Last week's events in Afghanistan produced a flurry of diaries in which people (1) bitched and moaned about the failures of the Bush Administration in Afghanistan and (2) alternatively strategized as to how recent tragic events in Afghanistan could be used to gain a partisan advantage for the Democrats in the 2006 and 2008 elections.
Having recently returned from Afghanistan, I had to tune out of those diaries after a while. To me, Afghanistan is not just a place on a map, far, far away. It's people like these little girls:
The best way to help Afghanistan's people and its development is not to increase our military presence or control of the country - it is to help the Afghans to help themselves. There are many grassroots Afghan-run projects that you can assist in their missions.
Introduction
Afghanistan and its people are emerging from the darkness cast by over two decades of war. Like many nations who have suffered the plight of civil wars, Afghanistan requires international support and financial assistance in order to maintain stability and establish a solid foundation for development (Monshipouri, 2003, p. 138). Distrust of international forces and foreign government initiatives in Afghanistan has been rising in recent months. The government of Afghanistan has little revenue aside from World Bank loans and handouts it is given by the United Nations and foreign government coalitions. There are many international humanitarian relief organizations in Afghanistan whose aid workers toil tirelessly to improve the lives of millions of Afghans; much has been written about these agencies. As frustrations have increased among the Afghan populace, international relief workers have been threatened, and their successes have been more limited in scope and frequency (Donini, Minear, and Walker, 2004, p. 191).
There are also many Afghan non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been formed to alleviate the nation's many problems by starting at the grassroots level. Little has been written about these Afghans helping Afghans and the successes that they have had in the past five years. Research has shown that community directed development programs generally have greater rates of success and lower security risks, due to increased trust and "buy-in" by the population to be served by the programs (Donini, Minear, and Walker, 2004, p. 195). This diary will discuss a few of these Afghan NGOs, their missions, and the future role that they can play in the development of Afghanistan and the prosperity of its people.
Cooperation for Peace and Unity (CPAU) in Afghanistan
In 1996, a group of Afghans formed Cooperation for Peace and Unity (CPAU), a non-governmental non-profit organization whose primary objectives were to facilitate peace and sustainable development by promoting social justice, protesting violence, encouraging governmental reforms, and providing access to health care and education for all Afghans (CPAU, 2006). CPAU currently has projects in Kabul, Badakhshan, Wardak and Ghazni provinces. These projects seek to reach a diverse mix of Afghans; CPAU notes that the projects currently serve "Hazara Shiite Muslims in Jaghuri, Ghazni province; Pashtun Sunis in Saidabad, Wardak province; a mix of Uzbaks and Tajiks in Faizabad, Badakhshan province; and a mix of Pashtuns and Tajiks in Farza, Kabul province" (CPAU, 2006).
CPAU works with the consultative councils (shuras and jirgas) in each community by providing training in conflict resolution, humanitarian assistance, and development. Additional CPAU resources are committed to the vocational training for former Afghan combatants and the reintegration of Afghan refugees back into their home communities. The key to CPAU's success has been its focus on the resolution of differences between Afghans at the local level, rather than waiting for reconciliation between larger groups at the regional or national level to occur (Monshipouri, 2003, p. 139).
CPAU's mission statement is as follows:
Through direct encouragement and participation in active peace building, CPAU hopes to contribute to the creation of a viable alternative to the war, as the first, but crucial, step towards building a lasting peace. CPAU is a network of Afghan individuals dedicated to building peace in Afghanistan, and working together to reach this goal. CPAU is based upon the recognition that only the Afghan people themselves can bring real and lasting peace to Afghanistan. However, because of the physical, human, and social devastation brought about by the war, the resources needed for the development and future construction of the country are beyond those presently available inside Afghanistan.
To contact CPAU about financial or in-kind donations or volunteering your services, send an e-mail to info@afghanact.org or see this website.
PARWAZ
PARWAZ is a microfinance agency that funds women's businesses. The name of the agency is derived from the Dari word that means "to fly." PARWAZ was established in Kabul in 2002. It was the first women-led microfinance institution in Afghanistan (PARWAZ, 2006).
This NGO is funded by private contributions and trusts. PARWAZ is a grassroots effort whose goal is to help women form businesses. PARWAZ forms "collectives" of 12 women, typically within a community or extended family, and has them each design a business plan based on their skills and talents. Often, the businesses contained within a collective are co-dependent, i.e. weavers, tailors, wholesalers, and retailers bond together to make and market clothing. Business managers, accountants, and industry experts volunteer to mentor PARWAZ clients as they begin these ventures.
