Every day, all over the world, USAID brings peace to those who endure violence, health to those who struggle with sickness, and prosperity to those who live in poverty. It is these individuals — these uncounted thousands of lives — that are the true measure of USAID’s successes and the true face of USAID's programs.
Twenty-four-year-old Wahida received a good education when she was living as a refugee in Peshawar, Pakistan. However, when she returned to her village in Afghanistan, she was surprised by new obstacles and few opportunities. Due to poverty, her brother was forced to quit school and work to support the family. Wahida wanted to help by becoming a teacher at a nearby high school for girls, but her brother objected. “I don’t want you to go out of the house,” he said. “Don’t you know that the girls of this village only perform household chores and nothing else?”
Providing better water delivery service and improved customer care are two key goals of the Jalalabad Water Supply Department (JWSD). However, because the main JWSD office is located outside of the city, it was inconvenient for most customers. To improve service, JWSD established the first customer care center in the Jalalabad city center with assistance from USAID’s Commercialization of Afghanistan Water and Sanitation Activity (CAWSA) project, implemented by the International City/County Management Association.
Women and disabled community members in northern Afghanistan face a range of cultural and social barriers when seeking employment. As a result, they are often amongst the poorest members of the community. In collaboration with government line directorates, USAID’s Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East, and West (IDEA-NEW) has worked to address this problem by training 423 women and men in gabion weaving in the Puli Khumri District of Baghlan Province. Gabions are key structural components for building protection walls along waterways to prevent flooding and erosion.
With limited job opportunities and high poverty in remote areas of Afghanistan, local people consider joining the insurgency. Addressing this issue in Behsud District of Nangarhar Province, USAID’s Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East, and West (IDEA-NEW) program supported establishing a textile processing facility to generate local level employment and strengthen the textile value chain.
Located in the foothills of central Afghanistan, Jalrez District in Wardak Province is known as the home of the country’s finest athletes. This reputation inspired the establishment of the Jalrez Youth Association (JYA) in 2008 through USAID support. The JYA engages young people in organized sports, providing them with a legitimate alternative to joining the insurgency.
Traditionally a stronghold for the insurgency in Kapisa Province, Eskin is a small village in a valley that more than 2,000 families call home. Tough mountainous terrain and restricted access have limited the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s presence in this area. The road is the only way to reach the district center where Eskin valley villagers can access critical resources, including health services, markets and local government institutions.
As a village elder, Hajji Baba cares about his community and knows that his well-being is linked to the security of his environment and the prosperity of his fellow villagers in Arghandab District of Kandahar Province. Hajji Baba was one of many Arghandab farmers suffering after several years of drought. The farmers couldn’t plow the land, had no fruit on their trees, and didn’t know what to do about the insects.
When Abdullah Jan met Shabnam, they were seniors in the Engineering Department at Kabul University. They soon began to intern at the Kabul Central Materials Laboratory operated by USAID’s Afghanistan Infrastructure Rehabilitation Program (AIRP).
Distributing accurate and unbiased information in a country without a tradition of free press is a challenge. However, USAID, through the Journalist Training Program under the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), developed a tri-language website (English-Dari-Pashto) that delivers content related to politics, society, and the history of Afghanistan.
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