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USAID/OTI Afghanistan Field Report

March 2004

Program Description

USAID/OTI's program goal is to increase citizen awareness and confidence in the process of recovery, rehabilitation and democratic political development in post-conflict Afghanistan. Towards accomplishing this goal, OTI’s three 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 critical 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, over 500 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 through July 2005. To date, OTI has spent over $55 million from various funding sources: Transition Initiative Funds (TI), International Disaster Assistance Funds (IDA), Development Assistance Funds (DA), and State Department Economic Support Funds (ESF). OTI’s fiscal year 2002 budget was $27 million, the fiscal year 2003 budget was $19 million, and the current estimate for the fiscal year 2004 budget is $25 million.

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

Elections Postponed: President Karzai announced the postponement of national elections from June until September 2004 to allow more time to prepare for elections, including registering more than 10 million eligible voters. The President also announced that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held simultaneously. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission (UNAMA) in Afghanistan, over half of the 2.5 million eligible voters have registered in eight cities where registration has begun. An estimated 27 percent of those registered so far are women.

UNAMA Extends Mission: UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan recently announced a one-year extension of the UN’s mission in Afghanistan, citing Afghanistan’s need for continued support for conducting elections, strengthening government capacity, and achieving planned security sector reforms.

U.S. Government Responds to Resurgence of Taliban and al Qaeda Forces: The U.S. Government announced the onset of a spring offensive to tackle forces seeking to undermine Afghanistan’s reconstruction and reconciliation efforts. At the same time, Pakistani forces launched an offensive along Afghani-stan’s southern border in the tribal area of Waziristan, where Pashtun tribesmen are known for their sup-port for Taliban militia.

Donors’ Conference Held in Berlin: Two years after the first donors’ conference was held in Tokyo, Germany hosted a conference in Berlin that has resulted in a pledge of over $4 billion dollars in assistance for Afghanistan over the next two years. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged another $1 billion in assistance above what has already been committed for this year. The Government of Afghanistan is seeking $28 billion in assistance to rebuild the war-torn nation over the next four years.

Accelerated DDR Plan: At the donors’ conference in Berlin, President Karzai announced an accelerated plan for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) that aims to demobilize 40,000 soldiers by June 2004. The plan will cover the decommissioning of 16 militia divisions, 13 brigades, 17 regiments and 12 battalions, as well as the reduction in size of seven divisions, nine brigades and four regiments. DDR is seen essential for establishing a role for the new Afghan National Army and for extending central government authority to the provinces. It is also seen as essential to holding free and fair elections.

USAID/OTI Highlights

A. Narrative Summary

Overview: In March, OTI cleared a total of 19 grants worth $1,195,445 through IOM-ATI for activities in support of capacity building for the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan and its outreach to Afghan citizens. These grants will support a range of activities, including support to the Office of the President’s Spokesperson; support for war-affected communities in the south and east, and support in collaboration with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs for gender mainstreaming and promotion of women’s participation in political processes.

OTI completed a revision of its strategy, which included revising objectives, output and impact indicators, and up-dating the grants management database to reflect the refinements. The strategy revision, and ac-companying monitoring and evaluation plan, is meant to strengthen OTI’s capacity to measure progress against program objectives and to evaluate the impact of OTI-supported activities.

In March, OTI assisted the USAID Mission and other US government agencies to respond to opportuni-ties to counter corruption and to support national disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) efforts. OTI is facilitating the development of a response to the Government of Afghanistan’s recent commitment to address pervasive corruption by contracting technical assistance to help the government prioritize possible anti-corruption initiatives. For DDR, OTI provided technical guidance that ensured US Government funds were available to assist heavy weapons cantonment—an activity crucial to on-going DDR efforts. OTI is also assisting in the recruitment of a team of professionals to manage US Government DDR efforts over the next year.

USAID’s Mission Director in Afghanistan, James Bever, visited the AINA Media Centre in Kabul and was briefed on the activities that USAID/OTI has supported during the past year, as well as AINA’s plans for this next year of assistance, including development of radio, print and photo-journalism capabilities in Kabul and in seven regional centers. USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Asia and Near East Bureau, Mark Ward, visited several projects in Bamyan province while visiting Afghanistan. At the USAID/OTI-supported Bamyan radio station, inaugurated in August 2003, Mr. Ward encouraged the owner and station manager in his efforts to produce and broadcast independent radio programs responsive to the needs of the rural audience.

