Transition Initiatives Home » About Transition Initiatives » Country Programs » Summary of Program Activities » Lessons Learned » Publications » Staff » Employment » Links » Frequently Asked Questions » Site Map »
	OTI / Afghanistan Home Program Description Country Reports Select a report... June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 Jan/Feb 2002 December 2001 Fact Sheets September 2005 July 2004 March 2004 July 2003 July 2003 Hot Topics April 2005 April 2005 July 2004 June 2004 April 2004 Press Releases Support to Rural Homes and Livelihoods Direct Support to the Government of Afghanistan Support to Media Support to Women Afghanistan Photo Gallery
	Advanced search... Search USAID Personnel... Search USAID Documents...

USAID/OTI Afghanistan Field Report

November 2003

Program Description

USAID/OTI’s program goal is to support the process of recovery, rehabilitation, and political development in post-conflict Afghanistan. Working with local and international partners, the program is building citizen confidence in the progress of political development, empowering citizens to address basic community needs, and building an alliance between legitimate government structures and citizens. In addition, USAID/OTI supports efforts to strengthen independent media. USAID/OTI’s budget for FY2002 was approximately $27 million. In FY2003 the budget was approximately $19 million, and in FY2004 the budget is estimated to be $20 million. USAID/OTI expects to phase out its program following elections in June 2004.

USAID/OTI’s overall program strategy is to help the Afghan government function outside Kabul by planning and implementing projects guided by community priorities, and by creating and/or strengthening linkages among the national, provincial, and district governments. USAID/OTI’s projects are strengthening economic recovery by improving essential commercial and public infrastructure, and reestablishing the relationships and routines that give communities cohesiveness. USAID/OTI is also contributing to sustainable stability and recovery by helping to establish links between the community and governmental authorities, and building connections between the provinces and Kabul. USAID/OTI Afghanistan’s main implementing partners are the International Organization for Migration – Afghanistan Transition Initiative (IOM-ATI) and Internews. Projects are funded in 31 provinces of the country.

Country Situation

In November the new U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad arrived in the capital to take up his assignment. His mandate is to work with the Afghan government and international partners to ensure security, as well as to accelerate the political and economic reconstruction of the country.

A United Nations Security Council mission visited Afghanistan during the month to signal the interna-tional community's continued support for Afghanistan's reconstruction process and for the interim gov-ernment established by the Bonn Agreement in response to the violence that was undermining the agree-ment reached between political factions in December 2001.

Security around the country continued to deteriorate during the month amidst increased violence targeting the international community. Among the incidents that occurred are the following: In the south-eastern province of Ghazni, a United Nations worker was shot dead in a bazaar by two unidentified gunman; in Kandahar, a car bomb exploded in front of a United Nations office; and in Kabul, a powerful rocket ex-ploded near one of the few upscale hotels. In recent months several Afghan humanitarian workers have been murdered. However, the killing of the expatriate U.N. staff person was the first such killing since March.

The draft constitution was released for distribution ahead of the Constitutional Loya Jirga (grand council) scheduled to be held in December to approve it. The draft constitution proposes to introduce a presidential system modeled after the U.S, where there is no post of prime minister. In this system the president will be monitored by a two-house parliament which will be chosen in a direct election.

The first phase of preparation for next month's Loya Jirga has been completed with the identification of participants from all 32 provinces. At the beginning of December these representatives will elect 500 delegates to attend the Loya Jirga. An estimated 82 women will take part in the national meeting. This national meeting, to be held in Kabul, has the task of reviewing and approving the draft constitution. Once the constitution has been accepted, elections are scheduled to be held. According to the December 2001 Bonn Agreement, signed under the mediation of the United Nations, these elections of a non-transitional government must occur before June 2004.

