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:: News ::
Five Rural Businesses to be Launched in Bamian, Hirat
and Balkh
June 21, 2008
 The
National Area-Based Development Program (NABDP) of the
Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development has
taken the first steps in establishing rural enterprises
for potato storage, saffron, almond, carpet and melon in
Bamian, Balkh and Hirat provinces of Afghanistan. The
project will begin on June 20th 2008 and will run for a
year. In total, 480,000 USD will be spent on
establishing the businesses, which will create around
250 direct permanent jobs and more than 1000 indirect
permanent jobs.
As
well as the funding provided for implementation, each
business will be given 50% of the total money they have
invested on their businesses as a grant. The grant
secured from donors ranges from 50,000-60,000 USD for
each of the five enterprises. The majority of the
funding for this initiative is provided by Japan CRD
(Comprehensive Rural Development) while CIDA (Canadian
International Development Agency) is funding the saffron
enterprise in Hirat Province.>>>
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Three
Canal Cleaning Projects Benefit 19,000 Families in
Helmand
20/06/2008
 Through
the National Area-Based Development Program of the
Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, three
canal cleaning projects have been completed, in the last
two months, in Helmand Province, benefiting around
19,000 families. Two of the canals cleaned were in Nawar
District and the other was in Marja District, with a
total cost of US $ 114,520. Through these projects,
94,520 cubic meters of irrigation canal were cleaned,
creating 4,315 labor days for local people.
These
projects were implemented through a tripartite agreement
among MRRD, Community Development Councils and District
Development Assemblies. According to the contract, the
CDCs implemented the projects, the DDAs monitored them
and the Ministry secured the funding from international
donors. In addition to the community contribution of
$11,450 in the shape of labor, almost all the remaining
funding for implementing the projects was provided by a
British donor, the Department for International
Development (DFID).>>>
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The Pace
of Reconstruction Stepping Up in Urozgan
In the last five months, 12
infrastructure projects have been completed by MRRD’s
National Area-Based Development Program (NABDP) in
Urozgan. The 12 projects include the construction of two
roads, a water intake, a canal, five retaining walls, a
siphon and a school building in various districts of the
province. A 40-meter long bridge was also built in
Tirin Kot, capital of Urozgan.
These projects, 10 of which were financed by the
Netherlands and the remaining two by Belgium, benefited
28,580 residents of the rural districts of the province.
A total of $1,421,779
was spent on these projects.
Furthermore, earlier this
month, Muhammad Ehsan Zia, the Minister of Rural
Rehabilitation and Development signed nine development
projects with Community Development Councils in Urozgan.
These projects will be directly implemented by the
communities while being monitored by the newly
established District Development Assemblies (DDAs).
These projects are also
funded by the Netherlands and will benefit 2922 families
in Dehrawut, Choori and Tirin Kot districts of Urozgan
Province. While under construction, the projects will
generate 8764 labor days, and should be completed within
two months. In addition to the Dutch contribution worth
100,000 USD through MRRD, the communities involved will
also contribute to the implementation of these projects
in the shape of labor.
Through NABDP, paving a
four-kilometer long road will also soon begin in Dehawat
District of Urozgan Province, connecting nearby
districts and improve access for rural residents.
Since NABDP Phase II began
in 2006, a total of 21 infrastructure projects have been
completed in Urozgan.
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Four
District Development Plans Formulated and another Three
Underway in Kunar Province
 Since
late January 2008, MRRD’s National Area-Based
Development Program established four District
Development Assemblies (DDAs) in Watapur, Chapa Dara,
Asad Abad and Manogai districts of Kunar Province, while
the DDA members also formulated District Development
Plans (DDPs) for their respective districts. The
establishment of another three DDAs, along with the
formulation of DDPs for the districts of Ghazi Abad,
Asmar and Dangam, is currently underway and should be
completed by the end of February.
Each DDA has around 30
members, half of whom are female. As establishing
community institutions such as DDAs, and incorporating
women into these institutions, remains a difficult job
in Kunar province, the facilitating team meet the elders
of the district prior to DDA/DDP establishment and
formulation, persuading them to allow the process to
take place and to let women be mainstreamed into DDAs.
The DDA establishment process for each of the 15
districts of Kunar province, which began in late
January, will be completed by the end of April.
The DDA/DDP facilitators
help the members of a DDA to identify 10 priority
projects for their district in each of the eight
development sectors - Economy and Private Sector
Development, Social Protection, Agriculture and Rural
Development, Health and Nutrition, Education,
Infrastructure and Natural Resources, Governance, Rule
of Law and Human Rights, and Security. These projects
are then covered in a development plan for the district,
the DDP. The DDP will potentially serve as a reference
and a trusted document for the respective ministries and
donors to implement the projects identified and selected
by the community.
The people of Kunar have
felt the need for development plans in their province
and welcome this MRRD initiative. One of the DDA members
of Watapur District, Dr. Khairullah, is hopeful that the
process will bring prosperity to their district. “We’re
very hopeful that this planning process will have key
outcomes. This plan will attract the attention of donors
to build water wells, intakes, water reservoir and roads
for us, as a result of which insecurity and unemployment
will end in our district”, Dr. Khairullah explained.
People in Kunar province
think that they have been overlooked by the government
and complain about the lack of development projects in
their province, which they argue contributes to
insecurity. Haji Noorullah, a member of Manogai District
Development Assembly pointed out the lack of
rehabilitation work in his district. He said, “Other
than NSP, no one has worked for our district. Our people
ask for schools, clinics and other facilities which in
the long run will help in bringing better security.”
