National Solidarity Program Research Articles

Reviewing the Post-conflict Reconstruction Efforts through the National Solidarity Programme in Afghanistan.

Reviewing the Post-conflict Reconstruction Efforts through the National Solidarity Programme in Afghanistan.

Social capital and structural disadvantages: A case of Community‐Driven Development program in Afghanistan

AbstractThis paper analyzes and uses the National Solidarity Program (NSP) Afghanistan as a case study to question the idea of social capital building for poverty reduction. Specifically, it explores how development policy has been decoupled from its intended objectives as it hit the existing friction in the ground. The data draws from poor household experience in three different provinces of Afghanistan to assess how poor household is integrated into NSP and how existing social structure and relational dynamics shape the NSP outcomes. The finding reveals that household is experiencing a cluster of interlink disadvantages that make it impossible for them to draw on social capital to reduce their poverty. However, NSP failed to eliminate the asymmetrical relations which created poverty in rural society; instead, it boosted Neopatrimonialism culture.

Mikro-Hidro Santrallerin Kırsal Bölge Sakinlerinin Refahını Arttırmadaki Etkisi: Afganistan Badakhshan İli Örneği

Afghanistan, starting from 2003 has implemented the National Solidarity Program (NSP) with financial assistance from the international community and focused on delivering basic services to all citizens. The bulk of the program was electrification, countryside roads, drinking water, schools and etc. In Badakhshan province, 2713 projects have been implemented by NSP, of which 443 of them were the micro-hydro power plants. In this research, a dataset of 1070 samples has been gathered from 6 districts. The data analysis was conducted with the Propensity Score Matching method to find the impact of the project on the welfare of rural residents. For detection of welfare the TV, computer, and telephone possession were used as proxies. The results indicate that the treatment group has more TVs, computers, and telephones than control groups. Precisely the treatment group has 23.9% more TVs, 7.6% more computers, and 37.6% more telephones than their counterparts.

Applying Community-Driven Approaches to Rural Development and Women’s Empowerment in Afghanistan

Community-driven approaches have become popular in the development field over recent years. By establishing community development councils (CDCs), this approach enables strong community engagement in the projects’ design and execution while proactively promoting women’s participation, leading both to improved service delivery and effective implementation of more sustainable projects. In addition, using a community-driven approach in the implementation of rural development programs in least developed and post-conflict societies can help with raising awareness about democratic processes. In Afghanistan, two national programs, the National Solidarity Program (NSP) and the Citizens’ Charter National Priority Program (CCNPP), embraced a CDD approach in the implementation of their projects. RCT studies indicate that the NSP has been one of the most successful programs in the country while reports, so far, indicate the same about the CCNPP. Both programs have made an impact by creating gender-balanced CDCs through elections based on secret voting and universal suffrage. These programs have significantly contributed to the enhancement of women’s participation in the society. Nonetheless, maintaining this progress requires a stable, supportive socio-political environment in the long run. Policymakers should consider the successes and difficulties related to the NSP and CCNPP when creating community-driven approaches to development in the future

The management of legal pluralism and human rights in decentralized Afghanistan

Legal pluralism concerns the often complex interactions between various legal orders. This includes the various domains of state law, human rights and tribal customary and religious laws. In recent decades, international developers have attempted to impart universalism within socially, culturally and legally diverse contexts such as decentralized locations that practice local and indigenous modes of justice. International donors in Afghanistan have attempted to spread the rule of law and basic human rights from judicial reform and the 2004 constitution into the countryside, whilst referring to Islamic family and criminal law. The Afghan government and state legalisms are largely centralized within a mountainous country. Most citizens, spread across 34 provinces, rely on the judgements of trusted elders, or even the Taliban in southern regions, in community-based dispute resolutions. Using interviews conducted with Afghan judicial and rule of law experts, this article assesses the management of legal pluralism in Afghanistan. It is argued that, with varying results, legal pluralism has been managed by “project law” to promote “better world visions” and donors’ notions of (social) justice to introduce western laws and human rights to local customary settings. This is followed by concluding remarks and some recommendations. When implementing projects, international developers could work towards incorporating all actors and their legal institutions, including local mediators. Improving case tracking at the provincial and district levels is needed to promote consistency and improve observance of basic human rights standards. Furthermore, continuing to raise awareness of women’s rights in rural areas with the use of local organizations and civil society could impart human rights locally. This can be achieved by training ulema, mullahs and other local justice authorities of basic human rights in highly funded community development councils and other national solidarity programme projects.

