UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION

 

( Project No. CT/AFG/01/80/001/PIP )

 

DRAFT REPORT ON MISSION IN TRAINING

FOR

POSTAL ADMINISTRATION OF AFGHANISTAN

 

 

( 17th August to 31st August, 2003 )

 

 

 

 

 

 

COUNTERPARTS

 

            1.         Mr. Mohammad Farooq

                        Chief Instructor / Director

 

2.         Muhammad Arif Hanif

                        Chief of Postal Training Department

 

            3.         Mrs. Sediqa Ars

                        Postal Instructor

 

 

LIASION OFFICER

 

Mr. Naik Mohammad Yousufi,

Director of Postal Regulations

 

 

 

 

Report of Mission prepared by :

 

Wasim Zafar

UPU Consultant

 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

 

                        Before beginning to write anything on my mission I will like to thank Mr. Mohammad Yasin, President of Afghanistan Post, an old and trusted patron of the POST in Afghanistan who has kept the Post Alive and Moving through the decades of turmoil as a mission of his life. His keen interest in this consultancy, nomination of counter parts, setting up of mission office, provision of transport and secretarial services, his keen interest  towards Human Resource Development of Afghan Post Employees and daily monitoring and evaluation of the mission made this mission more useful and proactive. His keen desire to set up an exclusive training center for Afghanistan Post speaks of his priority for HRD   .

 

Mr. Mohammad Yasin,

President of Afghanistan Post, Kabul.

E-mail: afghan_post@yahoo.com

Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/afghan_post

Tel:  + 93-20-2101109      Mobile:  + 93-70-257371

Fax No:  + 93-20-2102674

 

 

 

 

MISSION OBJECTIVES

 

            To prepare a plan to enhance the human resource development of the Postal Service.

 

 

ACTIVITIES

 

  • Identify the infrastructure requirements of the training centre;

 

  • Identify the necessary training aids;

 

  • Review and update the training material;

 

  • Make recommendations on the reorganization of the effective training system for the postal staff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

I.          Introduction                                                                                        Page….4      

 

II.          Organization                                                                                      Page….4

 

III.         Range of Postal Services                                                                Page….4

 

IV.        Human Resource Needs                                                                  Page….5

 

V.        Current Situation of Training in Afghanistan Post                         Page….5

 

VI.        Training Activities Carried out during the  mission                       Page….6

 

            6.1       Counterparts                                                                         

6.2       Course on Computer Based Training                               

            6.3       Course on Customer Care                                                 

            6.4       Course on Train Post for Trainers                                       Page….7

 

VII.       Visit to Telecommunication Training Centre (TTC)                       Page….8

 

VIII.      Infrastructure Requirements                                                             Page….9

 

IX.        Training Aids Requirements                                                            Page….10

 

X.        Meeting with UNDP Representative                                               Page….10

 

XI.        Meeting with the Minister of Communications                               Page….10

 

11.1         Report for Minister

11.2         Action by Minister

11.3         Provision of land for Postal Training Centre

 

XII.       Review and Up-dating of Training Material                                    Page….11

 

XIII.      Work Plan for the Counterparts                                                       Page….13

 

XIV.     Recommendations                                                                           Page….15

 

Annex:            Specimen of Certificate                                                       Page….17

 

 

 

 

I.        INTRODUCTION

 

Afghanistan Post is a Government Department under the Ministry of Communications. It operates under the Postal Law and Postal Regulations of 1971.  Although it is a monopoly still the interim administration favors opening up of Postal Sector to private sector thus emphasizing need for TRAINING of Postal Staff to compete the current private operators in Afghanistan like DHL, TNT, FEDEX and BAKHTAR SPEED POST.

 

II.       ORGANIZATION

 

The Minister for Communications heads the Ministry of Communications. Two Deputy Ministers , the Deputy Minister for Technology and Deputy Minister of Administration assists him. The Deputy Minister of Administration is in charge of the POST and the Deputy Minister of Technology is in charge of the Telecommunication Sector.  The President, Postal Administration is the executive head of the POST. A Vice President and eight General Directors in charge of Audit & Inspection, Central Post Office, City Post Offices, Parcel Post, Philately & security, Sorting and Exchange, Internal Post and International Postal Affairs assist him.

 

The country is divided into 32 provinces. A General Director heads the Postal Services in each province. There are 372 Post Offices in all. Kabul with an estimated population of two million has one Central Post Office and 26 City Post Offices. There is one post office for every 74,000 inhabitants in Kabul. The remaining Thirty One provinces have 345 Post Offices. In the provinces there is one post office for every 52,000 inhabitants . In addition , there are four offices of exchange . There are 939 Employees, 445 of whom are regular employees and 194 contractual.

