"Collaboration" with the Government

[Mark]

Two months from today, on 21 March, the new fiscal year will commence
for the various ministries in the Government of Afghanistan. They
will have new budgets and, maybe, new priorities. Will anything
change?

Of course, I am generalizing, but I remember during the Upper
Catchments Workshop, held in Kabul in August 2010, the Director from
the Water Management Department of Kunduz stood up and said he wanted
more invitations from NGOs to visit their projects. Basically, in my
opinion, he wants some per diem to go to the field. Why doesn't he
(or his staff) go to the field and do their job on their own? Or
maybe it is written into the budget that "We will not move unless
someone gives us money." (We once invited his department to
participate in a water management training about a kilometer up the
road from his office, and no one came.)

How can the NGOs who work in NRM in Afghanistan support/promote/
motivate employees of government departments to do their jobs? If
it's just a matter of money, you can be sure that their mobilization
will halt once the funding ends. How can genuine engagement on their
part be brought about?