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We
inform about our projects and programs in Afghanistan
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With
financial and material assistance from Chaine du Bonheur, Swiss
Development Cooperation SDC, UNICEF, CARE Afghanistan, CANADA
Fund, WHO, European Commission – Humanitarian Office ECHO, MSF-CH
and the funds provided by the support groups of the Foundation in
Switzerland, Terre des
hommes is providing significant humanitarian assistance
especially to children and women in Afghanistan.
Our humanitarian assistance is based on the principles of
neutrality (not taking sides) and impartiality (not distinguishing
between people except on the basis of need). “Humanity does not
mean concern for physical well being only. Aid that simply
provides calories for the stomach and water for the throat is a
reduction of people to things. How can there be human concern for
such a mean objective? ‘Concern for the person’ entails
concern for the whole being, including a person’s state of mind,
sense of loss and the devaluation of life. The suffering of the
body and the mind cannot be distinguished from each other. It is
concern for every aspect of a person including their loss of
relatives and way of life, their disability, their love for
children, their past and their future. Humanitarian concern is a
demanding concept because it has no limit.” Tony Vaux in
‘The selfish altruist’; Earthscan Ltd. London, 2001.
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The
TDH Maternal Child Health - Home Visiting Program in Kabul.
This
program is directly managed by Terre
des hommes, which signed its first agreement with the Ministry
of Public Health (MoPH) in early 1996, and further renewed the
Agreement with the MoPH in April 1999 and July 2001 respectively.
The principal objective of the home-visiting program (HVP) is to
provide home-based pre- and post-natal midwife support to mothers
and their newborn children. All Terre
des hommes staffs are female Afghan citizens; no expatriates
are employed in this program.
A high workload is pursued by the TDH midwives, as demonstrated by
the 28,179 clients they visited in
2000, including the care of 4,173 newborn infants and their
mothers during the same period. The midwives meet every early morning, five days a week, and
then they move – dressed with their blue burqas
– with taxis and microbuses to one of their 12 working areas in
Kabul city. There they walk by foot, knock at the doors of new
houses to search for new patients, visit their clients, care for
the newborns and arrange health sessions in the neighborhoods for
women.
Pregnant women are usually visited twice during the later stages
of their pregnancy, with midwives advising them and their family
members on how to achieve clean and safe deliveries. Essential
iron folate and multivitamins are supplied to pregnant women and
referrals to UNICEF immunization centers are encouraged for both
mothers and children. The midwives also monitor the nutrition
status of the women and provide additional enriched food biscuits
to the clients. Postpartum care follows a schedule of five home
visits and continues until 42 days following delivery.
During this time specific health topics are discussed with
mothers and many other local women, who crowd into very cramped
rooms to listen to the ‘health messages’. In this way, the
midwives have enabled dissemination of healthy MCH practices to
84,789 women during 2000.
This MCH/HVP not only sustains a vital service to many women in
Kabul, it also enables the midwifery team to practice and maintain
their skills and expertise, as professional educated women.
At the same time, they are providing valuable family income
against an unemployment background estimated as high as 90% within
the formal sector.
The services of the midwives have become even more crucial over
the past year, as from July 2000 there are now only 15 of the
original 42 Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) MCH clinics remaining
in Kabul City, with international donor funding supporting some
two-thirds of these same facilities.
It is the only community-based home-visiting program for pregnant
mothers and their newborns in Afghanistan.
The
Aschiana centers for street - working children in Kabul.
Terre
des hommes has supported the work of the registered, Afghan
non-governmental organization, Aschiana, since 1996. Aschiana has
worked with the consent and approval of the Ministry of Public
Health under both the previous and the current government
authorities. There are nowadays six Aschiana centers in Kabul (Shari-I-Naw,
Khair Khana, both established 1996; Microrayon 3 and
Deafghanan, established 1997 and Karte Se,
established 2001 and funded by Swedish Children Fund and Microrayon
3 Health Center, established 2001), which 1,484 receive street
working boys and girls, aged between 6 – 16 years. Five centers
focus on boys only and offer a range of income-generating
training, psycho-social support to traumatized children,
nutritional support, health education, plus basic literacy and
numeracy training in accordance with cultural and socially
accepted norms, mine awareness, narcotic hazard awareness,
treatment and consultation and relief items.
Since girls were not allowed to attend the Aschiana centers since
1998, 650 of the poorest street-working girl children, receive
once monthly dry rations and personal hygiene kits, in order to
counteract the poverty and hardship that they and their families
face.
Terre des hommes together with its local partner NGO
Aschiana signed this year a new protocol with the Ministry of
Public Health of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. This protocol
enabled Terre des hommes & Aschiana to establish a
health education center for women and girls in Kabul. This was
considered as a major break-through since the Taliban authorities
have banned in 1998 all street-working girls to attend the four
centers for street-working children in Kabul city.
The total number of the children assisted during the year 2000 was
1384 and has meanwhile increased to 1,484 children. It is the only
street working children project in Afghanistan.
