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Presented by: Yoshiko Ogawa4th International Conference on Sustainable Future for Human Security, SustaiN 201320 Oct 2013
TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN AFGHANISTAN
Structure of this presentation• Peacebuilding/governance and development• Community-based Development: Results?• Community-based Development: In Afghanistan?• Contexts and conditions of communities• Facilitation• Program in scale, with eyes for micro-dynamics
Peacebuilding/governance and development• Why peacebuilding and development?• Personal reflection:
development project in Cambodia, 2006
• Why peacebuilding and governance?• Peacebuilding and Statebuilding
Top-down, supply-driven process vs bottom-up, inclusive approach
• Local governance:
“the systems, institution and processes through which local authorities interact with, and provide services to citizens and other forms of association”
“the mechanism by which citizens themselves meaningfully articulate their interests and needs, mediate their differences, and exercise their rights and duties”
(UNDP. Governance for Peace. NY: UNDP; 2012. p4)
• Personal reflection:
Community-based development, Community driven development
Community-based Development: Results?• Community-based Development:
with “the explicit objective of reversing power relations in a manner that creates agency and voice for poor people and gives them more control over development assistance” (Mansuri and Rao 2013. p. 15)
• Participatory decision-making• Implementation of sub-projects
Democratic decision-making body Access to social services Improved relationships with the local/state government
• In spite of wide acceptance of the relationship between development and peacebuilding, outcomes and impacts are varied.• Reviews of programmes and projects indicate mixed results• Mansuri and Rao 2013, Mallett and Slater 2013
“the evidence in this area is much more mixed and far less convincing
(Mallette and Slater 2013. p. 10)
In Afghanistan?• Context• History of power struggle start with modernization efforts• Ethnic, tribal and political divisions• Mistrust of the government
Needs for inclusive development with resultsLegitimacy of the transitional government was at stake
• National Solidarity Program• Started in 2003 by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and
Development• 31,642 communities out of estimated total number of more than
42,000 villages are covered by 2011• Aimed to;• enhance community-level governance by strengthening communities’
capacity for project management
• improve community infrastructure for better access to social services
• make the government visible and accountable to the rural population
In Afghanistan?• National Solidarity Program• Process• Selected communities form Community Development Council
• Make a community projects plan
• Implementation and monitoring
• Challenges• Community Development Council (CDC): new local decision making
body
• Participation of women in the public c arena
• Outcomes• Various forms of CDCs
• Criticism to CDC and funds channeled in the community
• Reported positive outcomes
In Afghanistan?• UN-Habitat and People’s Process• People’s Process since 1984 for slum upgrading programs, for
post-disaster and post-conflict recovery and reconstruction in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Afghanistan
• It is to support people improving their lives by planning their own settlements
• Formalized process: community mobilization, community action planning, community contract and implementation, and monitoring
• Loose process: Community Fora Program from 1995, with knowledge, networks, discreetness and trust
In Afghanistan?• Case study methodology• 2 cases • purposive samples, from urban and rural areas of Afghanistan where
community mobilization process was facilitated following the steps of the People’s Process
• look into the community level dynamism during the facilitation.
• Originally reported to the UN-Habitat Kabul country office by field mangers in 2011 (Adalat case) and by an international staff after his field mission in 2012 (Baborian case) in the efforts to collect success cases in community-centered development• Separate sets of questions were sent to national managers in charge of the
projects to obtain detail information on the contexts• Further information for clarification and elaboration on the cases, and views
on community development and quality of social organizers was solicited through e-mails from UN-Habitat senior staff in Kabul and provinces.
