The project title is Social reintegration for returnees and internally displaced Persons-Economic prospects for host communities in West Afghanistan. The proposed project will be implemented by a consortium of three Afghan NGOs (WASSA, WISE and RSDO). WASSA will be responsible for the direction and coordination of the project implementation and all three organizations will carry out activities in different project areas. terre des hommes Germany already has experience in project implementation with WASSA, which in turn has already worked with RSDO and WISE. The partner organizations have many years of experience working with international donors and implementing major funding projects.
They are characterized by high technical expertise and administrative skills. The target areas are familiar to organizations from previous projects and they have a high reputation among local civil societies and authorities. This project will complement other development initiatives and projects in the region. Through regular exchanges, organizations will ensure that synergies are generated and used duplications are avoided.
Preparation of the project
The project was planned at the initiative of the partner organizations WASSA, WISE and RSDO. All three organizations have already worked in the project regions and draw the needs for the pro-posed project from their experience from previous project work. After the approval of the project outline by the BMZ, the local partner organizations developed the project application under the guidance of tdh Germany. Local partners, provincial and district government employees, Shuras members, and CDCs in the project areas have been involved in a participatory process. In this way, it was ensured that the focus of the planning process was on gearing the needs of the community and stakeholders. Official consultations with the competent authorities followed workshops and focus group discussions in all provinces. The participation of local project staff allowed the integration of formal and informal knowledge. Focus group discussions and community surveys have in-volved the different groups in the development of program priorities, strategies and activities.
Demand assessment, market analysis and environmental assessment were carried out in the four provinces together with thematic local authorities for women’s affairs (DoWA), labor/social affairs (DoLSA), agriculture (DAIL) and business (DoE)3. The partner organizations held consultations with 60 regional producers of eight different types of products. It identified agricultural measures for which there is the greatest need. As recommended in the feasibility study, WASSA also held a meeting for the staffs of all three partner organizations to carry out the mapping of existing capacities, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, as well as a situation analysis, an analysis of stakeholders and partners, thereby enabling the development of common strategies.
In planning all the project activities, attention was paid to identify and avoid possible unintended and negative impacts of the activities in accordance with the ‘Do No Harm’ principle. This approach will be taken into account in all project activities through the involvement and strengthening of local structures and addressing the members of host communities, along with internally displaced per-sons and returnees of both sexes and different age groups.
In March 2020, an external consultant carried out a feasibility study confirming the necessity and relevance of the proposed measures4. The study recognizes an inclusive and participatory design for the project, which has been strengthened by numerous meetings with government authorities and stakeholders of the target communities. Results, suggestions and contributions from community surveys served as a basis for the proposed project activities. The study concluded that the active involvement and capacity building of the municipalities enhance the sustainable effectiveness of the project activities. The recommendations of the feasibility study (capacity mapping, needs analysis of local markets, risk mitigation plan) have been included in the project planning and are referred to in the relevant points.
The study also recommended that a baseline study is to be carried out in the form of a tracer study in order to understand the starting position of the beneficiaries, as well as changes to the mid-term and end-of-project activities. This has been taken into account in the planning of the monitoring system that will be used in the project. A baseline study will be carried out at the beginning of the project, in particular to collect data from beneficiaries of income-generating measures. At the mid-term and end of the project, the data will be collected and evaluated again.
