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USAID/OTI Afghanistan Field Report

July 2004

Program Description

USAID/OTI's program goal is to increase citizen awareness of and confidence in the process of recovery, rehabilitation and democratic political development in post-conflict Afghanistan. Towards accomplishing this goal, OTI’s objectives are to:

• Increase the Afghan government’s capacity to respond to citizens’ needs;
• Increase citizen awareness of and/or participation in democratic processes;
• Increase the capacity of the Afghan Media

Working with central and provincial governments, national and international NGOs, informal community groups, and media outlets, OTI identifies and supports initiatives that facilitate implementation of the Bonn Agreement, which was designed to move the country further along the continuum from war to peace. OTI’s rapid support for activities in Afghanistan’s transition period also helps to establish credibility and space for longer-term development assistance. Projects are funded in 31 provinces of the country. To date, 573 grants and sub-grants have been cleared for implementation. These grants advance OTI objectives by:

• Reestablishing relationships and routines that give communities cohesiveness;
• Strengthening economic recovery by improving essential commercial and public infrastructure;
• Contributing to sustainable stability and recovery by helping the Afghan government to function outside Kabul and respond to community priorities;
• Improving communications infrastructure;
• Strengthening independent media; and
• Creating and/or strengthening linkages among the national, provincial, and district governments

USAID/OTI’s program in Afghanistan is from October 2001 – June 2005. To date, OTI has funds from various sources, including Transition Initiative Funds (TI), International Disaster Assistance Funds (IDA), Development Assistance Funds (DA), and State Department Economic Support Funds (ESF).

OTI’s current implementing partners are the International Organization for Migration—Afghanistan Transition Initiative (IOM-ATI) and Internews. IOM-ATI offices are located in Kabul, Bamyan, Gardez, Herat, Kandahar, Kunduz, Maimana and Mazar. Previous USAID/OTI partners included the Voice of America (VOA), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and Ronco.

Country Situation

Politics:

The government announced that presidential elections will be held on October 9, 2004, while parliamentary elections will be conducted in the spring of 2005. President Karzai formally registered his candidacy for the presidential elections. In a surprise move, he named Ahmad Zia Massod, brother of the late Ahmad Shah Masood, and Abdul Karim Khalili as his running mates, instead of Defense Minister Fahim. On the same day, Minister of Education Qanuni emerged as Karzai’s main rival, when he resigned from the cabinet and registered his candidacy for the elections. President Karzai shifted three of Afghanistan’s powerful militia leaders, includ-ing Atta Mohammed, to civilian and police posts in an attempt to keep the upcoming elections fair.

A survey commissioned by The Asia Foundation indicates that 64 percent of Afghans surveyed are still optimis-tic about the recovery and reconstruction process, but insecurity and the economy continue to temper their opti-mism. Two-thirds of the respondents approved of the U.S. Government’s role in Afghanistan, though these rat-ings diminished in the south and northwest provinces, where frequent Taleban attacks and warlord violence have been taking place. Of those surveyed, 81 percent plan to vote in the upcoming elections, and nearly 70 percent rated Interim President Karzai as “good” or “excellent.”

Security:

In the run-up to the elections, security incidents have increased around the country, ranging from the targeting of election workers to fighting between Coalition forces and the Taleban and Al Qaeda. During the first week of July, a bomb exploded on a busy street in Herat killing five and injuring 29. Two Afghans providing security for elections workers were killed in Ghazni. Taleban elements attacked a government office in Kandahar killing the police chief. A USPI employee providing security for USAID-funded road construction work was killed and two others seriously injured when their convoy was attacked near Qalat, Zabul Province in the southeast. Several other bomb and convoy attacks were foiled in Helmand and Nangarhar Provinces in the south and east. Also during the month 11 Afghans, including a district police chief, were killed in an attack on government offices in Helmand Province. The U.N. pulled out of Ghor Province after its election office was attacked and staff were evacuated. The security situation in Kabul also deteriorated during the first half of the month, punctuated by frequent rocket attacks. In Maimana, Faryab Province two explosive devices went off and caused injuries at an international NGO compound. Citing increasing insecurity, Medecins sans Frontieres announced the closure of its program after 24 years of assistance to Afghanistan.

Elections:

During the month, nearly four million voters registered, bringing the total registered to over nine million (41.5 percent of the total are women). The number of people continuing to register is noteworthy given increased security concerns, including targeting of election workers and newly registered voters.

Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR):

In a statement July 11, President Karzai said that the country’s private militias have become the greatest threat and alluded to the need for new action to disarm them. A week later he decreed punishment for individuals not complying with DDR. Herat, in western Afghanistan, has become the eighth and final region to enter the DDR program. According to UNAMA, nearly 12,000 soldiers and officers have turned in their weapons, with 9,430 of those enrolled in reintegration programs. A nationwide survey of heavy weapons has been completed in all regions except Herat, with 4,800 having been located. The deadline for completion of the first stage of the main phase of the DDR program was July 5.

USAID/OTI Highlights

A. Narrative Summary

1. Overview:

• Grant Activity: To date, has approved 573 grants and sub-grants worth $38 million through various implementing partners. Of the 451 grants that have been approved through IOM, 245 have been completed. The IOM-ATI program’s grant completion rate now stands at 60 percent.
2. Gender Mainstreaming and Promotion of Women's Participation in Political Processes:
• Extending the reach of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA): MOWA informed OTI that it had received land titles for 10 of the 14 Provincial Women’s Centers (PWC) to be constructed with USAID’s support. The PWC in Herat was completed with support from OTI and the Provincial Reconstruction Team and was officially handed over to the Herat Department of Women’s Affairs on July 8. Inauguration of the PWC in Parwan Province is expected to take place in September.

• Strategies to increase women’s participation and employment: IOM-ATI met with selected contractors and MOWA to discuss ways to include more women in construction activities. Some suggestions included engaging women in painting, watering concrete, controlling machines for transfer of materials, sand sifting, cooking, administration, guard duty, and gardening. Contractors suggested they would require assistance from the provincial Departments of Women’s Affairs to identify and mobilize female workers. Over the next two weeks, IOM will help convene a meeting with contractors, representatives of MOWA and other key ministries, and local community councils (shuras) and leaders to discuss the best approach to increasing women’s involvement in construction projects, currently a major source of income around the country as reconstruction proceeds.
• Income-generating projects in Bamyan targeting war-affected women: Bee-keeping – to help women acquire bee keeping skills, USAID partner, IOM-ATI transported bees from Kabul to Bamyan. Honey production was once an income-generating industry in Bamyan, resulting in high yields of honey during the flowering season, but people lost their bees through conflict and drought. “When I learn how to keep my bees and produce honey,” a woman who attended the bee keeping training said, “I will be able to sell the honey to families in the village who cannot afford the high prices in the bazaar, and I can still make a profit.” Business Skills Training – in a classroom in Bamyan, 35 women were sitting and practicing writing in their exercise books. A female member of the Community Development Council, newly established with USAID support, said these women were returnees or widows and were all keen to learn new skills. She herself never went to school, but wanted to learn so she could teach her children to write.

3. Media Development and Civic Education
   • Establishment of an independent news agency: The news agency, set to be launched in September, is already functional although USAID grantee, IWPR, is still negotiating licensing arrangements with the Ministry of Information and Culture. The Kabul-based agency averaged 14 to 20 stories per day in its first week of operation. Clients, including President Karzai, reported satisfaction with the quality and quantity of the news they received.

   • Strengthening strategic communications in the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson (OPS): Support from USAID to OPS through The Rendon Group is scheduled to end this month. Technical assistance to OPS has resulted in: a) dramatically increased capacity of the Spokesperson to manage OPS operations and articulate strategy/needs, b) re-organized office structure focused more on functional needs, rather than individual capacities, c) staff re-assigned so that competencies and experience better match OPS functions, d) staff trained, and e) increased office productivity. USAID/OTI is exploring the possibility of continued support to OPS via technical assistance in media relations through the October elections, locating OPS staff in key regional centers to in-crease its capacity to send and receive information from outside Kabul, and providing a deputy for the Spokes-person to handle day-to-day office management and free him up to focus on his duties with the president.
   • Support for protection of journalists during the presidential elections: USAID/OTI has agreed with The Asia Foundation (TAF) to fund an information and security unit under Afghanistan’s newly formed Media Commission. The Commission has been mandated by the recently passed election law and is the precursor of a media regulatory body. OTI has also approved a grant to TAF for a rapid assessment of the issues pertinent to the pro-tection of journalists’ rights and responsibilities surrounding the upcoming elections. The assessment will begin in the next reporting period and will inform any future OTI activity in this area.
   • Development of radio and television:

