Afghanistan : The National Solidarity Programme

The National Solidarity Programme enables Afghan communities to identify, plan, manage and monitor their own development projects. The programme is based on the Afghan traditions of “Ashar”, or community members working together on a voluntary basis to improve their community, and “Jirga”, councils comprised of respected members of the community.

In 2003, the Afghanistan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) launched the National Solidarity Programme (NSP), representing the largest community development programme in Afghan history.


BRAC’S role in the NSP

BRAC works with The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) as a Facilitating Partner (FP) for the National Solidarity Programme. The role of a Facilitating Partner is to assist the village with the entire NSP process, from beginning to end. In addition, BRAC helps villages link with other potential funding sources for community development projects that are not funded by a NSP block grant.


Programme description

Much of Afghanistan’s rural infrastructure was destroyed during decades of conflict. In 2003, BRAC established the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) to support and empower communities in rebuilding rural areas. In 2009, NSP participated in three discrete but interrelated programmes:

National Solidarity Programme:

• BRAC plays an essential role as a Facilitating Partner for the NSP. BRAC contributes to the process in four ways:
• Facilitates and supervises the democratic election of Community Development Councils
• Helps identify and prioritise potential infrastructure and human capacity building projects
• Assists with project design, NSP applications, and project reports
• Oversees accounting to ensure transparency and accuracy

WatSan (Water and Sanitation) Project:

The objective of WatSan is to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to improve public health. The Water and Sanitation Department is one of six departments of the Ministry or Rural Rehabilitation and Development. With funding from the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund, MRRD awarded BRAC a USD 275,000 contract to execute a pilot phase for the WatSan programme in eight districts.

BRAC began with a mobilisation survey in two provinces to determine the districts in greatest need of improved water and sanitation. The results of that survey were verified by provincial officials and four districts were selected in each province. BRAC’s WatSan district staff includes an engineer and one community facilitator per district who conducts surveys and mobilises and trains community members.

There are four potential outputs of WatSan:
 

• Hand pump wells; the ubiquitous silver hand pumps found throughout Afghanistan as a source of public water. Three hundred hand pump wells were installed.
• Gravity pipe scheme; used where spring water is available on a hillside above a village. Water is stored in an elevated reservoir and piped down the hill by gravity to individual homes. Only one district out of eight in the pilot programme was suited for the gravity pipe scheme.
• Demonstration latrines; public buildings used to demonstrate the health advantages of a functioning sanitary latrine. 987 demonstration latrines were built.
• Private latrines; the WatSan programme pays half the cost of building a latrine in a private home.

Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Project (CBDRR):

The purpose of the CBDRR is to minimise the risk of disasters in rural communities before and after a disaster. The programme began as a 24-month pilot project in Samangan Province in January 2007.

BRAC has been active there as a NSP Facilitating Partner and is well known and respected. Samangan Province sits on the northern edge of the Hindu Kush mountain range and is home to many rural villages built on the banks of flood prone streams. The province is also subject to earthquakes, drought and isolating snow storms.

In Phase I of the project, BRAC began by mobilising 40 Community Level Disaster Management Units (20 female and 20 male) in vulnerable villages. The first step was to earn the trust of the communities and convince them of the benefits of disaster preparedness. BRAC provided training on disaster planning and organised teams to prepare plans to manage emergency situations at the local level, independent of outside assistance.

In Phase II, started in July 2009, BRAC began building the capacity of vulnerable community members to generate greater income to help cushion income loss due to natural disasters and improve ability to recover quickly afterwards. Food security is a high priority in these vulnerable villages so the CBDRR focuses on improved farming methods and growing higher value crops. Fruit tree seedlings were distributed for planting and villagers were shown how to get better yields by using improved vegetable seeds and growing methods.

BRAC also helps to link communities with additional funding. In one case, BRAC staff linked an International NGO with a Community Development Committee that was manufacturing gabion boxes; wire mesh cubes which are placed on stream banks and filled with stone. A semi-permanent wall can be constructed to prevent flooding or hold back landslides by stacking these boxes. With BRAC’s coordination, Oxfam Novib provides funding for villages in the CBDRR programme to purchase gabion boxes manufactured by 20 vulnerable women in a nearby village where BRAC is a NSP Facilitating Partner.