Media Development and Civic Education

New media law supports free and independent media: A new media law, developed with technical assistance from USAID/OTI’s implementing partner, Internews, was approved by President Karzai just before the beginning of the Berlin donors’ conference. The new law supports the continued development of a free and independent media and establishes a commission that is designed to protect journalists from harassment and unwarranted prosecution.

Strengthening strategic communications in the Office of the President’s Spokesperson: OTI funded the hiring of The Rendon Group (TRG) to provide public affairs and strategic communications support to the Afghanistan President’s Office of the Spokesperson. In March, TRG helped to improve procedures for planning and managing press conferences, assessed office functions and staff capabilities and began planning to train staff in strategic communications, including media relations. TRG also provided key support to prepare government officials for their participation in the Berlin donors’ conference. TRG assisted with preparation of a detailed communications plan for the spokesperson to guide interactions with the media at the Berlin donors’ conference, assisted with development of a communications plan to sup-port issuance of a Presidential decree on the accelerated DDR process, and assisted with preparation of information packets for government officials traveling to the conference.

Media monitoring: USAID/OTI hosted a meeting of its media implementing partners to discuss program monitoring activities and to coordinate on-going and planned media monitoring initiatives. There is in-creased capacity and demand for media monitoring, especially in relation to elections preparation, including political reporting.

Facilitating interaction between Afghan and international journalists: OTI facilitated the visit of a Newsweek correspondent to USAID/OTI funded media partners, AINA and Arman FM, to encourage interaction between international and local journalists and to highlight the tremendous growth of private, independent media since the fall of 2001. This is the first in a series of such visits to be scheduled that will increase interaction and communication between Afghan and international journalists.

Capacity Building for the TISA and its Outreach to Afghan Citizens

USAID/OTI supports a variety of initiatives to strengthen Afghanistan’s central and local government capacity and to help build confidence among rural communities in the government’s ability to respond to community needs and priorities. The following examples are illustrations of how USAID/OTI’s imple-menting partner, IOM-ATI, is successfully facilitating productive interaction between communities and government.

In northern Afghanistan, city officials in Kunduz gathered to celebrate the completion of a canal rehabili-tation at the city’s only girls’ school. OTI’s support compliments the government’s efforts, which is giv-ing more than 1,000 girls their first educational opportunity. “I would like to thank Kunduz authorities for the construction of the canal’s retaining walls which will protect the school and all our students. Women’s education is indeed the future of our country,” said the school’s principal. The celebration was broadcast on Kunduz television.

The head of a girls’ high school discusses girls’ education on Kunduz Television

The south and east of the country (where IOM-ATI’s Gardez and Kandahar offices are located) continue to be volatile and high-risk, which impacts IOM-ATI’s capacity to implement projects. IOM-ATI continues to support the development of national NGOs and private national consultants to be involved in monitoring, evaluation, and community outreach with training based on operating methodologies for work in insecure environments.

With OTI’s support, the Kabul-based national NGO, Afghans for Afghans, has paid three monitoring visits to different regions of Ghazni province, where they were enthusiastically received by villagers. These initial visits to remote villages of insecure regions have helped isolated communities to regain a sense of hope. IOM-ATI ensured that each mission was closely coordinated with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilita-tion and Development in Kabul and with ministry representatives in Ghazni province, helping people become aware of the government’s outreach capacity. IOM-ATI is currently developing multiple infrastruc-ture projects in the region for which the NGO will play the role of a catalyst in bringing communities to-gether with local government to address community identified priorities.

Gender Mainstreaming and Promotion of Women's Participation in Political Processes

Under the gender-specific funding received by USAID/OTI in 2003, and implemented by IOM-ATI, 39 projects worth a total $2,260,288 have been completed or are on-going. IOM-ATI staff attended the monthly coordination meeting chaired by Minister of Women’s Affairs Minister Sorabi, and attended by Relief International (RI), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), USAID, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), and other donor representatives from Germany (GTZ), Japan (JICA) and Belgium. RI and IOM provided updates on construction of provincial women’s centers, which will help extend the reach of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to women in rural areas of the country and strengthen their capacity to sponsor programs, including vocational training and basic literacy for girls and women. Title to the land is a prerequisite to beginning construction of the centers.

