Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan

News stories tell of the cost of war; they highlight the life of western soldiers, the young western recruiters, the lost western marines, the lost tax payers’ money but talk seldom about the loss of income, life, future and opportunities for the people who have to live in the middle of the war. When people look at the effort that has been put into Afghanistan, one cannot help but ask – why did it not work? Why is it that after 52 billion dollars, Afghanistan is still in such a dire condition? Why should more money be spent in a country that cannot get itself out of continuous endless wars?

An answer that many like to give is because in Afghanistan, it is not about building on each year of investment but about doing the first year over and over again. Beautiful schools and clinics that get constructed in remote mountainous areas to serve the poor, fall with the change of seasons as poor quality material rotten and degrade. But why do they fall after 20 million dollar investment? The Afghan government states that corruption exists amongst donors as 77% of aid goes outside the government, while others raise concerns over the Afghan government as it is considered to be crippled by corruption. Many civil society organisations have stressed the need for coordination, ownership and prioritisation in order to make aid more effective in Afghanistan but many of the aid decisions are still based on political priorities rather than the needs of the Afghan people.

Contracts and project details remain unknown, making it very difficult for citizens to hold implementers, government and donors accountable. The provincial authorities seldom have complete information on what is suppose to be delivered in their own territory. They know there are projects, they know the objective but seldom the details, making it really hard for them to monitor and control whether what is being constructed is actually what was planned or whether corruption has infected the process. It would be easy to say that the only problem in the accountability mechanism is that people are excluded from their own development process or that there was not enough information or that there was a lack of government capacity but the truth is far more complex. The truth of why aid in Afghanistan still has a far way to go before it becomes effective, includes powerbrokers, traditional governance mechanisms, external/international pull factors and criminality amongst several other factors, but maybe the biggest problem of it all, is that leading actors look outside themselves for solutions to the problems they themselves are part of.

Corruption In Afghanistan

Afghanistan - a country that is known for so many things. Most of these are related to endless wars, conflict, suicide bombers, destruction, poverty and death; few stories describe the beauty of this country. The poetry, the astonishingly high mountains, the turquoise glass that brings the ocean closer to a landlocked country and, above anything else, the voices of the people are often not heard. Like most countries in the world, the social tissue lives on the gestures average people extend to their neighbours, colleagues, friends and common strangers. But what is it that people talk about when they sit for tea and break Naan? Security of course, Family naturally, and increasingly so: Corruption

Afghanistan is considered to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world, only after Somalia and Burma. Yet, compared to these two countries and the vast majority of the world, it is also one of the highest recipients of foreign aid and assistance. The international community has helped Afghanistan with money and expertise for over ten years, yet the country is 158 in the Human Development Index for 2011 and scores the lowest of any Asian, Latin American or European Country. Around 550 children die every day of preventable causes and one woman dies every 30 minutes due to pregnancy related complications which could be avoided if proper health care education and services were available. Although Afghanistan has fought hard to achieve development, public service delivery faces many challenges, including corruption. According to our own survey, we can see that one in seven adults have to pay a bribe to acquire a public service and one billion dollars was taken in bribes from average citizens in 2009.

When people talk about corruption in Afghanistan, they think about the millions of dollars that are smuggled to Dubai, they think about Kabul Bank, they think about the rich who become richer, they think about the golden boy who got promoted but few people think about the average farmer who earns 500 USD a year and how that will impact his household of 7.What are the stories of average Afghans? How does corruption impact their everyday life? How does corruption limit the life of people?