The Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund (ARTF) is a multi-donor trust fund that coordinates international aid to improve the lives of millions of Afghans. The World Bank administers the ARTF on behalf of donor partners. To date, 34 donors have contributed to the fund and currently there are 31 active donors.
Between 2002 and 2021, ARTF delivered support through the government’s national priority programs and drove some of the fastest progress in the world in reducing infant mortality and increasing children's enrollment in school.
Since 2022, the ARTF has taken a programmatic approach to provide support for essential basic services and livelihoods for the Afghan people through UN agencies and selected NGO partners.
ARTF Structure
ARTF allocations are made from the ARTF Trustee Account through the following active windows:
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Investment Window (IW) has been in place since the ARTF was established in 2002. It is Recipient-executed and provides grant financing for basic services and livelihoods. Please see the “What We Do” page of this website to see active projects.
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Anti-Corruption and Results Monitoring Action Program (ACReMAP) finances initiatives to enhance anti-corruption, safeguards and results monitoring efforts in the ARTF portfolio. ACReMAP is Bank-executed and supports the World Bank's commitment, as ARTF administrator, to respond to elevated fiduciary and safeguards risks in the Afghanistan portfolio and maximize the fund's development impact.
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Advisory Services, Implementation Support, and Technical Assistance (ASIST) was established for advisory services, implementation support, and technical assistance. The ASIST window is Bank-executed, where World Bank technical specialists lead and execute ASIST-funded initiatives.
Governance and Working Groups
The ARTF has a three-tier governance framework that play critical roles in monitoring ARTF program. Governance entities set policy and strategy, oversee finances and allocations, and manage contributions and administrative functions of the ARTF. The Governance structure is detailed below:
The ARTF Steering Committee (SC) sets policy and the strategy for the ARTF. The SC consists of the World Bank and ARTF donor countries as members (ambassador-level representation). The SC makes decisions on a consensus basis informed by recommendations of the ARTF Strategy Group. Management Committee members serve as observers to the SC.
Management Committee (MC) oversees ARTF finances and reviews proposals to commit ARTF funds considering technical quality, alignment with the current financing strategy and coordinated engagement with other major funding streams in Afghanistan. The MC consists of the World Bank as the Chair and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as members. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) serves as an official observer to the MC. ARTF donors are also invited to observe MC meetings. The MC makes decisions on a consensus basis informed by recommendations of the ARTF Strategy Group
Strategy Group is currently the only active working group. The SC and MC are supported by the ARTF Strategy Group which contributes to the implementation of the ARTF program. The SG contributes to the development of ARTF strategy/approach, implementation of strategy and individual ARTF programs and advises Steering Committee on updates to the strategy/approach. Gender Working Group has been incorporated under Human Rights and Gender Strategic Thematic Working Group – STWGs serve as sectoral working group coordinated across the bilateral and multilateral partners under the new Afghanistan aid architecture (post-August 2021).
The World Bank serves as ARTF Administrator. In this capacity, the World Bank is responsible for ARTF finances. The World Bank also manages secretariat functions to monitor and report on ARTF program performance and convene governance meetings.
Working groups play critical roles in ARTF governance by advising the Steering Committee, monitoring the implementation of ARTF strategies and programs, and providing strategic and technical advice.
Note: To reflect a shift in focus of the Multi-Donor-Trust-Fund after August 2021, the Steering Committee of the Trust Fund endorsed a revision of the name from “Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund” to “Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund” on July 21, 2023.