This project included four components which are most supportive in economic, social, livelihood and development satiations. These components are:
1: Peace Building and Conflict Resolution:
At the beginning of 2020, project staffs will conduct a base line study on inter-communal peace under the guidance of the peacebuilding adviser or consultants. The next step is to identify particularly influential actors (men, women, youths) within the communities who are being trained as peace multipliers. For the duration of 4 years, 4 qualified peace educators (one per province) will be employed for the peacebuilding training sessions and the subsequent supervision of the trained multipliers. Recruitment will ensure that individuals have strong technical expertise and extensive work experience in peace work in the Afghan context in general, as well as with host communities, returnees and internally displaced persons in the western provinces in particular. They should demonstrate a strong sensitivity in dealing with disadvantaged minorities and should be characterized by personal qualities such as self-reflection, resilience and communication skills. As part of the project activities, they will also be able to expand their qualifications through regular exchanges with the peacebuilding consultant and the establishment of a collegiate group coaching system. Returnees, internally displaced persons and members of host communities will receive training on human and civil rights, non-violent communication, conflict resolution methods and peacebuilding. They are then encouraged, with the support of the peace educators, to pass on what they have learned within the communities in the form of awareness training. At the end of the activities, changes in the lives of the beneficiaries and social coexistence will be assessed as part of a final study.
2: Psychosocial counseling:
At the beginning of the project, project team members will conduct on-site family visits and speak with Shura chairpersons and CDCs to identify participants for psychosocial counseling services. In the course of the project, participants will also be selected in the context of group activities through observation by project collaborators (focus on certain identifying features such as exceptional mood swings, long-lasting extreme emotions such as sadness or mourning, isolation from the group, hostility, etc.). Of course, psychosocial counseling is voluntary and, if desired by the participants, will be treated confidentially.
Throughout the implementation period, the cooperation partners will work closely with the health departments of the four targeted provinces to strengthen links between them and the target group and facilitate the transfer of people to hospitals and physicians. Traumatized and severely mentally ill people are referred by the psychosocial counselors through the CDCs to medical facilities that are assigned by the health departments. The involvement of the CDCs strengthens confidence building within the local population. The CDCs are also associated with the Afghan National Solidarity Program, a government initiative. Further, long-term psychosocial treatment can only be provided through external governmental or international agency support. In the best case, psychosocial counselors will be recruited through the health department or the CDCs, or will be employed by international donors as part of new programs in the region. Project staff will endeavor to facilitate the continuation of psychosocial treatment after project completion, either by incorporating this advice into existing government structures or by obtaining additional third-party funds. For this, the project team will hold discussions with staff from the Ministry of Refugee and Repatriation and the Ministry of Women Affairs, who also see psychosocial care as a priority. Representatives of the ministries will also be invited to participate in project activities in order to get an impression of the psychosocial work.
3: Marketing and value chain activities:
In this section the specialists for marketing and value added chains will determine the concrete needs of the identified occupations. An accurate analysis of demand in local markets will capture both quantitative needs and specific product preferences such as a particular type of confectionery. Based on the results of the market analysis, the project covered five vocational trainings as example: Confectionery, Cosmetics, Barber, Refrigerator Repairing and Hand Embroidery for women.
4: Agriculture:
Since the reis little or no cultural acceptance fhttps://rsdo.af/wp-admin/post-new.php#TB_inline?width=400&inlineId=SMGLor joint activities between men and women in Afghanistan, the activities are carried out either with men or only with women. The planning of activities in accordance with cultural ideas ensure acceptance of the project in the municipalities. Vegetables and saffron are traditionally grown by men as agricultural activities. As most agricultural activities in Afghanistan are still carried out manually and women are not allowed to engage in serious physical activity in public, these activities are therefore only planned for men. However, in the processing of the harvested saffron, the families of the men are involved and therefore indirectly benefit from this activity. Beekeeping is also an activity that traditionally has to be done by men, since it takes place outside the house. The same is true for goat farming, as goats are taken to grass lands and vaccinations must be carried to veterinarians. Poultry farming, on the other hand, can take place inside the houses. As women spend most of their time at home and poultry farming can be carried out in addition to domestic work, which is an income generating measure that is particularly suitable for women. The further processing of food is an activity that is well suited to being carried out by women, since the activities (sorting, processing, packaging) are primarily those that women traditionally perform.
Together with the agricultural experts, the five specialists for marketing and value added chains carry out market analysis for the various products of the activities before starting the training. They identify supply and demand as well as traders, associations, shops, markets, cooperatives, etc., with which the participants of the training are subsequently networked.