donor requirements, which results in slowing, if not eliminating, critically needed funding. Kaizen also supported the government’s responsibility to manage its own development, however it is funded. Kaizen’s efforts bridged this gap by building new fiduciary capabilities for a permanently strengthened DOA-KP that can account for and manage revenue and expenses beyond the immediate objective of ensuring the Gomal Zam Dam project’s success and meeting USAID’s requirements.
At a glance
Client
Status
Active
Location
Pakistan
Services
Organizational development, climate change and energy, governance