Afghanistan (Hansard, 7 September 2004)

§ Baroness Amos

The UK has helped local groups engage with the democratic process in a number of ways. DfID supported the development of the new constitution in 2003 (£500,000). This included an outreach programme to make the wider community aware of the purpose of the constitution and provided a reasonable understanding of its key features. (DfID is now funding both Swiss Peace (£500,000) and the United Nations (over £13 million), who work in partnership with local non-governmental organisations and civil society groups, to deliver civic education in Afghanistan. This campaign aims to enhance public understanding and awareness of the electoral process, promote positive attitudes towards democracy and encourage greater participation of the public. It will continue after the October presidential elections, in order to raise awareness for the parliamentary elections in April 2005.

The UK is funding Action Aid (£157,680) to help increase both knowledge and awareness of the rights of women and women's participation in local governance in Afghanistan. Community-level women's groups are being established and small grants made available to help build the resources and confidence of women to work together to seek solutions to common problems. These activities are being supplemented and supported by training and information sharing at the provincial level and a nationwide research project looking at the role of women in local governance in Afghanistan.

DfID also funds government-led national development programmes, which are being facilitated by a range of local non-governmental organisations. An example is the National Solidarity Programme (DfID contribution was £13 million over three years), which is building the capacity of hundreds of village development councils across Afghanistan and providing the resources they need to identify and address their own development priorities.