Archived Document
Priority 2. Strengthen Afghan institutional capacity to deliver core services and promote economic growth, enhancing the confidence of Kandaharis in their government.
Afghanistan faces extraordinary challenges in delivering basic services that foster and promote sustainable economic growth. The Canadian objective for this priority thus focuses on the development of Afghanistan’s self-sufficiency: by 2011, we expect that Kandahar’s provincial administration and core ministries of the Afghan government will be better able to provide basic services to key districts of Kandahar province.
Afghan surveyors compare numbers while
discussing the desilting of an irrigation canal
as part of the Dahla Dam signature project.
Basic services involve the dependable provision of public goods with which Canadians are familiar, such as education, health care, sanitation, road infrastructure and clean water for homes and farmland. Although an important end in itself, a focus on basic services within the counterinsurgency strategy helps to promote Afghan support for their government, which can result in less tolerance for the presence of insurgents.
In this quarter, Canada continued to make important progress on this priority, progress further enabled by the deployment of U.S. military assets that contributed to the increased security required for development work to occur, and by additional U.S. civilian personnel that has resulted in increased access to funding and more capacity for the KPRT.
Children outside at recess at a newly built
middle school, one of the 50 schools being
built or repaired as part of Canada's education
signature project.
Canada also made progress on its second signature project, to build, repair or refurbish 50 schools in key districts of Kandahar by 2011. In this quarter, an additional two schools were completed, bringing the total to 16; another 27 schools are currently under construction. The remaining seven schools have now been contracted for construction.
Canadian involvement in providing basic services extends into areas beyond support for agriculture and education, especially with respect to delivering opportunities for local economic growth. A long-time, strong supporter of the National Area-based Development Program that promotes economic development in Kandahar province, in this quarter Canada committed an additional $6 million for district infrastructure projects and $9.5 million for the provision of financial or business advisory services through a new Rural Enterprise Development – Kandahar project.