PARWAZ has helped thousands of women begin businesses since 2001, and has had 100% repayment rate on their loans. The loan money is paid out incrementally, and PARWAZ supervisors maintain contact with business owners to provide advice to grow the businesses. The typical loan is for $250-300; this relatively modest sum is sufficient seed money to begin a collective's activities. The NGO explains why their success rate has been higher than that of many international organizations that have tried to provide assistance to Afghans, noting:
PARWAZ is managed by an Afghan staff, which enables it to understand the cultural values of the people and foresee potential problems and to take preventative measures when designing the methodology and selecting target groups for its program. This affords it social acceptability and access to superior local information. As a result, the methodology of delivery of micro-credit is designed with first hand knowledge of Afghan cultural boundaries and nuances combined with Microfinance best practices. Even if the central government is not completely successful in establishing influence throughout the country, PARWAZ, as an Afghan-run grass roots organization will be able to work with local power structures where other organizations may not have such access. In contrast, international NGO's that are dependant upon foreign personnel might consider removing employees if security problems arise. No such pressure exists for PARWAZ. PARWAZ can thus easily launch and maintain its microfinance program in various provinces from a position of credibility and ties with the local community elders (PARWAZ, 2006).
The program not only provides a source of income and investment for the women and their families, but it also empowers the women to become independent and self-sustaining; it also sets a great example for their children. In its statement of goals and objectives, PARWAZ has identified the following strengths to their program's approach to assisting Afghan women:
First, the income from the loan allows women to work independently at home while taking care of household chores and children. Second, clients have the freedom of not having to ask relatives for loans and not being indebted to money lenders who charge high amount of interest. Third and perhaps the most important, a client can provide for her children's educational needs-in particular because she can bring an income to the household the children can attend school instead of begging in the streets of the city for money (PARWAZ, 2006).
The program reduces the vulnerability of women and their families to poverty, while promoting the aims of social justice and self-sufficiency.
You can mail tax deducible donations to PARWAZ in the US at:
PARWAZ MicroFinance Institution
725 Washington St.
Oakland, CA 94607 USA
You can also explore opportunities to partner with PARWAZ clients and sell their goods here.
Aschiana
Aschiana is a NGO program that has been helping the "street children" of Kabul and their families since 1995. The word "Aschiana" means "nest." Aschiana currently operates six centers in Kabul, servicing close to 3000 children; it also operates an outreach program for nearly 1000 internally displaced children at camps in the Kabul area (Aschiana, 2006).
Throughout Afghanistan, but particularly in Kabul, many children are unable to attend school because they need to produce income to help support their families. Many children do so by begging, polishing shoes, collecting trash and recyclable materials, burning incense, or selling gum and small crafts. On average, these children will only earn about $20 US per month for their efforts on the streets, and have neither the time nor the resources to attend school in addition to their work.
The Director of Aschiana, Engineer Yousef, tells the story of how he first conceived the idea of this NGO:
10 years ago, I was walking home from work and a child of about 11 asked if I needed my shoes polished. I asked him why he was not at school. There was a long pause, the child looked up at me with much anger in his face and replied, 'How can I go to school when I have the responsibility of bringing money home to my family. We do not have enough to feed ourselves, how do you think I could pay for school books or clean clothes?'
It was after that meeting that I realized that there were many children in the same situation as that boy and so Aschiana evolved. A place where children, many children like that boy could seek refuge from the streets, be educated, play, and receive health care and psychosocial support (Aschiana, 2006).
Aschiana provides schooling and vocational training, as well as pens, paper, textbooks, soap, toothpaste, and clothing for the children at its centers, with every child receiving a basic meal at lunch. Life skills training is incorporated into the curriculum, encompassing such subjects as Physical Education, Health, Land Mine Awareness, Traffic Training, Peace Education, Personal Development, and Design and Technology. Vocational training areas include Painting, Sculpture, Tailoring, Bicycle Repair, Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy, Carpentry, Electrical Repair, Masonry, Welding, Information Technology, Cooking, Traditional Instrument Making and Plumbing. Proceeds from the student's artwork or services are split equally between the program and the student, so that the student may still provide financial support to their family while obtaining a formal education and learning valuable life and vocational skills; the monies earned by Aschiana students far exceeds that which they would have earned on the streets. You can view and buy artwork of the students at Aschiana here.
Aschiana also offers opportunities for sponsorship of children by individuals inside and outside of Afghanistan. For $20 per month, one can sponsor a child's education at Aschiana and receive reports on the child's progress and well-being.
Afghans 4 Tomorrow
The NGO Afghans 4 Tomorrow (A4T) was originally founded in 1999 in the US by Afghans and their descendants. It is a non-partisan, non-political organization dedicated to improving the lives of the people in Afghanistan through education, development, and investment in Afghanistan, as well as increased global awareness of the need for financial and personal contributions to the war-ravaged nation. In recent years, A4T has hired Afghan staff members to supervise projects, build schools and clinics, teach, and host tour groups from abroad in Afghanistan.
A4T is focusing its current projects on three primary areas: education, health, and agriculture. It has established several schools for girls in Kabul and Wardak provinces. Under the Taliban, girls were not permitted to attend school. As a result, only 14% of the women in Afghanistan are literate (UN, 2006). The A4T schools provide an accelerated program in which girls complete 2 years of school work in 1 year.
A4T has also built health clinics and wells; provided cash and material support for several Afghan orphanages; collected book and other equipment donations for universities in Afghanistan; and donated seeds, trees, and farming equipment to Afghan farmers. A4T owns a guesthouse in Kabul and has hosted international aid workers and tours of other individuals interested in Afghanistan, including several delegations from Global Exchange.