In Afghanistan?• Cases 1: Baborian
Community Development Council• Informal settlement in
Jalalabad city, Nangarhar province
• EU funded community upgrading project
• To enable vulnerable households, including returnees and IDPs, to address their immediate and pressing needs for shelter and basic services while establishing and strengthening local governance institutions
A drawing by a female CDC member 5 months after the facilitation start
© UN-Habitat Afghanistan
• Community mobilization started in March 2010• Social organizers went to see
the community and religious leaders to explain the project and its activities• CDCs established. But the
community activities did not go well.Small meeting before CDC
establishment
Female CDC election Community Action Planning© UN-Habitat Afghanistan
• Urban community members are not related each other• Past bitter experience• Lived in a rented house and
were not interested in investing for community infrastructure development• Busy to earn incomes
© UN-Habitat Afghanistan
CDC election process
CDC election process
• After almost a year, the social organizers became sure that trust of the community had developed
• Problems were discussed and further analysed, and then prioritized
• Outcomes(i) improved community infrastructure
(ii) capacity building of CDC as well as five women community members
(iii) registered CDC status with the municipality as a legal entity
(iv) linkage of the CDC with other government departments and NGOs
(v) enhanced ownership of the assisted project and trust and confidence among the CDC and community members
(vi) strengthened sense of responsibility as active players in socio-economic activities
People’s Process help strengthen social capital (bonding)
© UN-Habitat Afghanistan
Project implementation
CDC capacity building training
• Social organizers and engineers of the project provided technical support• Social organizers acted as
close friends and mediators to resolve conflicts in the community• Female organizer handled
wife beating• Social organizers presented
themselves as role models for the community, showing how the social organizers, who are just like anyone else in the community, can work with an international organization© UN-Habitat
Afghanistan
On going pavement construction
Completed pavement
In Afghanistan?• Cases 2: Adalat Cluster
Community Development Council• Rural area in Balkh province
• UN-Habitat started working in the area in 2003 under the National Solidarity Program
• 5 CDCs were clustered to implement common road project
• Facilitation of the CCDC began in March 2010
• From the beginning, one of the five CDCs, Gormer CDC did not show any interest in the planning and did not attend the meetings
• The project in Adalat CCDC came to halt
© UN-Habitat Afghanistan
Adalat Cluster CDC
• Gormar CDC had a historical rivalry with Qizilabad CDC• This ethnic tension came to a peak
during the Taliban regime when around 80 Pashtun and Hazara people in the area were killed• Since then distrust and enmity
between these two communities had dominated the people. No one from Gormer and Qizilabad travelled to the other
© UN-Habitat Afghanistan
Road project excavation for foundation of culvert
Road project constructed culvert
• Social organizers talked with a various parties of the communities and elders to prove that they took no one’s side and bring out the issues common to all and gain trust of the community members• After a series of meetings
and consultations among the CCDC member communities, Gormar CDC finally agreed to participate• 4 projects implemented (grid
extensions, construction of four water reservoirs, and cluster community road improvement)
© UN-Habitat Afghanistan
Social audit
Completed culvert
Graveled road
• The area became more accessible and safer for driving
• 3,000 person-day-worth jobs
• Qizilabad and Gormar communities had a ceremony to officialize their renewed relationships
• visit each other for social functions such as weddings and funerals
People’s Process help strengthen social capital (bridging)
People’s Process can provide an opportunity and methodology to initiate interaction, deepen mutual understanding, and consolidate social capital of community members
Gormar and Qizilabad CDC members reconciled
© UN-Habitat Afghanistan
Contexts and conditions of communities• Implementation of the Program on the ground requires varying forms of adaptation and subtle facilitation• Differences in social relations, power structure, geography, economic and social standing…
Facilitation• Needs in-depth knowledge about the social relations and practices within the particular community• Critical roles Facilitating Partners play in mobilization of communities, capacity development of CDCs and facilitation of these processes• The relation of the communities with FPs affects communities’ perception towards a CDC as well. Facilitation is not only technical but also relational; all FPs interviewed in an evaluation study said that it was not possible to obtain communities’ genuine participation without trust of the community in FPs• Social organizers’ familiarity to the area as well as their qualification and experience in facilitation are central to win the trust of communities
Program in scale, with eyes for micro-dynamics
• People’s Process worked because of the flexible adaptation, in-depth knowledge of facilitators on the contexts, and persistent trust building• A large scale programs are needed at
the national level, to extend the impacts• Programs should be designed to allow
rooms for adaptation on the ground and learning from experiences • A mechanism of monitoring to support
the field level implementation and ensure quality facilitation of community activity processes is important
Thank you for your attention and interest.