USAID/OTI Highlights

Afghanistan Transition Initiative (ATI) — Despite an increasingly unpredictable security situation, OTI’s Afghanistan Transition Initiative (ATI) continued implementing activities throughout the country during November. Development of new grants and monitoring of on-going grants, however, was seriously affected by a greatly reduced ability to travel outside of many provincial capitals where ATI offices and staff are located. With five grants worth $327,684 approved during November the total number of grants implemented by ATI since its 2002 startup is 361 valued at $21,389,649. Communities involved in implementing projects also provide in–kind contributions, including labor and materials, which are critical to the successful completion of projects. In mid–November the ATI program staff met in Kabul for two days to review program progress to date and to discuss strategies for directing resources to address the two most pressing political transitional events remaining in the Bonn Accord—the adoption of a new, democratic constitution and national elections. The team discussed the continued need for OTI to maintain a focus on transitional priorities even in the face of daunting rehabilitation and development needs.

Support to Afghan Women — All five grants signed during November support women’s increased capacity to participate in community affairs through employment, accelerated learning, and increased awareness of current events taking place nationally, as well as in their own communities. Increasingly, activities are focused on engaging women in informed dialogue about their rights. OTI previously supported production of the film Afghanistan Unveiled, a multi-donor effort to help highlight the challenges that Afghan women faced during many years of war and even today. Twelve female photojournalists from this project have been engaged to produce a documentary highlighting the role of women in politics. The documentary is following female delegates to the Constitutional Loya Jirga (grand council) from the time of their election as delegates to the council until the national elections scheduled for June 2004.

Media Development — OTI continues to provide a variety of support to develop the infrastructure and capacity to disseminate quality information about news events in general, as well as Afghanistan's reconstruction efforts. Support provided to the President Karzai’s Public Information Office has resulted in development and operation of a Government website, www.afghangov.com that presents up-to-date information on the status of policies and programs to rebuild Afghanistan. OTI has also been providing a variety of support to the constitutional development process, including public education and facilitation of community input into the national dialogue on the new constitution. One program has focused on creating a radio dialogue, "Afghanistan Constitution: People’s Perspectives" subsequently collected on CD, and circulated to national policy makers. The programming comprised discussion of enthusiasm and hopes for the new Afghan Constitution. Follow-up programming aired on radio and was collected on cassettes ("Afghanistan Constitution: Music and Views of the Afghan People") to ensure wide distribution. The programming focused on issues, notably disarmament, reconstruction, formation of a national army, warlordism and employment opportunities, which impinge one way or another on the development and acceptance of a successful constitution in Afghanistan. The final phase of programming, begun in November, is giving an opportunity to the Constitutional Commission to explain how the various perspectives and opinions of the Afghan people are embodied and addressed in the new Constitution.

Grants Approved in November 2003

USAID/OTI Program Impacts

Increasing the Capacity of Afghan State and Independent Media — Arman FM, Afghanistan's first private radio station and the first to hold a private license to operate is nearing successful completion of its first year of operation. Despite challenging cultural norms and gender barriers with its mix of male and female DJs and its infotainment approach to programming, Arman FM has continued to grow in popularity. A recent radio survey conducted by Internews reported that the sta-tion has captured 65% of the listener audience in Kabul. The establishment of the station has also paved the way for other private media initiatives around the country. The following is excerpted from a recent article by the founder of ARMAN FM.

The Voice of a New Kabul

In the wake of the ousting of the Taliban from Afghanistan, I returned with my brother and friend to investigate how we could contribute to the redevelopment of my homeland. My family had left Afghanistan for Australia when I was a child. Over two decades later, the in-flight announcement that we had passed the border into Afghanistan will stand as a milestone in my life.

One year on from that visit, ARMAN FM was launched, providing Kabul with its' first radio station dedicated to a progressive entertainment format. ARMAN FM deliberately provides a strong juxtaposition to the dogmatic programming available during the Taliban years.

ARMAN FM's audiences enjoy a mix of Afghan, Indian, Pakistani, Mid-eastern and Western music, hosted by young locals who bring a relaxed sense of fun and optimism to the station. Kabul's radio-centric population, estimated at 4 million plus, has enthusiastically embraced this format and in just a few short months, ARMAN FM has become the capital's most popular station. The station is also reaching Afghan diaspora, with many sub-scribing via the web site.