 

III.      RANGE OF POSTAL SERVICES

 

The Post Office provides basic traditional postal services like letter post, registered post, and parcel post. Ordinary letters are also posted at the counters since there are very few street letter boxes. Post Boxes are available at major post offices. There is just one delivery per working day.. The Post does not provide any express service or any financial service.  The Post office in Kabul has already installed and operated Tele kiosks which are providing Internet, E. Mail , Scanning and Printing facilities to Customers. The Postal Administration is planning to introduce the Money Order Service and Savings Bank / Giro Service. The Post Office is also working on to start Express Mail Service Globally and inland. Introduction of these new services highlights the need of importance of Training for Afghanistan Post Employees.

 

 

 

IV.     HUMAN RESOURCE NEEDS

 

Afghanistan Post has 445 regular employees and 494 Contract employees. Postmen and officials of miscellaneous categories are on annual contracts. Under Taliban Rule , a large number of Post Offices were closed and most of the trained staff have left their jobs resulting n reduction of employees to about 280. This number has now been restored to its original level but most of the people employees are untrained and have no training about postal affairs at all. About more than 600 employees, Managerial as well as Operative , require immediate training in all fields.

 

Afghanistan Post accords a high priority to Training in the Postal Sector. The Minister for Communications in his meeting emphasized on the need for a separate Training set up for Afghanistan Post. Currently Iran Post, India Post and Pakistan Post are assisting the Afghanistan Post to meet its training needs by training their employees at their respective training center’s .

 

 

 

V.      CURRENT SITUTION OF TRAINING IN AFGHANISTAN POST

 

Afghanistan Post does not have an exclusive training centre for POST.  A Telecommunication Training Center (TTC) was established in 1966 under funding form International Telecommunication Union ( ITU ). This training centre primarily fulfills the training needs of telecommunication sector exists and works under the control of Ministry of Communications. This TTC is directly under the control of Deputy Minister Technical of the Ministry. It also has two instructors for the Post but no Postal Training has  been done since 1991 except a introductory course on Post  in 2002 by the President of Post himself. The  Postal Instructors also work under the direct control of Ministry and deliver lectures to other classes at TTC. No books, training material, training aids, class room furniture etc exists which has been totally lost during the last decades. The training staff and faculty needs the  training for trainers.

 

There is no annual training calendar for the Afghanistan Post and courses are run on need basis.

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

VI.     TRAINING ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT DURING THE MISSION

 

            On arrival at Kabul on 17th August, 2003 a courtesy call was paid on the President of the Afghanistan Post Mr. Mohammad Yasin. Detailed discussions regarding Objectives of the Mission and preparation of schedule of activities were held.  The following persons were nominated as Counterparts for the mission period and a Mission Secretariat was established at the Post Headquarters.

 

6.1       Counterparts:

 

                        (i)         Muhammad Arif Hanif

                                    Chief of Postal Training Department

 

                        (ii)        Mr. Mohammad Farooq

                                    Chief Instructor

 

                        (iii)       Mrs. Sediqa Ars

                                    Postal Instructor

           

(iv)              Mr. Naik Mohammad Yousufi,   (LIASION OFFICER )

Director of Postal Regulations.

 

 

6.2    THREE (3)  DAYS COURSE ON COMPUTER BASED TRAINING ( 18 to 20 August, 2003 )

 

            A three days hands on course on Computer Based Training (CBT) was specially held from 18th to 20th August, 2003 from 0900 to 1200 Hours for Mr. Naik Mohammad Yousufi, Director of Poistal Regulations who has basic computer know how. He was told about the basic principles of CBT , tools used and uploading and downloading of UPU STP’s available of Web site of TRAINPOST at http://www.trainpost.net

 

 

6.3    THREE (3) DAYS COURSE ON CUSTOMER CARE ( 23 to 25 August, 2003 )

 

            A three days course on Customer care was held which was participated by 15 Postal Officers including the counterparts. The aim of this course was to improve the knowledge and skills on Customer Care necessary to support the Change Process that will result in Afghanistan Post becoming customer friendly business. The following Officers participated.

 

 

No

Name

Designation

1

Mr. Ghulam Mohmmad

Director General of Postal Management

2

Mr. Noor Mohammad

Director General of International Postal Affairs

3

Mr. Azizullah

Director General of Sorting and Exchange Office

4

Mr. Mohammad Ebrahim

Director General of  Parcel Post

5

Mr. Sarajuddin

Director General of Philately and Security

6

Mr. Mohammad Islam

Director General of City Post Offices

7

Mr. Mohammad Ghulam

Director General of Central Post office

8

Mr. Abdul Rashid

Dir. of Pashtoonistan Post Office

9

Mr. Mohammad Nasim

Vice President of Post

10

Mr. Mohammad Arif Hanifi

Chief of Postal Training Department

11

Mr. Ghulbat Zazai

Director of Karte Parwan Post Office

12

Mr. Abdul Hanaan

Director of Jadi Maiwand Post Office

13

Mr. Naik Mohammad  Yousufi

Dir. of Postal Regulations

14

Miss Mahera

Member of Secretariat

15

Mr. Habibullah

Member of Audit and inspection

 

