Capacity Building Assistance for Afghanistan Payments Systems (APS)

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BACKGROUND

Financial Access for Investing in the Development of Afghanistan (FAIDA) has been providing assistance to Afghan Payment Systems (APS) since April 1, 2013, in order to help the organization establish a shared Interoperable Payment Infrastructure, also supported by the World Bank, which facilitates non-cash payments. FAIDA’s support will also enable APS to establish a sustainable retail payment infrastructure and eliminate the need for Afghan financial institutions and non-bank payment partners to undertake heavy investment in building, operating, and maintaining their own electronic funds transfer (EFT) payment switches and processing infrastructure.
While APS has thus far been a strong FAIDA partner, an informal World Bank assessment conducted in April 2015 identified the need to improve APS’ capacity to manage their operations. Key areas of where support is required include: 1) the development of a business model and pricing structure that supports APS’ sustainability; 2) the development of the internal processes and staff capacity required to enable APS to manage its operations in accordance with international standards; and 3) building staff expertise required to effectively manage/operate/expand the integrated system with APS and the National Switch in accordance with international standards.

In order to ensure that FAIDA’s grant assistance is maximized, FAIDA worked with the World Bank to create a scope of work (SOW) for capacity building assistance that will help APS develop its broader processes, business strategy, and overall business model, as well as staff expertise in all key areas the World Bank identified for improvement in the aforementioned assessment. The assistance aims to support APS’ overall sustainability and organizational health, and thereby enable the successful rollout and management of the international electronic payment processing gateway.

The proposal reference RFP # FAIDA-2015-003-Capacity Building Assistance for APS for the provision of Capacity Building Services for Afghanistan Payment Services (APS) is in response to the scope of work issued by Chemonics Afghanistan Limited Management and Implementation Services & FAIDA.

Pacific Consulting and Trading (PCT) in collaboration with Monet Pvt. Ltd. (Monet), has been delivered the capacity building services to APS. PCT facilitated APS to enhance its technical capabilities and empowered APS to make informed choices in achieving their goals.

Scope of work, Deliverable and Deliverable Schedule

The delivered activities and Scope of work (SOW) for this assignment are outlined below.

The deliverable of the project was clearly identified in the SOW, which were as follows:

A. Develop Manuals & Interoperability Plan

• Technical & Operational Manuals
• Contracting and Agreement Manuals & Templates

 

B. Systems Review Report

C. Training & Mentorship

D. Business Model Development

E. Business Development

F. Interoperability Technical Framework

The overall set of deliverables required a team of consultants with cross functional experience across Technology, Business & Operations pertaining to the National Payments Systems.  PCT has put in place the required team of consultants who have earlier helped in setting up National Payment Systems across different countries and have also wealth of experience working with MNOs, Banks & Regulators in financial industry.