Elders of Kunar province do
not accept that insecurity is a major obstacle before
development work in their province, but on the contrary
encourage the government and other organizations to
bring rehabilitation projects to their province, even to
its farthest districts. Salem Khan, a resident of a
remote district in Kunar who heads the DDA of Manogai
district, guarantees the security of any organization
tending to work for their district, saying, “There is no
obstacle before implementing development projects in our
area. Anyone who wants to work in Manogai, we will
strongly support them and guarantee their security.”
Kunar is the 34th province
of Afghanistan in which DDAs have been established. To
date, DDPs for 282 out of 408 districts of the country
have been formulated, and the remaining 126 will have
been formulated by the end of 2008.
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Rural Afghanistan Lighted Soon
 Almost
all the villages of Afghanistan are deprived of basic
uses of energy as lighting, grinding wheat and corn,
running small businesses needing power etc. In order to
tackle this lack, MRRD's NABDP through its Energy for
Rural Development of Afghanistan (ERDA) initiative is
providing renewable energy for rural communities of
Afghanistan. The types of renewable energy provided
contain wind panels, solar panels, micro-hydropower
turbines, biogas panels and mixed solar-wind panels.
This component, ERDA, is in
its preliminary stage hopefully beginning its field work
and surveys in the near future. To date, the District
Development Plans (DDAs) of 24 provinces have been
reviewed in which 222 renewable energy projects have
been identified. These projects include 198
micro-hydropower panels, 6 solar panels, 6 wind panels,
1 biogas panel and 11 extension projects from available
main power.
This identification phase
will be followed by a feasibility survey of almost all
the proposed renewable energy projects. After the survey
is carried out, a number of priority projects which are
in line with the budget will be selected for
implementation.
As a starting point, this
year, NABDP's ERDA plans to launch 7 pilot projects
selected from Ghor, Daikundi, Herat, Nimroz, Faryab,
Balkh, Kapisa and Nangarhar provinces. The pilot
projects implemented will serve as a basis for following
up with the remaining renewable energy projects.
The successful
implementation of the renewable energy projects will
contribute to both a better livelihood and a boom in
business environment in rural Afghanistan.
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Dozens of projects completed in Kandahar
 Since
the past six months, in partnership with the
communities, 286 Water Supply & Sanitation and
Irrigation projects have been completed by MRRD's
National Area-Based Development Program in 12 districts
of Kandahar Province offering benefits to around 293,874
families.
Among
these projects, 225 are irrigation and 61 are Water
Supply and Sanitation Projects. The irrigation projects
include canal rehabilitation, canal excavation, Karez
rehabilitation, gabion filling, construction of water
reservoir, washes and intakes, etc. and the Water Supply
& Sanitation Projects include digging shallow and deep
water wells.
The total
cost of these projects was 3,494,306 USD of which
2,877,657 USD was provided by MRRD and the remaining
616,649 USD was community contribution in the shape of
labor. These projects were financed by CIDA (Canadian
International Development Agency), UNICEF and USAID. The
districts in which the projects have been completed are
Arghandab,
Daman, Dand, Khakraiz, Maroof,
Nish,
Panjwayee, Shorabak, Spin Boldak, Takhtal Pul and Zhari.
Every one
of these projects has been implemented through a
tripartite contract incorporating CDCs, DDAs and MRRD in
which CDCs were implementing the projects, DDAs were
monitoring the projects and NABDP/MRRD was providing
funds. During the implementation of these projects,
11,200 local laborers were given daily-wage work. In
total, these projects created 378,927 labor days.
Running
projects through the tripartite contracts enabled MRRD
to work in insecure districts where no NGO and/or
construction company can work which served as a useful
example in project implementation in such places,
therefore this approach, now famous for Kandahar Model,
will be made use of in other provinces, where security
hinders development activities.
In the
near future more than a hundred projects will be started
in Hilmand Province using the same Model. Up to now,
from 137 identified projects in Hilmand,
122
have been surveyed and will soon be contracted to CDCs.
Moreover, 27 gabion filling projects of which paper work
is underway will be started soon in Nangarhar imitating
the tripartite contract approach or the Kandahar Model.
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New
Highway Bridge Taking Shape on Arghandab River in
Kandahar
 Through
its National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDP),
the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development
(MRRD) is constructing a 180 meters long bridge on
Arghandab River in the village of Chargholab in Kandahar
province. It is one of NABDP’s biggest infrastructure
projects in the province, with the cost of $876,910
being funded by the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA).
The construction work on
the bridge began in February 2007 and will be completed
in August of this year, creating 3000 labour days of
employment for local people. This is a six-metre wide,
one-lane highway bridge which will not only connect the
western areas of Arghandab District with the city of
Kandahar, but also connect the eastern areas of
Arghandab with the District of Khakriz, benefiting 8,570
families.
Khan Aqa 40, a farmer from
Village Chargholab said, “We are looking forward to the
completion of the bridge, as it will enable us to take
our agricultural produce to the market in Kandahr and
beyond.”
The bridge is being built
in such a way that it will slow down the water flow in
Chargholab area, where floods often damage agriculture
land.
MRRD is working to
rebuild rural Afghanistan through its national
programmes such as the National Solidarity Programme
(NSP), National Area Based Development programme (NABDP),
Rural Water and Sanitation Programme (RUWATSAN),
National Rural Access Programme (NRAP), and
Micro-Finance Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA).
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