Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Afghanistan + 1 more

Within 15 years of existence of Afghan mission, People in Need helped more than half a million people

Thanks to its support there are now seven times as many school goers compared to the year 2001

People in need (PIN) started its systematic activity in Afghanistan in 2001, shortly after the fall of Taliban. The organization is now marking 15th anniversary of the first humanitarian aid it delivered to the country, which laid foundation to its longest development mission. The Afghan team helped more than half a million of the local people since the beginning of its mission. More than a thousand of colleagues managed to run about one hundred project for 1.8 billion Czech Crowns. During the early years, PIN focused on organized returns of internally displaced persons as well as refugees from neighbour countries. Also, schools or clinics were built and much needed job opportunities for the local people while the reconstruction of the country’s damaged infrastructure were provided. Gradually, five independent programs were formed focusing on the development of agriculture, improvement of the quality of agricultural high education, development of rural infrastructure and fair governing. The organization also helps fighting city poverty and provides humanitarian assistance to people struggling under natural disasters or conflicts of war.

The Afghan mission is demanding mainly due to the escalated security situation in the region. In such regard, PIN faced its most tragic moment when, in June 15, 2015, several unidentified gunmen murdered nine local colleagues in one of the local offices. Yet, PIN decided to continue its mission. “As the results of our work show, our help in the country has got positive impact on lives of the local people. It is also thanks to our aid that Afghans’ life expectancy is now approximately 18 years higher compared to 2001, and the number of school goers is seven times larger,” says Petr Drbohlav, PIN Regional Desk Officer for Asia, commenting on the effectiveness of international aid. However, Afghanistan still remains one of the world’s poorest country where help is still needed.

15 years of PIN in Afghanistan in numbers:

140 379 people in need provided with financial or material aid due to natural disasters and fights

10 716 repaired or newly built houses after natural disasters

118 repaired or newly built schools, 28 medical clinics and 115 cultural centres

3 679 dug wells and other resources of water; 62.8 km water distribution systems

5 661 new toilets and latrines

130 newly built power stations, 2 331 home photovoltaic batteries and 303 km of electric wiring

5 900 km of new highways and 75 775 km of country roads

26 198 farmers were trained and equipped with necessary tools

100 new greenhouses and 351 fruit orchards and tree nurseries

115 agriculture schools supported, 7 047 teachers trained with the impact(ing) (on) the total of 146 185 students

Humanitarian aid and prevention of natural disasters

Afghanistan suffers under armed conflicts as well as natural disasters. The local people struggling with poverty have to cope with severe droughts, damaging floods, frosts, avalanches and earthquakes. During the last year, PIN was helping hundreds of families from Baghlán province in the north of Afghanistan when a devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.5 hit the area. Fahíma’s family is one of those who was closely to death but managed to escape from its home in time. “My father dragged my four-year old brother, who was sleeping in his parents’ bed, and rushed all of us out into the courtyard,” Fahíma recalls. Suddenly, house frontage collapsed and fell down the hill. The family moved to the relatives, while, due to a cash grant from PIN, the father started building a new house further from the edge of the hill side. He used the bricks and beams from the devastated house. “My Dad was leaving the light on at night. That way we could easily run outside without getting hurt in case of another earthquake. But it is difficult to sleep with the light bulb hanging over your head,” Fahíma adds. PIN provides similarly affected families with a cash grant, which enables them to buy basic essentials, such as clothes, sheets and food or invest into repairs or into building a new house. At the same time, preventing such crises is important, which is done by educating the local people within the development programs and also by building flood barriers, retention basins and reinforced houses resistant to quakes.

Implementation of new agricultural technologies

Agriculture and cattle breeding represent the main source of living for Afghans, who are completely dependent on them. The profit rates are however rather low, the used technologies are outdated and the know-how of local farmers is limited. PIN therefore concentrates on an effective and sustainable utilization of natural resources, implementation of new agricultural methods and technologies, introduction of new crops as well as improvement of agricultural production. The organization also supports particular farmers or arranges sample fields in the region. “I found the idea of having my own sample garden very attractive. I informed the local Authority for Community Development so that they could decide if my garden was meeting its requirements,” explains Šér Ahmad, from the province Samangán. Thirty-year-old Ahmad spent the most of his adulthood in Pakistan as a refugee, who had to start from scratch after his family’s return to native Afghanistan. Ahmad’s family lives on hilly, parched land unsuitable for growing crops. This was the reason why he joined the project activity of PIN, through which the new methods of soil preservation and water distribution are taught to local farmers in order to improve the already existing planting and harvests. “It was really a turning point of my life. Now I can grow crops like pumpkins, tomatoes or okra,” saysAhmad, who is currently teaching other 30 farmers from his community, how to do better in such a job. So far, PIN has provided its assistance to more than 26.000 farmers.

