Press Release

USAID Launches $3 Million Cash-for-Work Project

Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan  | Sunday, January 25, 2009

More than 10,000 cash-strapped Afghans in the northern province of Balkh will take spades in hand to help dig their way out of the mounting problem of food insecurity and improve the livelihoods of villagers under a USAID-supported cash-for-work project.

The $3 million emergency project is providing short-term, infrastructure-related jobs to 10,000 Afghans living in the 15 districts of Balkh province. In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), USAID is coordinating with the Ministry of Energy and Water to select priority areas that will lead to more effective water management. Three main types of projects are underway, including the cleaning of springs; the dredging and removal of silt that has amassed in and along the edges of irrigation canals; and reforestation, which helps further international efforts to assist Afghans to control soil erosion and improve water delivery throughout the countryside.

“Clearing the springs will benefit those people living downriver who have less access to water year-round. Those who are doing the actual work gain two-fold: they earn much needed cash to help their families make it through winter, and they take better control of the irrigation system on their own land,” said Abdul Qadeem Niazi, Senior Infrastructure Engineer for USAID’s Accelerating Sustainable Agriculture Program, which is implementing the cash-for-work project.

Locally established Community Development Councils (CDCs) identify and select cash-strapped individuals who are most appropriate for the work. The CDCs serve as an alternative to traditional, tribal decision-making structures, or jirgas, and are also working in tandem with Balkh’s five-year Provincial Development Plan.

With spades in hand, 1,233 locals of Shulgerah district have already dredged a total of 60,656 cubic meters of silt blocking 14 springs and connecting irrigation canals. The work began on December 15 and will last 26 days, resulting in a clean and flowing irrigation system not seen by villagers in more than 50 years. In Nahri Shari district, another 1,771 people are removing silt that accumulated on the canal banks of a 16 km stretch of the Syagerd Canal located about 30 km north of Mazar-e-Sharif. The maintenance of the canal is crucial in combating desertification in the area and will benefit 10 villages along its banks.  Both activities are providing jobs to 3,000 villagers for 26 days in January, providing them with an additional source of income to feed their families and heat their homes during the cold winter months.

“In my 78 years of life, I have never seen such a huge effort,” said Ogedly, an elderly farmer overseeing the works. “It will now be easier to clean and maintain the canals in the future. I think in the future there will be more government involvement, and the next generation will know what needs to be done and how to tackle such problems on their own.”