I visited several of the A4T schools when I was in Afghanistan in March and also stayed in their guesthouse in Kabul. They have many projects in which you can make donations of goods, services, or cash here in the U.S. They collect school supplies, medicine, clothing, and other items in the U.S. for the use of their clients in Afghanistan. You can donate directly to A4T schools here.
HALO Afghanistan
The international NGO, The HALO Trust, is a non-political, non-religious organization that began in Great Britain; it is dedicated to mine clearance operations in several dangerous parts of the world. In 1988, it began limited operations in Afghanistan. Since the fall of the Taliban, HALO Afghanistan has developed into its own NGO, "employing 2,600 Afghan staff managed by Afghans, with the assistance of five expatriate operations officers and an accountant" (HALO, 2006).
HALO's website notes:
Afghanistan was heavily mined by Soviet forces during their ten year occupation, with further mine-laying by the communist regime of Najibullah, during localised internecine fighting between Mujahideen groups and most recently between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance...Afghanistan is probably the most mined country in the world, with HALO estimates of up to 640,000 mines laid since 1979 (HALO, 2006).
To date, HALO Afghanistan has cleared over 1.3 million items of unexploded ordinance and mines. Over 1.5 million refugees have been able to return to their homes in the Shomali and Andraab valleys due to the efforts of HALO Afghanistan's survey, demining and ordnance disposal operations.
Just walking around in many areas, you can find bullet casings, pieces of mortars and grenades, and unexploded ordinance from nearly 30 years of war.
The work of the minefield clearers is painstaking. I saw a demonstration in a field near Bagram, in the Shomali plain, north of Kabul. It took almost 20 minutes to unearth what turned out to be a harmless piece of shrapnel. There was an active field being cleared adjacent to our demonstration, and while we were there, shepherds (aka the Cuchi people) and their goats and sheep were grazing; our guide told us that many Cuchi and their herds have been mine victims in recent years.
Donation information for the HALO Trust can be found here.
Women for Women International - Afghanistan Chapter
Women for Women International (WWI) is an NGO that seeks to empower and educate women, promote social justice, and increase opportunities for women in a number of countries. The Afghan chapter of WWI is run by Afghans and currently employs a staff of 110 (WWI, 2006). In 2005, 6,472 Afghan women received aid and services from the group; since 2002, a total of 9,262 Afghan women have received aid and services.
WWI in Afghanistan offers micro-credit loans to women throughout the nation, including several of the rural provinces. The organization has been instrumental in voter registration drives in the post-Taliban era, helping thousands of women to vote. WWI also provides literacy programs and midwife training courses to Afghan women. Vocational training in the areas of knitting, embroidery, dressmaking and stitching, creative home design, dairy production, gardening and fruit-growing, weaving, medicinal herb-growing, poultry farming, jewelry-making, shoe-making and carpentry provided by WWI enables women to become self-sufficient.
WWI operates several co-operatives, including stores at the Women's Garden in Kabul, and has partnered with individuals abroad to export and sell the crafts and products made by members of WWI. After receiving training, funding, and support from WWI, thousands of Afghan women have become self-sufficient as merchants, tailors, artisans, farmers, jewelers, beauticians, and nurses' aides. The Internet has made additional opportunities available for these women to sell their products abroad via WWI's online bazaar. You can also make a donation or explore partnership and sponsorship opportunities here.
Conclusion
After the fall of the Taliban, many development experts predicted that the most successful development strategies in Afghanistan would be those which focus on grassroots reconciliation, literacy, and small business projects (Helton, 2002, p. 9). Investing in programs that promote social justice and economic opportunity increases the security, stability, and prospects for long-term peace on a local, provincial, national, and regional scale (Monshipouri, 2003, p.151).
References:
Afghans 4 Tomorrow. (2006). Projects. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.afghans4tomorrow.com/....
ASCHIANA. (2006). About us. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.aschiana.com/....
ASCHIANA. (2006). Director's message. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.aschiana.com/....
Cooperation for Peace and Unity (CPAU). (2006). Mission and statement of values. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.afghanadvocacy.org/....
Donini, A., Minear, L., and Walker, P. (2004, June). The future of humanitarian action: Mapping the implications of Iraq and other recent crises. Disasters, 28(2): 190-204.
HALO Afghanistan. (2006). Afghanistan operations. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.halotrust.org/....
Helton, A. (2002, June 25). In Afghanistan, think small. The Christian Science Monitor.
Monshipouri, M. (2003, Spring). NGOs and peacebuilding in Afghanistan. International Peacekeeping, 10(1): 138-155.
PARWAZ. (2006). History of PARWAZ. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.parwaz.org/....
PARWAZ. (2006). Goals and objectives of PARWAZ. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.parwaz.org/....
United Nations News Center. (2006, May 23). UNICEF joins Afghan government in fighting adult illiteracy. UN News Center. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.un.org/...= .
Women to Women International - Afghanistan. (2006). Chapter history and accomplishments. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.womenforwomen.org/....
Women to Women International - Afghanistan. (2006). Bazaar. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.womenforwomen.org/...
If you'd actually like to go to Afghanistan on a group tour and see things for yourself, check out Global Exchange, who sponsors several organized group and special charter trips per year.