APPENDIX 7
Memorandum submitted by World Vision
World Vision has over 50 years of programming
experience which has enabled us to develop expertise in emergency
relief and disaster mitigation, working with the UK Government,
EU, major donors and private supporters in places such as Southern
Africa, Gujarat, Goma and Kosovo. World Vision's long-term work
focuses upon sustainable community development programmes, alleviating
poverty by empowering communities to overcome vulnerabilities
and manage external shocks.
In Afghanistan, World Vision has been working
predominantly in the western provinces of Herat and Badghis, on
humanitarian (emergency) needs such as food security, nutrition
and water. We are also concentrating on the transition to longer
term integrated development programmes involving food security,
income generation and rural livelihoods. Other projects in Herat
City and Kabul have focused upon primary education and building
infrastructure, for example, school buildings.
World Vision would like to present the following
comments on our experience of providing humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.
1. What are the ongoing humanitarian needs,
how adequately are they being addressed and for how long will
humanitarian assistance be required?
World Vision food security assessments in Badghis
province in March and August 2002 found that after 20 years of
civil war and three years of drought, coping mechanisms are all
but exhausted:
— Assets—Significant numbers
of people in villages surveyed have sold all their assets bar
house and land in order to buy food. In some villages up to 70
per cent of income over the past year was from sale of assets.
This included the livestock normally used for agricultural production.
Failure of successive harvests has led to exhaustion of seed stocks.
— Local economy—Lack of
cash in the local economy has led to the increased vulnerability
of the landless and of small landowners who are dependent on seasonal
casual labour to cover basic family needs such as food, clothing
and medicines.
— Debt—Sales of assets
and livestock have been supplemented by high interest loans, with
land often being offered as collateral. Debt issues are posing
a serious threat to the recovery of rural communities.
— Infrastructure—Years
of neglect have led to the deterioration of productive infrastructure
such as roads, health clinics, schools and irrigation channels.
Access to markets and the consequent reduction in local economic
activity has been limited by difficulties of travel on poor roads.
Within Badghis, World Vision carried out a needs
assessment of Jawand District[27],
surveying a sample of 680 households over seven villages, representing
the full cross-section of communities in the district. The findings
of the assessment are typical of remote rural communities in Afghanistan.
They highlight the extreme difficulties faced, despite historically
strong community coping mechanisms and resilience. As an example
of the poor infrastructure, World Vision's survey team had to
walk the last 135 km on foot to complete a satisfactory survey.
Humanitarian (emergency) needs still exist, due to the lack of
alternative means of generating income. This year, of the total
income generated in Jawand, nearly 30 per cent is from aid supplied
by NGO's.
Longer term, developmental needs were also identified
by the communities in Jawand:
— restocking of animals for agricultural
production;
— supply of seed—planting for
the next harvest will not begin until July 2003;
— safe drinking water—at present
communities are reliant on snow melt, which is unreliable and
can be non-potable.
Badghis was once known as the "breadbasket
of Afghanistan", but recently it has clearly articulated
its critical situation and its incapacity to support returnees.
There is still the potential to turn this area of priority need
into a thriving, self-sufficient region again. This will depend
upon there being sufficient donor support to promote quality development
processes, which by nature involve long-term engagement to achieve
ownership by, and empowerment of, communities. World Vision estimates
a minimum of two years humanitarian assistance and transitional
programming which will simultaneously lay the foundation for long-term
community development.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Through our work in Afghanistan World Vision
would recommend the following points in order to ensure the long-term
reconstruction needs of the country:
1. The level of immediate humanitarian need
should not be underestimated. Funds should be released to carefully
target emergency needs in a manner that develops medium-term development
programming.
2. The level of long-term development programming
will determine whether communities are enabled to restore self-sufficiency
and resilience, promoting stable societies capable of civil engagement.
Funding from DFID and ECHO has been among the most generous and
timely from the donor community. There is an urgent need for humanitarian
assistance to be maintained for at least the next two years, while
at the same time laying the foundations for long-term community
development.
3. Local investment should prioritise provision
of income generating opportunities outside of the agricultural
sector as well as concentrating on local infrastructure, roads,
health and education.
4. Donors should ensure that long-term rural
community development is prioritised when developing national
strategies. Rebuilding an equitable, stable Afghanistan will depend
as much upon acknowledging long-term rural community needs as
upon building good governance structures nationally.
World Vision
October 2002
27 World Vision Afghanistan report, available on request.
See also World Vision assessments of Qalai-Now District (Badghis)
and Obeh District (Heart). Back
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