Initiative to Strengthen Local Administrations (ISLA)

The purpose of the Initiative to Strengthen Local Administrations (ISLA) Program is to strengthen the sub-national government system in Afghanistan to enable the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) to improve provincial governance in the areas of fiscal and development planning, representation of citizens, and enhanced delivery of public services.

ISLA program will strengthen sub-national systems in the areas of planning, operations, communication, representation, and citizen engagement. Improvements in these areas, along with the passage of clear, legal sub-national governance (SNG) frameworks by GIRoA will improve GIRoA's ability to prioritize service delivery and develop central plans and budgets that represent provincial interests. This will lead to services that more closely respond to all citizens' needs in health, education, security, justice, and urban services. As all citizens benefit from public services, their perception of government legitimacy will increase. The core problems to be addressed are better integration of provincial priorities into the national plan and budget, and strengthened top-down and bottom-up information flows. The program will work within the existing system to improve its functionality. This will be done by fostering a combination of top-down and bottom-up consultative processes between central and provincial levels to formulate plans and budgets that align with local community service delivery priorities and with national developmental priorities and available resources.