 

6.4    FIVE (5) DAYS COURSE ON TRAIN POST FOR TRAINERS 26 to 31 August, 2003 )

 

            A five days crash course for the counterparts and liaison officer was held from 26th to 31st August, 2003 (Excluding 29th Friday being Holiday )  . The aim was to train the trainers on Train Post approach of Universal Postal Union with special emphasis on online and distance learning programs and to enhance the trainers skills in modern techniques of instruction, fast track course design and the organization of the training and training center itself. The following UPU Train Post Manuals were provided to the Trainers and their use was also explained to them.

 

·        UPU TRAIN POST Instructor’s Guide

·        UPU Postal Training Development Guide

 

The following attended the TRAIN POST Training.

 

No

Name

Designation

1

Mr. Mohammad Farooq

Chief Instructor and Director

2

Mr. Mohammad Arif Hanif

Chief of Postal Training Department.

3

Mrs. Sediqa Ars

Postal Instructor

4

Mr. Naik Mohammad Yousufi

Director of Postal Regulations

 

 

 

VII.    VISIT TO TELECOMMUNICATION TRAINING CENTRE KABUL

 

A visit to Telecommunication Training Centre was arranged by President of Afghanistan Post. Mr. Abdur Rahman Nesar is the President of the Telecommunication Training Centre.

 

The TTC consists of two blocks of three storied  building. One block is having class rooms and office where as the first and second floors of the second block on the rear are being used as Hostel for the trainees. The building has very basic facilities and amenities only.

 

 

Currently this center is being used for various projects of the Government under UNDP and other programs for skill development of various government organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). A Capacity Building Group (CBG) project undertaken by UNDP is imparting training to various Government Sector employees. 

 

A computer Lab set up also by UNDP is imparting hands on training to Telecom and Government Sector employees. However few Postal Employees were also receiving training of computer applications at this computer lab. The UNDP has a plan to re-vamp the TTC as Information and Communication Technology Centre where as it will fulfill the exclusive needs of the fast expanding telecommunication sector. This further justifies for a separate training center for the POST.

 

            There is a Postal Department in the TTC consisting of two rooms only where the Instructors and the Staff sit. A place has been earmarked for Library which contains no books on Postal Services or Postal Regulations. UNDP has provided some racks and books on Information Technology and Computer subjects which they are using for UNDP sponsored training only.

 

            Following is the list of Staff posted at TTC responsible for Postal Training.

 

            1.         Mr. Mohammad Farooq

                        Chief Instructor / Director

 

2.         Muhammad Arif Hanif

                        Chief of Postal Training Department

 

            3.         Mrs. Sediqa Ars

                        Postal Instructor

 

            The Instructor at serial no: 3 above namely Mrs. Sediqa Ars is also required to  teach functional English to the Telecom and Postal Staff but this has not been done for last many years due to non-conducting of Training for Postal Staff either due to their non-availability or war / unrest in the area. As no curriculum, list of courses, training material or other facilities / documentation existed at the TTC non there were any standing operating procedures or Regulations for the Postal Training center it was decided to start with framing of rules for the Proposed Postal Training Centre.

 

            A draft copy of proposed Training Regulations based on the in practice regulations of Postal Training Centres in Pakistan were provided for review, examination and amendments by the Postal Administration of Afghanistan.  The same will be implemented at the proposed Postal Training Centre of Kabul after approval by the Government.

 

 

VIII.   INFRASTRUCTURE  REQUIREMENTS

 

            Due to fast expansion in Telecommunication and Postal Sectors in Afghanistan during the last one year there is lot of pressure on the Telecommunication Training Centre in terms of Infrastructure requirements. After starting of various other courses by UNDP and other donor agencies in the same building for other Government Department there is an urgent need for expansion of Infrastructure like new building blocks with class rooms, hostel, library, computer labs, office space etc.

 

            As currently the Postal Department is just functioning in two rooms lot of physical new infrastructure is needed to meet the increasing training needs of the Afghanistan Post. As in future more services will be added to the existing ones in the postal sector therefore a separate building block exclusively for the Postal Training Centre will be required.

 

            Following are the immediate minimum infrastructure requirements of the proposed Postal Training Centre at Kabul.