Post-earthquake
Rehabilitation Project, Rustaq District, Takhar Province
Following
the massive earthquake, which destroyed much of the infrastructure
of northeastern Afghanistan in 1998, Terre
des hommes is
providing financial and technical assistance to the
earthquake-affected communities. The project itself is focusing on
three components: Water & Sanitation for 11 villages, School
Construction & Education, and Health Services & Health
Education for 15 villages.
“In
health, … women want services provided by women to whom they can
talk openly; they want much more than is available; they want it
on their door steps, i.e. into rural areas, from where they have
no transport, money, or freedom of choice to seek help when
needed. They also appreciate knowledge about prevention of common
diseases in children – both to avoid loss of life, and expenses
which they cannot afford.”
Room to Manoeuvre; Carol Le Duc; photo by Elisabeth Rubi
The
Health Project is training traditional birth
attendants, employing community health workers and providing health
education services and healthcare for the men, women and children in
15 villages as well as Rustaq town. Vaccination and immunization
campaigns as well as “expanded programs for immunization” (EPI)
are included. During “National Immunization Days” NID the
project vaccinated 37,600
children
against polio in May and 35,300
children aged 0 to 5 in June this year. The rest of NID
rounds will take place in next winter.
A
professional team of doctors and nurses provides health care and
health services to five sub-clinics for the 15 villages on daily
regular base. Mobile
teams with a doctor, nurse and vaccinator leave daily Rustaq town
in order to reach regularly the remote villages of the project
area.
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The
health education trainers are covering all 15 villages with health
education. They stay for 10 days in the sub-clinics, share the daily
life with people, train the community health educators on the spot
and are also providing health education to the villagers.
The School Construction & Education Project
includes construction of 4 village schools (in Khuja-Khirab, Ghange,
Dashtak and Bagh-I-Hisar). Stationary, teaching aids, teacher
training and providing salaries for 105 teachers (94 male teachers
and 14 female teachers) of 11 schools (5 rural primary school, one
girls primary, middle and high school and one boys primary, middle
and high school, both in Rustaq), is part of the program. 1,963
children – 1,256 boys & 707 girls from 15 villages and Rustaq
town are presently benefiting from Terre des hommes’ rural
rehabilitation project.
A ratio of 64 % enrolment of boys and 36 % enrolment of girls
within the framework of Terre des hommes (Tdh) support is
encouraging to mobilize more resources to promote girls education.
The Water & Sanitation Project is constructing water
reservoirs in several villages and rehabilitating springs for at
least 11 villages near to Rustaq. In addition water channels will be
constructed or/and rehabilitated in order to provide better access
to water for the men, women and children in the 11 villages.
Emergency
Project: Food and Non-Food Assistance to IDPs in Rustaq District
In
the June issue of ‘Letters from Afghanistan’ emphasis was
directed towards the displacement of more people in northern
Afghanistan and Terre
des hommes
(Tdh) intervention
in the north:
Due
to the inaccessibility of the district, the closeness of the
frontlines and the difficulties to get supply the project decided to
use local merchants to deliver food and non-food items to Rustaq. It
was the cheapest possibility to provide food to the people and has
helped to keep food prices low to reasonable levels in order to make
food available to local people for reasonable prices.
Gender
policies of Terre des hommes
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Terre
des hommes (Tdh) employment policy is focusing on promoting female
employment. Presently Terre des hommes (Tdh) has 105 staff members
in its programs and projects. 60.1 % of all staffs are female
Afghans working in projects of both sides of the frontlines.
Gender policy is focusing on working towards gender equality in all
the programs with a strong emphasis to reach women and girls. The
gender policy is recognizing Afghans right to cultural integrity and
culture.
Terre des hommes’ key programs in Afghanistan are
‘Mother-Child-Health’ projects, street children approaches,
rural rehabilitation projects and emergency interventions.
TDH’ gender strategies include same ‘salary for same
position’, continuing gender training for all senior staff,
allocating of budgets to better consider transportation of female
staff in separate vehicles, allocating of additional budgets to pay
travel costs for accompanying ‘guardians’, making specific local
arrangements for planning, reporting, training and meetings with
female staff, arranging professional training workshops in Pakistan,
increasing women’s participation in meetings, increase their
access and better possibilities in decision making.
Lessons
learnt so far for the ‘field’:
In
communities it is more culturally accepted to see a woman as a
member of her family rather than a marginalized individual.
Therefore the use of the concept of ‘communities’ of women, men
and children appears much more successful than focusing on gender
training.
Professional Afghan women value their self-worth and the benefit
they can contribute higher than western views of women rights.
Due
to the present circumstances in Afghanistan women are the priority
targets for human resource development activity of Terre des
hommes (Tdh).
Providing opportunities is less threatening to cultural values and
creates more self-esteem and confidence.
Finally it most be acknowledged that the Gender Coordinator of
Swedish Committee for Afghanistan was and is very
instrumental to develop gender policies within the framework of TDH-Afghanistan.