On March 14, the Department of Women’s Affairs, Save the Women and Children of Afghanistan, and the UNAMA Elections Component held a celebration of Women’s Day, urging women to register to vote. USAID/OTI’s support was crucial in allowing women from outlying districts to take part in the event. Some traveled over 24 hours in vehicles rented by OTI partner IOM-ATI to take part in the event. IOM-ATI also facilitated effective communication and coordination between the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Kabul and in Bamyan. Men also participated in the event. “This is the very first time that women from all over the province came to an event like this,” said Fatima Kazimiyan, Director of the Department of Women‘s Affairs in Bamyan. “This was very important to help spread the message about the women’s rights under the new Constitution.” In other parts of Afghanistan, International Women’s Day celebra-tions funded by OTI were celebrated with representatives from the Ministry of Women, the Ministry of Education and delegates of the Loya Jirga, by reviewing achievements and discussing future plans for increasing women’s participation in the country’s social and political development.

Subsequent celebrations were held in the provinces. OTI also supported events in Kapisa, Parwan, War-dak, Herat, Farah, Badghis and Bamyan provinces. Many of the events focused on encouraging women to participate in the voter-registration process and brought women from urban and rural areas together. Deputy Minister Sorabi attended a two-day seminar in Mazar in northern Afghanistan that included govern-ment representatives and NGO participants from six Northern provinces. The outcome, a resolution which will be presented at subsequent workshops in the eight Northern provinces and to the central government, focused on the practical implementation of maintaining equal rights and eliminating discrimination and disrespect against women in Afghanistan.

B. Grant Activity Summary – USAID/OTI Afghanistan

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

Focus Area	Total Grants	Estimated Total Budget
Civil Society Organization Support	12	$985,798
Community Impact Activities	302	$12,838,839
Conflict Management	5	$157,813
Election Processes	5	$3,222,839
Justice/Human Rights	10	$897,833
Media	62	$7,587,191
Transparency/Good Governance	113	$7,019,674
TOTAL	509	$32,709,988

USAID/OTI Activities Cleared in March 2004

Grant Title	Grantee	Beneficiaries	Province
International Women's Day Celebration, Bamyan Center	Bamyan Local Women's Organizing Committee	50 women and their husbands	Bamyan
Presidential Public Affairs & Strategic Communications Support- Part 1	TRG, The Rendon Group	The staff of the Office of the President's Strategic Communications Office	Kabul
Computer, Internet and English Training for 100 Women in Herat City	VWO, Voice of Women Organization	60 percent will be government employees, 20 percent will be from NGOs and 20 percent will be unemployed women	Herat
Reconstruction of a 15m Bridge in Kol/Nashin village, Gozarah, Herat	Community of Gozarah district, Herat	24,000 people. The volume of traffic is 100 vehicles per day.	Herat
Construction of Sluice Gates & Spillway for Ca-nal in Gozara, Herat	Communities of Gozarah district/MRRD Herat	About 250 families (1,500 people) will benefit from this grant	Herat
Meetings to enable DOWA to Identify Community Priorities in War-dak	CCA, Cooperation Center for Afghanistan	About 48 men and women representatives of the Development Council and Depart-ment of Women's Affairs in Wardak. Community of the district.	Wardak
Commemoration of International Women’s Day, March 14 in 7 Provinces	MoWA, Ministry of Women's Affairs (Provin-cial Departments)	2,800 women will participate in the events in seven provinces. DOWA representatives in seven provinces will benefit from increased visibility and interaction with women in their provinces	Badghis, Farah, Nangarhar and Wardak
Support to MOWA for International Women's Day, Kabul	MoWA, Ministry of Women's Affairs	800 participants and speakers	Kabul
Micro-enterprise for Women - Poultry Raising Courses, Kapisa Province	ADRA, Adventist Development of Relief Agency International	120 women in four different villages in Kohistan and Mahmud Raqi district and three trainers from Kapisa province.	Kapisa
English translation of Judicial Comm. TV inter-view on donor support	PUL Organization		Kabul
Creation of an Independent Afghan News Agency	IWPR, Institute for War and Peace Reporting	Approximately 80 employees of Afghanistan's Independent News Agency	Wardak
Internet Club at Balkh University	ARCO, The students and teachers at Balkh Univer-sity	80 female students and about 1,000 other students will benefit from the internet access	Balkh
Workshops to Commemorate International Women's Day in Nine Provinces	Rabia Balkhi Advocacy & Skill Building Agency, Essar Rehab. Foundation	900 men and women will participate in the provincial one-day workshops	Balkh, Jawzjan, Sari Pul, Faryab
Rehabilitation of Aram-Sekander Khel protection wall/channels, Paktya	Aram-Sekander Khel villages	200 families will benefit from this project	Paktya
Koz Pearoz Khel/Saparhay Khowarh culvert & retaining wall, Paktya	Koz Pearoz Khel and Saparhay Khowarh villages	200 families will benefit from this project	Paktya
Canal covers in Larli-sangi, Barlisangi, Petlaw, Koz Belawot, Paktya	Community of Laslisngi, Barlisangi, Petlaw, Koz Belawot	1,200 families will benefit from this project	Paktya
Four Film Clips Promot-ing Women and Development in Afghanistan	AINA	Camera women who will follow continued training during this three month period will benefit from the visibility of their contributions to Afghanistan's development	Kabul & National
Skill training: Engraving, Calligraphy and Carving for Women, Herat	AWDR, Afghan Women Defending Rights	100 women from Herat and approximately 360 men, women and children (relatives of the 100 women)	Herat