Commentators and leaders from the political, social, business and donor community arenas have been quick to recognise that ARMAN FM represents more than purely entertainment. Providing an independent voice to the lives of Kabulis at such a critical time in redevelopment, it is also synthesising the germination of the social lib-eralism the city was noted for in the 1970s.

ARMAN FM has challenged many of the assumptions made about Afghan society, and provided a redevelopment benchmark for the country. Men and women chat casually, the two official languages Dari and Pashto punctuate the same conversation and the music collection is a compendium of global youth trends. As a privately owned business, ARMAN FM's future is dependent on its ability to be relevant to its audience, and not on spouting rhetoric.

This market based model of business is critical to attracting entrepreneurs across a multitude of industries in Afghanistan. ARMAN FM is also testament to the partnership role of the donor community in rebuilding the foundations of Afghan commerce. For ARMAN FM, balancing commercial and social imperatives was a challenge that found a solution in a start-up partnership with USAID, on the recommendation of friend and Central Asian commentator, Ahmed Rashid.

ARMAN FM broadcasts at 98.1 on the FM band, reaching over four million people in Kabul and surrounding areas. It can be found on the web at http://www.arman.fm

The writer of this excerpt, Saad Mohseni, is director and founder of ARMAN FM

Increasing Public Information about the Political Process &mdash: During the past several months, OTI has supported a variety of initiatives aimed at engaging the public in dialogue and debate about the making of a new constitution. OTI contributed $350,000 to a multi-donor funded project to engage civil society in involving the public in development of a new Constitution. In consultation with the Secretariat of the Constitution Commission, ACSF-Swisspeace used NGO trainers to select and train community representatives, guided by a manual developed under the supervision of the Secretariat. Community representatives were provided support to mobilize their networks and resources to provide civic education to the wider population on the constitution process and about civil society. This widespread use of local people was seen as a means of setting up a civil society network which could be used for future national civic education schemes. It is estimated that 15% of the Afghan population were reached by this project.

ACSF-Swisspeace's evaluation of the project had this to say, "There can be no doubt that the constitution-making process was a landmark process for people. It was a first since even the illiterate were asked about the future of the nation and felt that they could have some ownership of a process which would create the bedrock of a future Afghanistan. People showed great enthusiasm to participate. In Bamyan, for instance, people's representatives turned up at a consultation session with constitution commissioners with a ten-metre long piece of cloth bearing people's views and signatures. Even women had signed the cloth or put their thumb prints on it to signify their approval of what had been written. Long distances, bad infrastructure, illiteracy, a sensitive political topic and a very short time frame are not usually the ingredients of successful project implementation. Overall, however, the civic education project made a significant and useful contribution to a number of the public education tasks foreseen by the Secretariat of the Constitution Commission and the basic strategy, emphasising the role of Afghan civil society resources and mobilization of community members reached to share their ideas, to provide civic education and to enrich the constitution, was successful."

Findings of a Mid-term Assessment of OTI-supported Activities in Afghanistan — An assessment was undertaken to gauge progress made in achieving program objectives, identify strengths and weaknesses in project activities, and suggest ways to improve results in the last year of program operations. The objective was to help OTI in Afghanistan clarify and, if necessary, adjust its programming in light of new challenges, such as the upcoming Constitutional Loya Jirga, national elections in 2004, and the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration process. The assessment focused on activities under OTI/Afghanistan's government support, media development, and public information program objectives. There was ample evidence that OTI-supported activities are producing significant results and, in some instances, important impacts among the program's objectives. Illustrations of these accomplishments are exemplified in the following:

