USAID/CBSG

Coordination meeting between CBSG and CoAR.

On February 10, The Coordination of Afghan Relief (CoAR) and USAID Community Based Stabilization Grant (CBSG) teams held a coordination meeting to share updates on the status of CBSG’s activities in four northern provinces, and to discuss security problems, as well as threats being faced while implementing projects in different districts.  The meeting was a good opportunity for regional managers to share their activities, progress, challenges, and barriers to the implementation of the projects and seek out appropriate ways to tackle problems and work closely together with the local government to achieve project goals and objectives.  One of the main challenges addressed in the meeting was lack of security and insurgent activity in most districts in the northern region.  Most particularly in Sayad and Kohistanat districts of Sari Pul Province, which has slowed down program activities and created obstacles for the monitoring teams to visit the ongoing projects.  Due to the lack of security and limited government outreach to these districts, most of the grievances of communities have remained unaddressed, creating a gap between the government and local communities.  To bridge the gap, USAID’s CBSG project is implementing various stabilization projects in the north with the aim of addressing some of the basic grievances of the communities, allowing them to work together with their local governments and therefore bring them closer together.  These coordination meetings are necessary to assist the CBSG team in addressing how to tackle working in challenging areas where insurgent presence stands as an obstacle to achieving CBSG goals.

USAID/Afghanistan Program Highlights: 2/1/2011-2/15/2011