Within the agriculture assistance program, PIN also concentrates on improvement of agriculture secondary education using new teaching methods, training local teachers and running school training farms. So far, 115 agriculture schools, more than 7.000 teachers and more than 140.000 students have joined this project activity. With the rising number of agriculture high schools, the institutions started to struggle with lack of capacity in the Department of Technical and Specialized Education. Therefore, PIN has focused also on assistance to the local Ministry of Education. The aim is to reach structural changes on both central and local levels as well as to support better operation of the agriculture high schools in the country.

Development of infrastructure in rural areas

Since 2005, along with other 30 partners, PIN has been active in National Solidarity Program, which aims long-termed sustainable development of Afghan rural communities. Within this project, the local communities choose their Authorities for community development, whose members, together with local elders, pick the most urgent project activities for infrastructure development. Those can be subsequently run thanks to the cooperation with the Afghan Ministry of Local Development. Local schools, water resources, roads, bridges, water and micro power stations or power lines have been built this way. During the past 15 years, PIN worked in 1.002 villages in 14 districts with nearly a million people. PIN workers trained the members of local councils, provided them counselling, controlled fairness of elections and guaranteed women’s participation.

Rural areas and poverty in cities

The people of Afghan rural areas, who often lose their livelihood due to local natural disaster, are extremely vulnerable. That is why a high number of the population searches for jobs in urban and suburban areas where the poverty is however rapidly growing. Food insecurity and high unemployment caused by illiteracy and lack of skills of the local people rank among the most prevalent problems. PIN therefore provides vocational or mechanical trainings in order to support different sources of the residents’ household incomes. It also organizes self-help and saving associations. Also, development of urban gardening and implementation of low-cost innovative technologies, such as greenhouses, solar cookers or bio-sand filters for drinking water, are supported. It enables even the poorest from the suburban areas to enrich their diet in fresh items as well as gain access to sanitary water.

“When the People in Need team explained kitchen gardening to me, I was so happy because for me it was an opportunity to get fresh vegetables for my family and, at the same time, fulfil my dream to have a green backyard“, Assadulláh, who lives together with his widowed mother, wife and their seven children in the suburbs of Mazár-e Šarífu, where they had fled from the neighbour province, explains. “Growing own vegetables safes some money and by selling the surplus produce I am able to makes a little profit”, he adds. Assadulláh is a worker. Job offers are however rather rare and it is not easy to earn enough for living of a large family. That was why he was invited to participate in a project activity focused on fighting poverty in urban areas through kitchen gardening. The participants attended a training and obtained basic gardening tools, seeds, vegetable seedlings and a simple plastic greenhouse. “Now I am familiar with the agricultural technologies and so able to do it alone. Some of my neighbours and friends started their plastic greenhouses too and now come to me for help”, says Assaduláh about his new hobby.

Working with local communities

The Afghan project activities of PIN are currently run from six regional offices located in Kabul, Mazár-e Šaríf, Ajbak, Herát, Džalalabád a Gardéz. This mission has employed more than 1.000 people throughout the years. At this moment, it involves 180 employees, of whom only five people are from abroad, and the Afghans represent the rest. “While planning our project activities, we work closely with the local communities. The long-term systematic assistance to the most vulnerable ones is important for the development of the whole country. Afghan mission is currently our most diverse one, with a complex portfolio of varied project activities. Within the 15 years there, we managed to establish ourselves and gain a respected status in the country”, says Jaroslav Petřík, the PIN coordinator for Afghanistan. The fifteen year mission commemorating event is to be held on Tuesday, November 15, 2006 at PIN’s Langhans Centre. A premiere projection of a short anniversary documentary, photography exhibition of the Afghan programs and debate with the people of PIN are to be held. Everyone who would like to learn more about Afghanistan will be welcome.

Michal Kaplan, the Director of the Czech Development Agency, evaluates the advantages of the Czech aid to Afghanistan, “I am very happy that the Czech Republic supports the development projects in Afghanistan. Thanks to improving of the local people’s lives we are able to make our own lives safer too. Our activity has to be long-termed and complex, though; not only must we run the programs, but also keep a political dialogue with Afghan government and support regional cooperation as well.” The help from People in Need to Afghanistan is possible only thanks to the generous support of a range of donors and institutions. Currently, the main supporters are the European Commission (EC), the Czech Development Agency (ČRA), Federal Foreign Office (AA), the German Development Ministry (BMZ), The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), UN World Food Programme (WFP), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Last but not least, the support of the Czech public, such as the of People in Need Club of Friends, the Real Gift charity project and the fundraising campaign the Real Aid, was extremely helpful. People in Need would like to thank all donors for their help and support.

For more information, please contact:

Jaroslav Petřík, PIN Coordinator for ‎Afghanistan and Mongolia, M: +420 778 485 029 jaroslav.petrik@clovekvtisni.cz

Petr Drbohlav, PIN Regional Desk Officer for Asia, M: +420 724 329 285 petr.drbohlav@clovekvtisni.cz