The project will work at the firm, market, regulatory, and macro levels in Afghanistan and Pakistan through the following activities:

Firm-Level: The project will assist select partners and IFC investees in Pakistan in improving the corporate governance (CG) practices of family owned enterprises (FOEs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which represent about 90 percent of enterprises in the country. In Afghanistan, the project will focus on the financial sector and will assess one Afghan bank to improve its CG practices.

Market-Level: The project will help strengthen the market infrastructure for CG by building the capacity of key financial institutions (FI) in Afghanistan and the target markets (i.e., FOE, SME, FI) in Pakistan; and supporting key intermediaries (e.g., press, consultants, mediators, lawyers) in providing CG expertise to the market as well as advancing board diversity in companies. Specifically, the project will help build the capacity of the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG) and the Pakistan Credit Rating Agency to assess the CG practices of select companies in Pakistan and assist them in improving their CG. In addition, the project will continue to support the PICG in delivering training to the board members of select companies in Pakistan.

Regulatory-Level: The project will build the capacity of key regulators in Afghanistan and Pakistan to ensure better enforcement of CG.

Macro-Level: The project will raise awareness across the market on the business case for CG among SMEs and FOEs through business chambers and other SMEs representative bodies in Pakistan in order to equip company directors and managers with tools needed to effect good CG practices.