CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT IN AFGHANISTAN Elizabeth Winter London School of Economics and Political Science, Centre for Civil Society and ESRC Non- Governmental Public Action Programme June 2010 “Help from the international community has consisted of walking together up a mountain, but then being abandoned there” Muslim Mudassir This report is dedicated to Muslim Mudassir, who made me laugh and made me think. Muslim was the Monitoring and Evaluation Co-ordinator for Afghanaid in Ghor Province who died when the car in which he was travelling to work was hit by a US military vehicle, he left behind a wife and young daughter Photo on cover page © Leslie Knott Report © 2010 Elizabeth Winter, NGPA, London School of Economics 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am extremely grateful to all the Afghan men and women who, for decades, have given me the benefit of their thoughts and ideas, their hospitality, their friendship and their humour. I can only hope that this report does justice to the bravery of those who have worked unstintingly for Afghanistan. Any mistakes in understanding or interpretation are mine and I hope will be forgiven. I am beholden to Professor Jude Howell for encouraging me to undertake this Fellowship with the Centre for Civil Society at the London School of Economics and to Abdul Basir, Director of BAAG and Kanishka Nawabi of CPAU for sponsoring me in this undertaking. I am beholden too to Jane Schiemann, the Office Manager of the Centre, for her patient administrative support. Particular appreciation is due to those who answered the questions for this study, in interviews, by email, and in meetings, and to those who also commented on the first draft – Mary Akrami, Abdul Basir,, Raz Mhd Dalili, Jawed Ludin, Kanishka Nawabi, Aziz Rafiee, Nilofar Sakhi, Verity Spence, and Mhd Suleman, Especial thanks to the staff of ACSF, AWSDC, CPAU, and SDO for their many contributions to the work and to those of Afghanaid and CPAU who hosted me during the field trips. Further thanks are due to Verity Spence for her invaluable assistance in editing the final draft of the Report, to Leslie Knott for her kind permission to use her wonderful photographs in this publication and to Professor Jude Howell for her guidance throughout. I have appreciated my family too for supporting me in my travels and travails. This research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council under the ESRC Non-Governmental Public Action Programme. The ESRC is the UK’s leading research and training agency addressing economic and social concerns. ESRC aims to provide high-quality research on issues of importance to business, the public sector and Government. 3 Table of Contents ACRONYMS..................................................................................................................6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................7 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................11 1.1 Terms of Reference............................................................................................................................11 1.2 Field Study Areas................................................................................................................................12 1.3 Methodology......................................................................................................................................13 1.4 The Theory of Civil Society .................................................................................................................14 1.4.1 Civil Society and Political Ideology...................................................................................................15 1.4.2 Civil Society and Islam .....................................................................................................................16 1.4.3 The future for the understanding and development of civil society ................................................17 2. DEFINITION OF THE TERM “CIVIL SOCIETY”..........................................................17 2.1 Existing definitions in Afghanistan .....................................................................................................17 2.2 Afghan Understanding of the Term ...................................................................................................18 2.3 The breadth of the term.....................................................................................................................19 2.4 The need for a common operational definition.................................................................................20 2.5 Proposals for a common operational definition ................................................................................21 2.6 Preliminary Draft Working Definition for Discussion with Afghan actors..........................................22 2.7 Suggested process for discussion .......................................................................................................23 3. DATABASE OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTORS...............................23 3.1 Existing databases..............................................................................................................................23 3.2 Practical Issues and Challenges in the development of a database...................................................24 3.2.1 Breadth of Data: What to include?................................................................................................24 3.2.2 Information-sharing and issues of Trust..........................................................................................25 3.2.3 Issues of format and upkeep ...........................................................................................................25 3.2.4 Security............................................................................................................................................25 3.2.5 Dissemination and Accessibility:......................................................................................................26 4. ROLE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND OTHERS IN CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT IN AFGHANISTAN ..............................................................................26 4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................26 4.2 Foreigners’ involvement in civil society; their role and responsibilities ............................................27 4.3 Technical/intellectual/capacity development assistance.....................................................................28 4.4 Role and responsibilities of donors in relation to civil society...........................................................29 4.5 Responsible donor-ship......................................................................................................................30 4.6 Governance; sub-national and community........................................................................................31 4.7 Responsibilities of Others - The United Nations and the Government of Afghanistan......................32 4.8 Results of the support that is available..............................................................................................32 4.9 Specific Ideas......................................................................................................................................33 4.10 Young Men and Women..................................................................................................................33 4.11 Civil Society responsibilities.............................................................................................................34 5. CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS/ACTORS AS AGENTS FOR CHANGE .....................35 5.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................35 5.2 How to influence................................................................................................................................36 5.3 Changes that have occurred ..............................................................................................................37 4 6. OTHER ISSUES......................................................................................................38 6.1 Traditional and modern civil society – are they opposed? ................................................................38 6.2 Ethnicity.............................................................................................................................................42 6.3 Peace-building...................................................................................................................................44 6.4 Civil Society: How it has been, could be and should be developed ...................................................45 6.5 The role of conferences in civil society development and advocacy .................................................50 6.6 Civil and Uncivil society .....................................................................................................................52 6.7 The Future .........................................................................................................................................53 7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...........................................................53