Village Context and the National Solidarity Program in Afghanistan

This paper explores the relation between the design of Afghanistan’s National Solidarity Program and implementation outcomes. It draws on a study of village contexts to understand the variability in the relations of responsibility and accountability that exist between customary village leadership, village elites, and village households. Findings on diverse processes of “bricolage” between the NSP intervention and customary practices highlight the politics of village life, which the technical assumptions of the NSP do not address.

Community-Driven Development in Afghanistan

This article assesses the legacy of the National Solidarity Programme in seven districts of Wardak Province, Afghanistan. We find that the NSP largely achieved its development objectives, but had limited effects on state–society relations. The findings also raise questions about the sustainability of community-driven development in insecure contexts.

The National Solidarity Programme: Assessing the Effects of Community-Driven Development in Afghanistan

Over the past two decades, community-based approaches to project delivery have become a popular means for governments and development agencies to improve the alignment of projects with the needs of rural communities and to increase the participation of villagers in project design and implementation. This article briefly summarizes the results of an impact evaluation of the National Solidarity Programme (NSP), a community-driven development programme in Afghanistan that created democratically-elected community development councils and funded small-scale development projects. Using a randomized controlled trial across 500 villages, the evaluation finds that NSP had a positive effect on access to drinking water and electricity, acceptance of democratic processes, perceptions of economic well-being and attitudes towards women. Effects on perceptions of local and national government performance and material economic outcomes were, however, more limited or short-lived.

Electrification using Decentralized Micro Hydropower Plants in North-eastern Afghanistan

Electricity supply database from the Afghan national authority for electricity supply shows that about only 20% of the population in Afghanistan had access to grid electricity by 2010. The national utility has a total capacity of about 842 MW, out of which about 696 MW was operational. Additionally, many decentralized units (Micro Hydropower (MHP) plants, diesel generators and solar home systems) supply electricity to about 7% of the population. The donors supported National Solidarity Programme (NSP) has promoted hundreds of rural electrification projects. MHP plants are the major renewable energy based projects among them. In order to identify the operational status of installed MHP plants in four North-eastern provinces (i.e. Badakhshan, Baghlan, Balkh and Takhar) and to assess their socio-economic impacts, an extensive field monitoring had been carried out. The major parameters studied were spatial distribution of MHP plants, investment costs, operational models, end user electricity tariffs, productive use of electricity, community satisfaction, etc. Altogether, 421 MHP installations (about 11 MW installed capacity) were visited. The outcomes obtained from those surveys are presented in detail in this paper.

Wilson, Mary Beth: Impacts of Participatory Development in Afghanistan. A Call to Reframe Expectations. The National Solidarity Programme in the Community of Shah Raheem

Wilson, Mary Beth: Impacts of Participatory Development in Afghanistan. A Call to Reframe Expectations. The National Solidarity Programme in the Community of Shah Raheem

Post-war reconstruction, policy transfer and the World Bank: the case of Afghanistan's National Solidarity Programme

This article investigates the role of the World Bank as an agent of international policy transfer in post-war reconstruction and development. A heuristic method which integrates policy transfer network theory, participant observation and implementation analysis is developed and then used to map the process of policy-oriented learning underpinning the emergence and development of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's National Solidarity Programme (NSP). Drawing on the findings of a mid-term evaluation conducted by the authors for the World Bank it reveals that initial World Bank funding of the NSP was opportunistic; a voluntary form of policy transfer emerged from a cohesive policy transfer network which mainly drew lessons from the Kecamatan Development Project (KDP) in Indonesia, leading to the development of a culturally insensitive model of community-driven development; but due to the technocratic expertise of key indigenous actors and the technical support of facilitating partners, these elements of the programme were successfully mitigated during operational delivery. It concludes that ‘Rational’ lesson-drawing which avoids the ‘learning paradox’ – learning that leads to inappropriate transfer – can be successful. In other words, lesson-drawing can be a progressive learning activity, but only if the programme is culturally assimilated through comprehensive evaluation and piloting, builds on existing organisational strengths and is transferred by high-quality indigenous knowledge elites. Local solutions must be found to local problems which deliver public value in terms of direct social or economic benefits to the citizenry. Indeed, although development outcomes have been less than impressive, the NSP has delivered significant gains to the Afghan people with regard to institution-building and social solidarity at the national and community levels.

