We are delighted to announce that Afghanaid has signed agreements with The Liasion Office, an Afghan NGO, to partner in a major four-year project in Daykundi province. Funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the project will start this summer and together we will support 4,500 rural families to better manage the natural resources on which their food security and livelihoods depend.

The situation in Afghanistan

Rural families are highly dependent on forests, rangelands, and rivers for resources such as food, water, fuel, medicine, construction materials, and fodder for livestock. However, decades of conflict and weak governance in Afghanistan have resulted in the deterioration of natural resource management systems, contributing to the inequitable and unsustainable use of common land.

To make matters worse, a combination of population growth, rising land prices, climate change and recurring natural disasters are exacerbating the strain on the natural resource base. Local disputes over these scarce resources often inflame other ethnic, political, and regional conflicts.

 

Turning natural resources into sustainable sources

To tackle these problems, Afghanaid will work with communities to set up and train local rangeland management associations (RMAs) to improve and manage rangelands in an inclusive and sustainable way.

Access rights will be defined and agreed in a participatory way in order to ensure marginalised groups, such as women, are given equitable access to resources. Afghanaid will support the RMAs to establish and implement plans to halt and reverse rangeland degradation, and we will teach community members to make sustainable and efficient use of rangeland products to improve their productivity and food security.

We will be delivering this project in close collaboration with the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock in order to build the capacity of their staff to replicate this model across the country.

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