     a) Equipment for the Radio Arman FM expansion, funded by USAID/ OTI, has arrived, construction is underway, and facilities in six cities are expected to become functional during August and September;

     b) With USAID/OTI support, Tolo TV has procured equipment necessary to produce and broadcast television programs it hopes to begin distributing by mid-September;

     c) The state AM station in Kan-dahar has received down-link equipment, the station in Jalalabad has requested the same, and the broadcast assessment team sponsored by Internews is developing a report summarizing its research in Khost, Kandahar, Bamyan, and Asadabad; and

     d) Salaam Vatandar, Internews’ Kabul-based national programming stream, is now being broadcast by 14 of Internews’ 15 FM stations, another independent station, and the Radio Television Af-ghanistan AM station in Kunar.

     While Internews did not establish Radio Sadai Sullh (Voice of Peace) in Jabul Saraj, Parwan Province, the sta-tion is already broadcasting Salaam Vatandar, with much of the programming provided on CD by Internews’ Tanin network. The station’s own productions will now be distributed via Tanin as well. The station reaches 600,000 people and Internews intends to continue assisting it with technical support, equipment maintenance, regular check ups, and signal analysis. Additionally, the station will be included in the negotiated joint contract for all Internews stations airing elections-related public service announcements. As in the case of Internews’ other stations, proceeds from airing of these announcements will be held in a trust fund for Radio Sadai Sullh.

B. Grant Activity Summary – USAID/OTI Afghanistan

USAID/OTI summary of cleared and completed activities since program start-up in October 2001:

C. Indicators of Success

Civic education in Kunduz Province: Through IOM-ATI, USAID/OTI recently sponsored a civic education workshop for mullahs and male elders (highly influential religious and community leaders) to learn about political processes, including the importance of registering for and supporting national elections. The workshop was developed to complement a prior activity to create an enabling environment for women’s participation in the political process. In response to positive feedback from participants and community members, USAID will support six other workshops, covering all seven districts of Kunduz Province. A total of 150 village elders and 150 mullahs are expected to complete the training.

Promoting democracy by building citizen confidence in government: In southern Afghanistan, through IOM-ATI, USAID/OTI supported provincial government efforts to help a village rehabilitate a karez (underground irrigation system). For more than 20 years, drought, conflict, and displacement had prevented the 400 families of Kaj Kala village near Ghazni from rehabilitating their karez. Eight months ago the community once again started to work on their karez, only to realize they needed additional technical and financial assistance. This time, the villagers took the initiative and contacted provincial government authorities in Ghazni who, in turn, got in touch with IOM-ATI. The resulting joint effort of the provincial government and the community ended up in a functioning karez, and a large volume of water for families and their vineyard and orchards. It also helped bring about a dramatic increase in the community’s confidence in their government’s ability to respond to their concerns. This encouraged them to register to vote in the impending national elections. “It was a token of appreciation and recognition on our part,” said one villager, who added, “we pray for our government to be successful in their aims and objectives because if it wasn’t for them, we would still be without water.”

Women’s Empowerment in Paktya Province: Last year, the female director of Afghan Women’s Educational Center met with the local council of the newly established Ahmad Abad district. Surrounded by 80 bearded and turbaned male leaders, she explained the need to offer literacy and skills training for women. Although initially reluctant, the men agreed to support the initiative and soon thereafter training in candle and bead-making began, followed by literacy courses. In addition, 250 men and 350 women have attended community-based conflict resolution workshops. Reflecting these USAID/OTI investments, by the beginning of July 38,447 women, or 36.5 percent of all voters, had registered to vote in the Province.

NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES

During the month of August 2004, USAID/OTI will:

• Plan for a September workshop with implementing partners to develop a workplan for the final year of implementation.
• Facilitate the in-country research portion of a media assessment focusing on the impact of USAID’s investments in the development of radio programming and capacity throughout Afghanistan.
• During August and September, six remaining field offices will receive assistance in planning ahead for close-out (two field offices have been closed-out). In coming months, resources will continue to be-come more concentrated on problem areas, opportunities to engage citizens and government in dialogue, and preparations for the presidential elections.

For further information, please contact:
In Washington: Elizabeth Callender, USAID/OTI/ANE Program Manager, Tel: 202-712-4078, ecallender@usaid.gov