Improving Quality of Life in Remote Mountain Communities

This article explores how physical remoteness influences the quality of life of people living in mountain communities in Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province. Basing its analysis on data obtained from a quality of life assessment carried out in Badakhshan, the article compares how quality of life indicators differed between villages that are more remote in terms of their access to markets, services, and transport, and those that are closer to small urban economic hubs. Indicators in a range of domains including the household economy, built environment, health, and education were poorer in remote villages. However, less tangible aspects of life such as trust between people, social cohesion, cultural life, and people's own perceptions of the quality of their lives were similar or better in these locations. Nevertheless, we argue that remoteness acts as an important barrier to improving many aspects of health and wellbeing in remote mountain villages. Market-led approaches by themselves are inadequate for helping to promote quality of life improvements in these communities. This research suggests that the holistic framework, mixed funding, and innovative approaches that the Aga Khan Development Network is pursuing as the main implementing partner of the National Solidarity Program in the province—including infrastructure development, strengthening local governance, and cross-border development programs with Tajikistan—stand a better chance of improving quality of life.

Fuzzy Sovereignty: Rural Reconstruction in Afghanistan, between Democracy Promotion and Power Games

AbstractThis paper contributes to the study of new forms of transnational power constituted by the action of international and nongovernmental organizations, to which gravitate loose networks of activists variously promoting democracy, human rights, the empowerment of women, and environmental conservation. The paper's focus is impacts that the massive reconstruction effort is having on Afghan society, examined through a case study of The National Solidarity Programme (NSP), the main project of rural rehabilitation underway in the country. Launched in 2003, its objective is to bring development funds directly to rural people and to establish democratically elected local councils that will identify needs, and plan and manage the reconstruction. Although the NSP's political significance faded in the context of the presidential elections of 2009, which were characterized by quickly evolving alliances, the program illustrates how reconstruction funds are an integral part of Afghanistan's social and political landscape. My arguments are four-fold: First, the NSP subtly modifies participants' body gestures and codes of conduct. Second, the program's fundamental assumptions are at odds with the complex social fabric and the overlapping sources of solidarity and conflict that characterize rural Afghanistan. Third, the ways in which political actors use material and symbolic resources channeled through the NSP mirror national struggles for power. Finally, such programs are one element in a much larger conceptual and bureaucratic apparatus that promotes new forms of transnational governmentality that coexist with and sometimes challenge the more familiar, territorialized expressions of state power and sovereignty.

Does development assistance reduce violence? Evidence from Afghanistan

Current military doctrine emphasizes the importance of development spending in reducing insurgent violence. Using data from three distinct development programs, the Afghan National Solidarity Program, USAID's Local Governance and Community Development Program, and the U.S. military's Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP), combined with military records of insurgent-initiated events, this article explores whether development aid in Afghanistan is violence-reducing. I find that overall spending has no clear effect on rebel attacks. Moreover, the type of development program most effective at reducing violence in Iraq - small CERP projects - does not appear to do so in Afghanistan. Possible reasons include troop strength, conditionality of aid, effectiveness of aid in producing benign outcomes, and measurement issues.

Fixing a Fractured State: A Jurisprudence for a Free Society

This article appraises the application of the New Haven School in Afghanistan and in particular how the School’s techniques were applied to the law and governance components of the National Solidarity Programme.

Transformative learning and mind-change in rural Afghanistan

This article presents the results of a quantitative/qualitative enquiry into ‘transformative learning’ and ‘mind-change’ dynamics among rural community representatives participating in the Government of Afghanistan's National Solidarity Program [NSP]: a community-driven, nationwide initiative to rehabilitate the country's infrastructure. Drawing on frameworks for ‘transformative learning’ proposed by Mezirow (1990) and Freire (1993), and ‘mind-change’ proposed by Gardner (2004), it is argued that NSP catalysed transformative development learning through (1) its responsiveness to the expressed needs and interests of project participants; (2) engagement of community representatives as active development partners; (3) delegation of project-management responsibility throughout all stages; (4) provision of social space for reflection and critical analysis; (5) opportunities to achieve project outcomes that are meaningful, attractive, and profitable; and (6) programme features compatible with the social and cultural realities of rural Afghanistan.