C. Indicators of Success

Internews completes establishment of 14 independent community radio stations: USAID/OTI-funded NGO, Internews, inaugurated three new radio stations during the month of March, which finished the first phase of the project to establish 14 independent stations in Afghanistan. The project is also pro-viding radio programming and managing other central support services to give the stations a reasonable chance of sustainability.

USAID/Afghanistan Deputy Director, Robert Wilson inaugurates a private radio station in Ghor Province.

Radio Sadai Adalat (Voice for Justice), which went on the air March 20, was inaugurated by USAID/Afghanistan’s Deputy Director, Robert Wilson, along with Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Public Information and Communications and the Deputy Governor of Ghor Province. USAID/OTI’s investment for the private radio station totals just over $14,000. Radio broadcasts, produced and dis-tributed by a local team of journalists, including a woman who also teaches at the local girls’ school, are reaching an estimated 15,000 people in the province. During the first two weeks on the air, reportedly 1,000 radios were sold each day in the local market, depleting local stocks. In his remarks, the Deputy Governor reported that the radio station is the first development project to be inaugurated in the province. Citizens have already requested Internews to install a larger letter box than the one installed just a week ago on a street corner to encourage listener feedback about the new station’s programming. The box has been filled to capacity every day by people eager to express their opinions on local and national affairs. The station is already receiving some advertising revenue and plans to expand its earnings with the arrival this week of the UNAMA elections registration team. The team has approached the station to broadcast elections-related messages. Radio Sadai Adalat is the last of 14 stations that Internews was originally contracted to establish this year. A new agreement is being negotiated that will support Internews to install FM transmitters with satellite links to expand the reach of selected stations in central and eastern Afghanistan.

Radio Sadai Adalat in Ghor Province began broadcasts reaching 15,000 listeners on March 20.

Arman FM celebrates one year on the air: Arman FM, Afghanistan’s first privately licensed radio sta-tion, celebrates one year of broadcasting in Kabul this month. Only a year after its inception, it is a self-sustaining commercial radio station supported by a range of advertisers including two Afghan mobile phone companies, IOM’s Return of Qualified Afghans Program, the Judicial Reform Commission, and the national disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program. The station combines a lively format of DJ-based music shows with news, sports, dedication and request shows. Arman FM recently launched Afghanistan’s top 40 music chart countdown, and a very popular talk program, “Young People and Their Problems.” The station has also begun sending its staff out on assignment to do field reports on issues and events in the greater Kabul metropolitan area.

NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES

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

• Continue implementation of the USAID media strategy;
• Work with implementing partners to increase awareness and mobilize project beneficiaries to reg-ister to vote and participate in elections;
• Increase programming in the south and east of the country to help build confidence among people in insecure areas that democratic governance can respond to their priorities;
• Travel to field sites to monitor programs;
• Confirm program exit strategy and hand-over of activities to USAID Mission for longer term development.

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