Afghanistan—Stability in Key Areas-North (SIKA-North)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development

Duration: 2012-2015

Region: Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Country: Afghanistan

Solutions: Governance Fragile States

SIKA-North worked to create more resilient communities in Afghanistan that see their government officials as delivering public services and responsive to local problems. This is critical to stability, as Afghans generally assert that government effectiveness improves their personal sense of predictability, community resilience, and physical security.

Partnering primarily with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and with line departments in a small number of Northern provinces, we worked through and for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, whose district officials plan, design, implement, and monitor projects targeted at improving service provision and stability.

Local sources of instability, to name a few, include water and land rights disagreements, ethnic-based conflict, and vulnerable youth. SIKA-North assisted Afghan district leaders as they addressed and solved problems.

Sample Activities

  • Identify sources of instability using the Stability Analysis Mechanism tool that enables districts to pinpoint issues that undermine peace, predictability, and productivity.
  • Build Stability Working Groups of key local Afghans who host forums and together identify and discuss of district sources of instability.
  • Promote district-level communication among government and nongovernment stakeholders to more efficiently create localized stability-based activities.
  • Build capacity at entities such as District Development Assemblies to address the sources of instability, provide services to their communities, and improve provincial-district coordination.
  • Support activities designed by district entities that mitigate local sources of instability.
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