Building on its long experience of bringing drinking water to communities, Afghanaid made Water, Sanitation and Hygiene a key element of its strategy in 2010. Afghanaid also significantly stepped up its women's empowerment work in this period.

Responding to Severe Droughts

Afghanistan suffers from regular droughts, which limits agricultural production in rain-fed areas and forces farmers to sell off their animals. In 2010, following two years of severe droughts, Afghanaid campaigned for donor support to meet the humanitarian needs of the population in Badakhshan, Samangan and Ghor.  From 2010 to 2012, with support from the FAO, we distributed seeds and fertiliser to farmers to get them back on their feet.  We also worked with other NGOs to provide cash for work in the affected areas and vouchers for cash for very vulnerable families, using mobile phones to transfer money to beneficiaries securely for the first time in Afghanistan. 

Building Capacity of Afghan NGOs

In 2012, we partnered with Afghan national NGOs operating in insecure areas across Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Ghazni provinces in southern Afghanistan. We built their capacity to deliver emergency assistance and supported 4,000 families with emergency food, water and hygiene assistance.

  

 

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

In 2010, Afghanaid made Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) a key element of its strategy. The following year, we launched a programme targeting 54 highly vulnerable communities across Samangan, Badakhshan and Ghor, providing clean water sources, latrines, hygiene kits and hygiene education to over 57,000 people. In 2015, we launched a new WASH programme in Samangan, a province in the barren north of Afghanistan which suffers disproportionately from a lack of clean water. This programme reached over 66,000 men, women and children, reducing illness and death caused by poor sanitation. As a result of this project, the under-five mortality rate across the target villages dropped from approximately 110/ 1000 to 70/1000. 

 

Women's Empowerment

The theme of women’s empowerment runs through all Afghanaid’s programmes. By 2011, as part of its work for the NSP, Afghanaid had trained over 2500 women as leaders in local government structures, supported 4000 women to become members of savings groups, and trained 5000 in small business development. We also worked with over 10,000 women in the agricultural sector. In 2013, we launched a ground-breaking Women's Economic Empowerment programme to advance the economic and social status of 14,000 vulnerable women in Badakhshan. Run by an almost all-female team, the project provided women with livelihood, entrepreneurship and literacy training, as well as the materials required to establish their small businesses. The project reduced the social isolation of these women and increased their self-confidence. They were able to increase their contribution the the family income and, as a result, they were afforded greater respect and influence within their families and communities.

Afghanistan Resilience Consortium

In 2014, Afghanaid led the formation of the Afghanistan Resilience Consortium (ARC) - a partnership between Afghanaid, ActionAid, Concern Worldwide, Save the Children, and UN Environment Programme - to provide a coordinated response to the country's vulnerabilities to climate change and natural disasters. The ARC works at every level - from government departments down to village committees - to strengthen the resilience of communities and reduce their exposure to the risks of natural disasters.

 

The Citizen’s Charter Afghanistan Programme

The flagship National Priority Program of the Afghan government, the Citizens’ Charter Afghanistan Programme (CCAP) is designed to strengthen inclusive development and accountability at all levels. Bringing people together to collectively address their development needs, CCAP will improve the delivery of core infrastructure and social services through participatory development planning and service monitoring. Building on over a decade of experience as a facilitating partner to the CCAP’s predecessor, the National Solidarity Programme, in 2017 Afghanaid began delivery of the first phase of this ten-year programme in the provinces of Herat, Ghor, and Logar  in partnership with Oxfam, Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, and Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.