10 stories - 10 years of SDC engagement in Afghanistan Content Foreword........................................................................................................................................................ 04 Summary......................................................................................................................................................... 06 Sayed Qasim, Senior Office Manager, SDC.................................................................................................. 08 Shah Mohammad, Human Resource and IT Officer, SDC............................................................................ 10 H.E. Habibullah Ghalib, Minister of Justice.................................................................................................. 12 Dr. Soraya Sobhrang, Commissioner, Afghanistan Independant Human Rights Commission................. 14 Mir Ahmad Joyenda, Deputy Director, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit................................ 16 Jamila Afghani, Director, Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organization........................... 18 Dr. Habiba Sarabi, Governor of Bamyan...................................................................................................... 20 Najmuddin, SDC Beneficiary.......................................................................................................................... 22 Dr. Jamaluddin Sediqi, Programme Manager, Improving Livelihoods of Rural Communities................. 24 Bibi Ayesha, SDC Beneficiary......................................................................................................................... 26 About SDC...................................................................................................................................................... 28 Kahmard district, Bamyan Foreword The Swiss Cooperation Office in Afghanistan celebrates people of Afghanistan have lived in and how war, dif- its 10-year anniversary in 2012. The Swiss Agency for ferent political regimes, widespread poverty and ongo- Development and Cooperation (SDC) opened its of- ing instability have affected the lives of men and women fice after the fall of the Taliban and the subsequent throughout generations. At the same time they illus- Bonn Agreements in 2002. But Switzerland’s engage- trate that changes are possible and that SDC can make ment in Afghanistan started already in the beginning a contribution to a betterment of the situation and ul- of the 1970s with the arrival of Swiss experts to ad- timately to the lives of the people. vise Afghan famers on cheese production and to pro- In the current process of transition and in view of the vide support on water projects. long-term transformation of the country, SDC will stay SDC continued its programmes until 1980 and left the engaged with Afghanistan. With the increased fo- country as one of the last development agencies following cus on working in fragile and conflict affected states, the arrival of Soviet troops. Ten years later, SDC relaunched SDC will even enhance its programmes and is hope- its Afghanistan programme from Pakistan. The programme ful that – with the continuous collaboration of all involved mainly humanitarian activities in which SDC stakekholders – it can further contribute to a better closely collaborated with the United Nations and other or- life for the people of Afghanistan. ganisations supporting refugees. After the establishment of the Cooperation Office, SDC concentrated its activities on meeting the enormous needs of internally displaced Martin Dahinden persons (IDPs), returnees to Afghanistan and refugees in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. Since 2004 the Swiss programme has gradually become a longer-term engagement for development and recon- struction. Today SDC’s activities in the country focus on Director-General promoting good governance and respect for human of the SDC, Ambassador rights as well as on improving the living conditions of dis- advantaged segments of the population. The Swiss en- gagement is guided by the principles of neutrality and impartiality and informed by the realities and require- ments of the Afghan people. Following these principles while ensuring the close collaboration with our partners with financial as well as technical advice, the compara- tively small SDC programme has made a clear contribu- tion to the enhancement of resilience and human security of parts of the Afghan population. It is this focus on the people that is depicted in the 10 stories presented in this booklet. Covering partners, ben- eficiaries from different projects, and government repre- sentatives, the 10 stories give SDC’s engagement a hu- man face. They highlight the difficult circumstances the Rustaq district, Takhar 4 Summary When aid organisations returned to Afghanistan after state institutions such as the Ministry of Justice. Minister In parched Rustaq district of Takhar, where agricul- the 2001 fall of the Taliban, they encountered an over- Habibullah Ghalib, whose entire career has been in law, ture yields increasingly fewer returns, cottage industry whelming spectrum of acute needs of an impoverished exemplifies the long Afghan wait for justice. Justice is a projects like vegetable preserves help supplement fam- population. Key to SDC’s decision, as a result of decades critical element in the ethos of Afghans, but it has been ily income and provide women with financial indepen- of experience working with the Afghan population, was undermined by years of conflict that subverted the rule of dence. It has not only helped raise the status of Bibi the beneficiary of aid delivery: the Afghan people. Choos- law and replaced it by the rule of guns. The Minister says Ayesha in her family but, says Ayesha coyly, it has even ing the beneficiaries, the partners and the right staff, as that this challenge must be tackled by building up the re- made her husband love her more! well as building relationships with relevant authorities lationship between government and people. The impor- The stories here demonstrate that a financially small and personalities, was as important as programmatic de- tance of this relationship crops up time and time again. contribution can be maximised if combined with careful cisions. The following pages take a glimpse at these key Dr. Soraya Sobhrang, a Commissioner with the Afghan technical advice and commitment by partner and benefi- people and, through them, highlight the several faces of Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), a body ciaries, something that underpins SDC’s engagement ap- SDC’s engagement in this country. crucial to upholding human rights and justice, believes proach. It is an ethos that has been well-communicated. the Commission acts as a bridge between people and When it opened its office in Kabul in 2002, SDC employed SDC employee Sayed Qasim takes pride in SDC’s small government. Mir Ahmed Joyenda, the deputy director of Sayed Qasim as one of its first staff members. Then in his donor status, saying that he is convinced that, even as the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), deems early forties, Qasim, who has stayed with SDC till now, be- a small donor, Switzerland has exerted an impact on that civil society plays a critical role in the relationship longed to that small group of educated Afghans who had the lives of all project beneficiaries. between the state and the people. remained in Afghanistan. The protracted conflict, stretch- ing over decades, had led to several waves of migration as Sometimes impact and acceptance depend as much on Afghans fled first from the Soviet invasion, then from the the approach as on the substance. Feisty Jamila Afghani war against the Soviet, afterwards from the internecine uses Islam as the gateway to her work in women’s edu- fighting between mujahideen groups and the oppres- cation and empowerment within a conservative society. sion of the Taliban, and finally from the aerial bombing Equally gutsy is Dr. Habiba Sarabi, who has made history during the international intervention to oust the Taliban. by becoming the first and only female Governor in Af- Most educated Afghans had long since left their country ghanistan. Not only is Sarobi a role model in a country as it offered them very few opportunities for their quali- where few women reach high public office, she has also fications. Qasim himself fled the country but only for a set standards for governance and administration in Bami- few weeks before the U.S. bombing. yan province, one of the poorest and most deprived in the country. Mountainous and with a harsh climate, Bami- Soon SDC was to induct another remarkable survivor of yan has only one crop-growing and harvesting season, a the conflict, Shah Mohammad. Shah Mohammad saw the short and precious period that is sometimes devastated violence of the conflict up close. Many members of his by frequent flashfloods in this area. Najmuddin, whose own family died, and his village was bombed so heavily own land was destroyed, is now a beneficiary of a wa- that trees still do not grow there. Being with SDC, how- tershed development programme. But development, like ever, has given him new roots. As the SDC office grew, the human body, requires a holistic approach, points out so did Shah Mohammad’s career, whose eagerness for Dr. Sediqi, a physician turned development practitioner, new skills was encouraged, giving him the opportunity to who is now project manager with the SDC partner or- develop. Although he first