• Establishment of a communication system that links Kabul to all 32 provinces and the provinces to each other for the first time in the country's history. The equipment—high-frequency Codan radios—can send voice messages, e-mail, and scanned documents, as well as operate as a telephone. Also provided were computers, scanners, and printers. During the first three weeks of operation, nearly 1,000 messages were processed by the Ministry of Communication and over the first five months some 6,000 documents were exchanged between Kabul and the provinces. Early instances of impact occurred in exchanges between Kabul and Faryab and Takhar provinces. In Faryab, a remote province in the northwest with recurring factional fighting, the Codans made it possible for President Karzai to receive information on an outbreak as soon as it happened, consult with his advisors, and quickly send instructions to help resolve the conflict. In Takhar, where it was next to impossible to inform the central government of urgent needs, the radios made it possible for authorities to request and receive emergency assistance during severe flooding. OTI contributed $290,000 for the equipment and personnel training.
• Rehabilitation of the Fatmasti Valley irrigation canal (Bamian province), by rebuilding the exist-ing 2,500 meter soil-made structure, which was eroded and leaking badly, with stone masonry. The project helped convince hundreds of families that had fled the area after years of war and drought to return and others who would have left if there was not enough water to irrigate the land to stay. It has benefited the 3,600 members of the local community by substantially in-creasing the amount of land under cultivation and providing temporary work for more than 350 local farm laborers. The project cost $33,405.
• Organization, cataloguing, and storage of land ownership and other property documents under the jurisdiction of the Kabul High Court. With disputes over land ownership having become a major issue as diaspora Afghans and internally displaced persons return home, the availability of and access to existing property records has become an increasingly important matter for the TISA. Prior to this project, decades old property deeds and other related documents were in complete disarray, subject to mildew and decay in the basement of buildings on the compound of the Kabul High Court. Only two people knew where to look for the records, but given the state of disarray at best they needed considerable time to do so or, at worst, they could not find them at all. The $57,000 grant involves two phases; the first to improve the conditions of the storage area for the property documents, and the second to computerize the records so that they will be more readily available and less subject to misuse. "Before and after" photographs dramatically illustrate the effects of the successfully completed first phase—the documents have been catalogued, neatly organized and stored in custom-made metal cabinets, and access for custodians has increased dramatically. (The second phase—computerization of the records is still in the planning stage.)
• Supporting the development of independent (non-state) provincial and community radio stations. Given the high rate of illiteracy among Afghans, radio is regarded as the medium with the great-est potential to reach large numbers of people throughout the country. To fulfill this potential, OTI is funding a $1.5 million, 12-month grant, which in just eight months has resulted in six new, independent stations coming on the air. Two of these stations, Radio Arman and Radio Killid, both in Kabul, have been strikingly successful virtually from the start. According to one survey, more than 80 percent of the Kabul listening audience had tuned in to these new stations within months of their launching. Radio Arman's format is targeted toward young listeners and consists primarily of music, interspersed with banter between a male and female DJ and short segments on topics of interest to young people. Radio Killid likewise plays music, but also has built up a large chunk of talk programming (four hours a day in its first two months of operations) on public is-sues and personal items of interest.

The assessment also identified areas for improvement including the need for more frequent and focused monitoring and evaluation to improve quality of performance and finished products, stronger engagement and greater representation of members of target communities in project identification and implementation, a more strategic approach to including women in all aspects of projects, and greater facilitation of link-ages between communities and both local and national government representatives and institutions.

NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES

During the month of December 2003, USAID/OTI will:

• Prepare to brief USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios about OTI-supported activities during a scheduled visit in December when the Administrator is expected to inaugurate the Kabul-Kandahar highway.
• Provide support to Afghan journalists from around the country to cover the Constitutional Loya Jirga, or grand council, being convened to approve a new constitution for the country. Support will include training for journalists, assistance with production of news coverage and distribution of reporting nationally. Support will also be provided to a team of female photojournalists, previously supported by USAID/OTI and the State Department to produce a documentary film about Afghan women, Afghanistan Unveiled. They will participate in the Loya Jirga as accredited journalists and will provide news coverage of the event, as well as be engaged in producing a documentary on women in politics. The documentary is scheduled to follow women delegates through the Loya Jirga process and the subsequent elections.
• Circulate a report prepared by OTI's advisor on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) about the status and prospects for implementation of the national DDR process.
• Develop a strategy for phase two of programming to address the needs of war-affected communities in Afghanistan's increasingly insecure south and east, where other donor-supported programming has not yet begun or is pulling out due to the deteriorating security situation.