USAID/OTI Afghanistan Hot Topics July 2004
Raising Awareness on Human Rights and Elections in Northern Afghanistan
As Afghanistan stands on the threshold of the first democratic elections, USAID/OTI is implementing a democratization strategy to disseminate information on the country’s political development and elections process to a wide variety of audiences - from local religious leaders, to construction workers, to women.
“I cannot read or write - I did not know I could vote,” said one unskilled worker at one of the USAID/OTI construction project sites where human rights and the election process are discussed.
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| A total of 150 village elders and 150 mullahs will be trained in Kunduz as part of OTI’s democratization strategy. |
Indeed, the concept of political rights is so unfamiliar to ordinary citizens that it is a challenge to get them to participate in any kind of awareness raising workshops. Women find it difficult to attend workshops because their husbands or fathers know little about such issues.
In response, the OTI team has used its infrastructure projects to raise awareness of the democratic process among local workers and citizens. At project sites, staff inform local residents and workers about the elections and the vital importance of citizen participation in democratic processes. When they hear about the focus of these OTI-sponsored workshops, ordinary Afghans are much more likely to attend. Both men and women are mobilized to participate.
“We should all go and vote for a president who will continue to help us,” a community leader explained to the audience after one of the site meetings. Construction site meetings also have the effect of demonstrating “visible evidence” of the central government’s investments in reconstruction, as the sites are directly connected to the political and economic development in the country.
Reaching out to local leaders also helps spur democratic change. In Kunduz, USAID/OTI 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 an earlier activity to create an enabling environment for women’s participation in political processes.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington: Elizabeth Callender, USAID/OTI/ANE Program Manager, Tel: 202-712-4078, ecallender@usaid.gov
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