Bureau for Reconstruction and Development

Contact Information

  • Where – Afghanistan (Asia)
  • Website – www.brd.org.af
  • Contact Person – Khan Agha Dawoodzai
  • Email – kdawoodzai@brd.org.af
  • Address – Street 3, Part A, Khoshal Maina, Kabul, Afghanistan
  • Other – brd@brd.org.af, brd.afghan2011@gmail.com

Areas of Expertise

The Bureau for Reconstruction and Development (BRD) has expertise in a range of areas, including:

Main Aims and Objectives

BRD is a registered not-for-profit Afghan organization, established in 2002 by Afghans. BRD is interested in participating in the process of reconstruction and in the development of the country. It is an NGO that implements and coordinates development projects and supports the process of the development of a strong, viable and pluralistic civil society.

Vision – BRD’s vision for Afghanistan is a place where the population lives in an improved environment with integrity and prosperity. It is also a place where human rights and women rights are recognized and respected. The citizen is encouraged to play an active role in determining the future of their communities.

Mission

  • To create an environment in which men and women are able to improve their standards of living through equitable and sustainable resources.
  • To improve service delivery of both public sector institutions and non-profit sector institutions by building their capacities in order to facilitate long term development in Afghanistan.
  • To support the development of a strong, viable and pluralistic civil society in post-constitution Afghanistan.

Upholding the Principles of Conflict Transformation

An essential part of its mandate, BRD’s core values are based on social justice, commitment, openness, accountability, transparency and respect of all segments of society without prejudice to gender, caste, religion, language and ethnic considerations.

Where and with Whom?

Afghanistan is a post-war country. It is landlocked and underdeveloped. It is the poorest country in Asia and the Pacific region. It is also a country of nearly 24 million people who are weary of conflict and subject to grinding poverty in an often harsh environment, wary of foreign intentions, and sceptical about their own leaders, many of whom have ‘warlord’ pasts.

Context

Although Afghanistan is now in post-war reconstruction, the usual challenges of reconstruction are made difficult by the continuing insurgency, the age-old centrifugal forces that have always made Afghanistan hard to govern, the extreme weakness of modern institutions, widespread corruption and lack of rule of law. Two years after the signing of the Afghanistan Compact, despite progress made to improve the lives of the Afghan people, significant challenges still remain. A lack of institutional capacity, growing insecurity, and the increase in opium production has constrained the efforts of the government and the international community. The necessary level of stability required to build a capable government and to develop a strong private sector-led economy, able to provide productive employment, and tackle the challenges of the opium industry are still absent. Source: JCMB VII Report 2008Against a background of sound macro-economic strategy and impressive economic recovery, the country continues to struggle to emerge from a state of conflict. In 2007, the security situation deteriorated in many parts of the country, especially in the South. More than 6,000 people were killed in conflict-related violence, including more than 1,000 police. Illicit cultivation and trafficking of opium has increased and corruption remains pervasive. This situation challenges the core of the Afghan state at a decisive time when the central government is attempting to deliver improved services to the people. The twin curse of narcotics and conflict undermines security and the rule of law, threatens the credibility of the Government and increases the distance between the Government and the Afghan people, who have high expectations regarding improvements to their daily lives.

Recent changes in the Afghanistan’s political, economic and social environment have created a high demand for skilled workers, which cannot be met by the current labor market. In Afghanistan’s changing environment, many people lack the necessary skills to earn a living. Poverty is widespread, and the overall unemployment rate is estimated at 40 percent.

Main Activities in the Field of Conflict Transformation

BRD has four key program areas:

1. Capacity Building for Income Generation

In 2004, Afghanistan became a signatory to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Declaration. Under the National Development Strategy, the government’s strategy in economic and social development to achieve the MDGs, aims to achieve pro-poor, private sector-led growth while eliminating the narcotics economy. To enhance the productivity of the labour force in the legal economy, the government prioritizes education, skills development and health.To assist the country in achieving its poverty reduction goals, BRD has adopted capacity building for income generation as one of its major strategic imperatives. Its main thrust is in marketable skills and small business development.

2. Capacity Building of the Government

Afghanistan’s reconstruction needs well functioning governmental administration, which needs qualified and accountable human resources. Currently, Governmental departments are facing the lack of professional and skilled Afghan personnel; they do not have the skills and qualifications required for office management and to develop and implement development projects.

As part of Afghanistan’s National Development Strategy in Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights, the government is reviewing its public administration structure and rationalizing it to ensure a fiscally sustainable public administration.

The capacity of the government is also to be strengthened so that it is able to deliver services to the people effectively and efficiently. The public administration has to be improved through further development of coherent and effective administrative and bureaucratic structures with a sufficiently trained and motivated civil service.

3. Development of Viable Civil Society

Along with the Government and private sector, civil society is an important and legitimate actor in peace-building and democratization. Strong civil-society institutions, interacting with the state, can create innovative solutions to complex social and economic problems. A vibrant and diverse civil society can also provide an atmosphere of accessibility so that poor and marginalized people are able to participate in their own social, economic, cultural, and political development. To promote democracy and as part of the nation building process, it is necessary to support the building and strengthening of civil society organizations at the grass roots level.

4. Human Rights

BRD believes that education is the key to the protection of human rights. The respect for rights by the majority of the population is the only guarantee that rights will be respected. The outcomes BRD expects to build through its human rights education programs are:

  • Strengthen respect for human rights and basic freedoms
  • Development of the human personality and a sense of dignity
  • Promotion of tolerance, gender equality and friendship among nations, indigenous people and racial, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups
  • Enable persons to participate in a free society
  • Furtherance of activities of the United Nations towards peace

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