The New York Times yesterday published a piece about the security and dangers faced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Afghanistan (Link to article). There is no question that security is the #1 challenge to BRAC’s work in the country. But since we first began operations in 2002 after being invited to work there, BRAC has become the largest NGO operating in Afghanistan. It is a fairly unique form of South-South collaboration in Afghanistan in the area of poverty alleviation that we are very proud of.
In response to the debate portrayed in the article, we would like to offer in this blog an update of what we do in Afghanistan, and how we do it.
Some At-A-Glance Summary Data of our work in Afghanistan:
– BRAC works in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan, a country with a population of over 28 million people.
– With an operating budget of over US$30 million, BRAC runs programs in microfinance, health, education, agriculture & livestock development, local capacity building & training, and more.
– BRAC has also started BRAC Bank Afghanistan, a full-service bank with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
– BRAC employs over 3,000 staff members. Of that figure, over 2,900 are Afghani staff. The remainder are expatriates from BRAC Bangladesh who bring in sector expertise. Of the 2,900 national staff, more than 1,100 are women.
– To maximize impact, BRAC is keen to scale up existing programs and introduce new ones.
– BRAC University in Bangladesh has graduated Afghanis who have returned to Afghanistan to manage BRAC programs there (yet another example of our “South-South collaboration”),
Some of you may already know all this. With respect to how we do our work, we’d like to draw on an excerpt from Nicholas Kristof’s blog from about 2 months ago:
October 21, 2010, 12:56 am
Aid Groups’ Advice in Afghanistan
By NICOHLAS KRISTOF
“I asked several NGO’s for their advice on how to work in insecure or Taliban areas. Their advice was remarkably consistent, all about consulting local people and getting buy-in from them. And of course that’s good advice whether it’s an aid organization in the South Bronx or in southern Afghanistan.”
“Here are excerpts of what they said. Susan Davis of BRAC wrote:
Deliver value — what people want and need.
Deliver what works cost-effectively.
Work in a culturally sensitive way (live in same community, pray in same mosque)
If possible, build institutions with staying power.
Care. Don’t be afraid. People one serves are one’s best protection.”
These values are not unique to BRAC’s work in Afghanistan. We do the same in every country where we operate in Asia, Africa, and Haiti.