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Afghanistan

First national conference on local development gathering more than 400 Afghan representatives in Kabul

Kabul, 22 August 2005 - Today, more than 400 local representatives from around Afghanistan meet in Kabul to exchange development ideas and experiences from around the country. They are all involved in development projects through the National Solidarity Programme, NSP, a flagship programme created by the Afghan Government with the support of the World Bank.
During the four day conference, the men and women elected to represent their districts will meet with President Hamid Karzai and members of cabinet to address and discuss development issues, and the future NSP programme. Six women and ten men from DACAAR's NSP areas are among the participants in the first national conference set up by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in cooperation with DACAAR and other facilitating partners.

DACAAR, working in close cooperation with Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, has been involved in NSP since early 2003, shortly after the programme was launched leading up to the elections by introducing local democratic elections. Since then, DACAAR has facilitated the establishment of almost 500 community development councils in the western Herat and Badghis provinces, and Laghman, Paktia, and Ghazni provinces in east Afghanistan.

The role of DACAAR and other facilitating partners in NSP is to ensure that representatives for community development councils, both men and women, are democratically elected, and later to provide technical advice and support when communities are selecting and implementing development projects in their area.

NSP introducing the concept of locally elected councils managing grants and development projects has proved to be a success. The programme has strengthened local economy and created new employment opportunities, and involved both men and women in decision making. During the NSP commitment that last for two years in each area tangible development results have been achieved as improved drinking water, bridges, flood protection, electricity and other needs decided for and often carried out locally.

'DACAAR is very proud to be a facilitating partner for the NSP programme, and we see it as a significant contribution to the overall development of Afghanistan. The fact that people of different ethnic groups, both men and women, are being consulted and managing development projects on their own is a major achievement', says Lyn Wan, NSP Manager in DACAAR.

Contacts:

Lyn Wan, NSP Manager
Kabul, Afghanistan
Tel.: (93) (0) 70 29 50 61
Email: lyn.wan@dacaar.org

Alexandra Strand Holm, Public Information Officer
Kabul, Afghanistan
Tel.: (93) (0) 79 337 753
Email: a.strand.holm@dacaar.org