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“TDH
Mission & Implications for Programming Gender Analysis: Tools
& Assessment of Program”:
Facilitated by the Gender Coordinator of Swedish Committee for
Afghanistan Terre des hommes organized the second gender
workshop this year in Pakistan for all senior staff and cooperating
partners.
The workshop was focusing on TDH’s Mission, The Convention on the
Rights of the Child” and a gender assessment of TDH’s
Afghanistan program.
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senior staff from both Afghanistan participated, equally represented
by women and men, and shared their experiences and learnt from each
other.
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Since the Taliban have
banned education for girls and invested little in education for
boys, home schools are the only alternative for many families to
educate their children.
Terre des hommes (Tdh) projects and programs are presently
supporting several home schools in Kabul and providing education to
230 girls and employment to more than 10 female teachers.
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Afghan
News
The News July
5,2001
ISLAMABAD: Due to lack of international support and drought, the
former Afghan poppy growers are paying a heavy price of implementing
the Taliban ban on the cultivation, as it is declared “ un –
Islamic “. Many of them will be unable to meet the basic needs of
their families in winter 2001 and 2002. However, some of the former
poppy farmers have replaced it with wheat.
The News 7 July 2001
ISLAMABAD: Western aid sources have said that over 45,000 girls
under 10 year of age are engaged in secret learning up to primary
level, in Afghanistan.
The News July 10 2001
ROME: Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of widespread famine,
threatening million of lives, after a third successive year of
drought, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said on Monday.
The
News July 11 2001
PESHAWAR: To remove international concerns over opium stocks
in Afghanistan, Taliban authorities on Tuesday offered members of
the Afghan Support Group its help in the sale of the stuff to drug
manufacturing companies under the UN supervision.
Kyodo Japan July 24 2001
The most disaster prone country in the world today is Afghanistan,
according a new disaster assessment chart drawn up by aid agency
Tear Fund. The chart is an aid to planning disaster response, and
works by carefully weighting and combining data on natural disaster,
conflict and social vulnerability to produce an overall score,
Afghanistan tops the chart because if combined pressures from
conflict and a three year long drought, which is cutting harvests to
30 % of the 1998 levels.
Khaleej
Times July 25 2001
KABUL: The Taliban regime said yesterday it was watching the
activities of Osama bin Laden and that he would not be allowed to
launch attacks on foreign targets from Afghanistan.
The Statesman July 27 2001
ISLAMABAD: In Afghanistan the fatality rate from land mines is very
high and as many as 500 persons are killed by land mines every
month. Health facilities are so scarce that many victims die
needlessly because they can’t reach medical help, a BBC report
said.
The Frontier Post 27 July 2001
WASHINGTON: (Agencies) Afghanistan ruling Taliban resumed the second
phase of their attack against the Northern Alliance forces in Takhar
province. Foreigners are also taking part
in this operation. The Taliban ‘s initial attack, the report
said, on Farkhar Gorge was repulsed.
The Frontier Post, July 28 2001
KANDAHAR (Agencies): The Head of Taliban’s Anti Narcotics
Commission, Mullah Abdul Hameed Akhundzada has said that the ban on
poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was permanent.
The News July 30 2001
KABUL: The United Nations Security Council is likely to vote Monday
on a resolution, which will empower UN observer to monitor
implementation of the sanctions against Taliban. VOA quotes
political analysts as saying that the UN curbs neither have any
impact on Taliban nor forced them to agree to a negotiated
settlement of the conl1ict. An analyst aid that isolation or
punishment of the Taliban has been ineffective and has proved
counter productive. He said Taliban have adopted much harsher stand
because of their isolation.
The
Frontier Post August 9 2001
NEWYORK (Online): The
United Nation Security Council should impose a comprehensive embargo
on all military assistance against all warring factions in
Afghanistan, Human Right Watch has urged.
The Frontier Post August 9 2001
ISLAMABAD: (NNI) United Nation officials this week began recruiting
independent experts who will oversee a new sanctions enforcement
regime against Afghanistan ‘s ruling Taliban. The plan will rely
on tough border policing by Afghanistan ‘s neighbors. But efforts
to get these states to cooperate pose a serious challenge to UN
expert.
The
Frontier Post August 9 2001
ISLAMABAD: The arrest of eight foreign aid workers in Afghanistan
this week is another sign that the Taliban militia are gaining the
upper hand in Kabul analysts said Thursday. Following the
destruction of the ancient Bamiyan Buddahas in March, the crackdown
on Christian aid group Shelter Now showed the Taliban were again
flexing their muscles, with potentially explosive results.
The News August 11 2001
United Nations: Afghanistan’s Taliban, accustomed to being faulted
for its human right record and for harassing international relief
workers, has received a rare compliment from the United Nations for
its overwhelming success in fighting opium cultivation.
Secretary-Genaral Kofi Annan says that a recent UN survey of the
world’s drug problem has concluded that the “most impressive”
results were in Afghanistan, where there has been “the almost
total disappearance of the opium poppy in areas controlled by the
Taliban”.
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Published
by Terre des hommes Afghanistan
P.O.Box 729 Peshawar
Pakistan
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