Monthly Update July 2008

Afghanistan Information Management Services
(AIMS)

Monthly Update July 2008

AIMS developed several Beacons of Economic Growth Maps

Bearing Point was in need of maps showing the location, types and number of Banks, District/Village Communications Network, BTS locations, Micro-finance Institutions, and Credit Unions all over Afghanistan . They provided data about the Public Sector's Driving Growth and Beacons of Economic Growth. GIS department developed four maps regarding the above data based on the existing population. Below are some samples of the maps developed by AIMS.

A screen shot of ANDMA dynamic website designed by AIMS

A screen shot of ENA web application designed by AIMS

New Online Application Developed for UNAMA:
The Emergency Needs Assessment (ENA)

AIMS' technical team took part in an emergency needs assessment and developed an online database application to track the effects of disasters in the North and Northeast regions of Afghanistan . UNAMA and the international development community were in urgent need for such an application, to facilitate USAID coordination efforts. AIMS has more than ten years of technology experience to include software engineering of this type. In addition to the development, AIMS has worked very closely with several government institutions and is highly sought for projects of this type. The ENA web application was developed in less than a week by experts from AIMS and was designed in this pilot project for immediate online use. In order to complete this project an AIMS technical team visited several villages and collected regional information through a questionnaire co-developed with the help of several UN agencies. The information was then entered into to the system and geospatially plotted. EAN was designed with the full capability for generating reports, graphs, charts, table data, and maps. This application will graphically identify the most vulnerable areas and population groups affected by the recent draught. The success of ENA will be duplicated through the planned implementation of the resource in all regions. The final component for success with ENA was quality training provided by AIMS to all UN agencies responsible for entering data to the system implemented at Mazar.

ANDMA Website Upgrading to Dynamic and Three Languages

In 2006 AIMS developed a statistics website for the Department of Disaster Preparedness (DDP) in an English version.The Government of Afghanistan has changed the name of DDP to the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authorities (ANDMA). The UNDP-CDRRP Project secured a new agreement with AIMS to upgrade the ANDMA website to a dynamic format.
The overall goal of project is to develop a dynamic website for ANDMA, which will support all three of the primary languages in Afghanistan , (Pashto, Dari and English). This change will better assist with promoting information regarding internal and external activities through the Internet.

Kabul Municipality (KM) Scans Maps and Official Documents

Part of the technical support AIMS has traditionally provided the government and various ministries includes introduction of new technologies and resources. Recently, a high-resolution scanner (A0 size) was provided to Kabul Municipality to scan older documents and vital records for security and permanent retention needs. Training for scanning standards and methods was provided to the Kabul Municipality staff in addition to a commitment for full technical support of the technology.

AIMS technician doing a test scanning at KM

AIMS Boosts National Capacity

Over the past several years AIMS has been an industry leader in developing national capacity within the fields of Information Technology and GIS. Listed below are few of the many projects AIMS has recently completed:

A training session of ArcGIS 9.2 was conducted for UNMACA, Halo Trust, and ANBP staff in July 2008. A total of 10 non-governmental trainees, 9 Males and 1 Female, were trained during this session.
The first session of AIMS certified Database Technician (ACDT) was successfully concluded on 20 July. A total of 32 staff members from various government ministries and departments attended this six week ACDT training program.
Other capacity building programs such as Basic Databases, Access, Designing simple forms, and Queries and Reports were launched in Jalalabad. The training is being conducted at the Civil Service Commission Office. A total of 27 staff members, 4 of which were Females, are attending these training programs

AIMS is a team of dedicated professionals providing world-class advisory services in software engineering (application development), geographical information systems (GIS), project management, institutional training, and information management.

Economic growth maps developed by AIMS for its client

Walid Rahimi
Programme Manager a.i.
UNDP-AIMS Project
Kabul, Afghanistan
Mobile: + (93) 700221043
Walid.rahimi@aims.org.af
walid.rahimi@unpd.org

Shahzad Aryobee
Project Development Manager
UNDP-AIMS Project
Kabul, Afghanistan
Mobile: + (93) 700 671598
shahzad.aryobee@aims.org.af http://www.aims.org.af/

Mohammad Sabir Khan
Project Management Associate
UNDP-AIMS Project
Kabul, Afghanistan
Mobile: + (93) 798 776 280
mohammad.sabir@aims.org.af
http://www.aims.org.af/