The failed promise of multi-donor trust funds: aid financing as an impediment to effective state-building in post-conflict contexts

Multi-donor trust funds (MDTFs) have quickly become one of the most prominent aid modalities. Viewed as a reliable long-term funding source, they are hailed for facilitating donor coordination and ceding unprecedented control of post-conflict reconstruction and development to recipient governments. The advent of the MDTF also highlighted the growing understanding that aid modalities, the form and manner in which assistance is given to developing nations, are themselves a key intervention in war-torn societies and not a passive administrative arrangement. The implementation of MDTFs has, however, frequently nullified their conceptual benefits, particularly in regard to strengthening and legitimating recipient states. Complicated implementation arrangements, donor-dominated coordination and oversight bodies, short timeframes and high expectations pertaining to disbursement have subsumed trust funds to donors’ pre-existing modes of operating and made them contravene state building objectives and weaken aid effectiveness. Modalities can, like any other intervention, cause harmful effects. These are discussed in the context of Afghanistan's largest and highest profile reconstruction intervention, the National Solidarity Programme (NSP). This article examines one prominent MDTF, the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), and its impact upon the NSP and its governance objectives. This critical case study shows the MDTF concept to be fundamentally and theoretically sound but at odds with donor countries’ primary attachment to the strategic rather than development impact of post-conflict reconstruction assistance. Such priorities limit aid effectiveness, hamper coordination and sideline the recipient state in the post-conflict reconstruction process.

Organización forestal comunal y sustentabilidad en San Juan Nuevo (Michoacán): poder y conflicto en torno a los usos locales, nacionales e internacionales de la reciprocidad

National and regional peasant movements during the 1970s and the 1980s struggling to créate a legal and productive space for peasant carved out by State intervention did provide a space within which communities as San Juan Nuevo could organize and regain same control over their forest resources. State policies and dramatic forestry subsequent reforms during the 90s were deadened by implementing forest supporting programs, such as the National Reforestation Program within the National Solidarity Program, which presumed to reshape both productive and political relations in Mexico's forest dependent communities. Ultimately however, state institutions as well as International supporting agencies as the World Bank, despite the rhetorical commitment to peasant production and environmental issues, largely articúlate with private industrial interests and act as mechanisms that secured control over forest resources by external interests. San Juan forestry model, preferentially supported, provides a window for understanding how industrial interests, state practices and community strategies intersect. In fact it illuminates new clientelistic strategies embedded in forest policy and neo-liberal discourse more generally, ones in direct contradiction to the solidarity's democratic, neutral international agencies and state rhetoric.

From Neoliberalism to Social Liberalism Situating the National Solidarity Program Within Mexico's Passive Revolutions

Launched by President Carlos Salinas de Gortari in 1988, Mexico's Programa Nacional de Solidaridad (National Solidarity ProgramPRONASOL) has become the organizational center of an ever-changing, complex web of education, health, productive, and infrastructural projects aimed at improving the living conditions of the poor (PRONASOL, 1991). This de facto welfare program, which embodies Salinas's third-way doctrine of social liberalism, basically claims to be more humane and democratic than unfettered free-market capitalism and heavy-handed state interventionism. The objective of this article is not to supply another policy assessment of PRONASOL but to address a gap in the literature by providing a historical materialist account of its emergence. Seen through the lens of historical materialism, PRONASOL is neither an attempt to alleviate the poverty afflicting well over half the population of Mexico nor a move toward constructing a stronger civil society in a top-down fashion (cf. Salinas de Gortari, 1990). Instead it is a reflection of new forms of ideological and political domination targeted at preserving the hegemony of the ruling classes while excluding the majority of Mexicans from participating in the formulation of state policy. In the face of the increasing poverty brought on by modernization, PRONASOL aims to weaken counterhegemonic movements in civil society as Mexico further deepens its dependent relations with the United States. Antonio Gramsci once referred to these expressions of political and ideological retrenchment in the relations between state and civil society as a revolution (1992). This article will suggest that there have been two passive revolutions in Mexico. It can be argued that the first of these passive revolutions, neoliberalism, emerged after the 1982 debt crisis whereas the second, social liberalism, took place during the late 1980s. The argument presented here will proceed as follows: First, it will explore the political and ideological implications of the relative autonomy of the state

Pobreza, territorio y políticas sociales

This article deals with the subject of poverty and social policies in Mexico. It refers to the conceptual aspects of poverty-deprival, exclusion, inequality -as well as the ways in which the scope of the problem is measured. It analyzes the way the territoria dimension has been incorporated into programmes for dealing with poverty: the National Solidarity Program (Pronasol) and the Program for Education, Health and Food (Progresa) as well as the allocation of fiscal resources for regional development