 

  • Class Rooms:                                                                                    2                     
  • Main Hall                                                                                            1
  • Dummy Post Office:                                                                          1
  • Mail Sorting Room                                                                            1
  • Library                                                                                                1
  • Computer Lab                                                                                   1
  • Office Rooms for Director / Principal / Staff                                   3
  • Furniture for Class Rooms / Offices / Library               As per requirements      
  • Hostel Rooms to Accommodate 30 to 40 Trainees
  • Kitchen
  • Dinning Room 
  • Wash Rooms
  • Lounge / TV Room
  • Recreation and Reading Room
  • Micro Bus with a seating capacity of 40 for trainees

 

It was proposed that pending availability of a separate block for Postal Training Centre the ground floor of 2nd Block of Telecommunication Training Centre can be used for the purpose with minor structural alterations and partitioning.

 

 

IX.     TRAINING AIDS REQUIREMENT

 

            The Postal Training Centre has got on Training Aids at all. There is one Cabin Overhead Projector lying at the Postal Headquarters which is totally out of order. At the Training Centre only few small black boards are available for the instructional work. Following Training Aids are recommended to be provided to the Postal Training Centre to make it functional.

 

  • Overhead Transparency Projectors                                      2
  • Multi Media Projector                                                                       1
  • Lap Top Computer                                                                           1
  • Digital Camera                                                                                  1
  • Photocopiers                                                                                     2
  • Fax Machine                                                                                      1
  • Computers with Local Area Net Work for Lab                               20
  • Server                                                                                                 1
  • Laser Printer                                                                                      1
  • Scanner                                                                                              1
  • Postal Regulation Books / Documents                                           1 Set

 

 

X.      MEETING WITH UNDP REPRESENTATIVE

 

            A meeting with Mr. Kohstani, Program Officer of UNDP , Kabul was very useful in terms of this consultancy as he had been an Instructor at the Telecommunication Training Centre Kabul in the early years of his employment. Currently he is also involved in Internet Kiosks Project for Afghanistan Post. His understanding of the training needs of Afghanistan Post was very useful. He was briefed about the purpose and implementation of the mission.

 

            A second meeting with Mr. Kohstani of UNDP was held in the chamber of Mr. Mohammad Yasin, President Afghanistan Post. Mr. Kohstani assured his full support for the development of Postal Services and setting up of Postal Training Centre in Kabul.

 

 

XI.     MEETING WITH THE MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS

 

            A meeting with Mr. Mohammad Masoom Stanakzai, Minister of Communications  was held along with Mr. Mohammad Yasin President of Afghanistan Post. The Minister was briefed on the Aims and Objectives of the Mission. He was also briefed on the activities so far carried out under the Project. A single page info sheet was presented to the Minister as placed below:-

 

 

11.1                         ( REPORT FOR MINISTER )

 

MISSION OBJECTIVES

 

  • Identify the Infrastructure requirements of the Postal Training Centre.
  • Identify the necessary training aids.
  • Review and update the training material.
  • Make recommendations on the organization of the effective training system for postal staff.

 

DRAFT MISSION POINTS & RECOMMENDATIONS

 

          Afghanistan Post does not have an exclusive training centre for POST.  A Communication Training Centre which primarily fulfills the needs of telecommunication sector exists and works under the control of Ministry of Communications. It also has two instructors for the Post but no Postal Training has  been done since 1991 except a introductory course on Post  in 2002 by the President of Post. No books, training material, training aids, class room furniture etc exists which has been totally lost during the last decade.

 

            An exclusive training centre for Post under the Direct control of the POST should be established for which an empty 3story block building exists in the same compound. Following are the immediate Infrastructure and Training Aids requirements for the Proposed Postal Training Centre in Kabul to make it functional.

 

INFRASTRUCTURE

 

  • Class Rooms:                                                                            2                     
  • Main Hall and Dummy Post Office:                                              1 Each
  • Mail Sorting Room                                                                     1
  • Library                                                                                      1
  • Computer Lab                                                                            1
  • Office Rooms for Director / Principal / Staff                                   3
  • Furniture for Class Rooms / Offices / Etc                                     As per Demand
  • Hostel Rooms to Accommodate 30 to 40 Trainees
  • Kitchen / Dinning Room / Wash Rooms / Lounge / TV Room
  • Recreation and Reading Room

 

TRAINING AIDS

 

  • Overhead Transparency Projectors                                              2
  • Multi Media Projector                                                                 1
  • Lap Top Computer                                                                      1
  • Photocopier                                                                               1
  • Fax Machine                                                                             1
  • Computers with Local Area Net Work for Lab                                15
  • Server with Laser Printer                                                             1 Each
  • Scanner HP                                                                               1
  • Postal Regulation Books                                                            1 Set*

 

End of Report.

 

 

 

11.2    The Minister was explained about the immediate need and importance of the Postal Training Centre in Kabul under the direct control of the President of the Post. The Minister showed keen interest in the report and immediately issued orders for provision of ground floor of Block No: 2 of Telecommunication Training Centre for use as Postal Training Centre Kabul and shifting of Postal Section to the new block.

 

11.3    The Minister also assured that the Government is read to earmark a piece of land near the Telecommunication Training Centre