Reconstruction Assistance Policy of Water Resources Sector in Afghanistan

Abstract

 The international community has been giving reconstruction assistance to post-conflict Afghanistan since 2002. The Kabul Process, taking particular note of the Government ownership, began in 2010. It has continued to the present day to put into practice the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). The reconstruction assistance, however, has not yet succeeded. This study, from the perspective of the water resources sector, analyzed problems and issues related to the procedure and performance of the Kabul Process by social strata of the Afghanistan reconstruction assistance. Results demonstrated the following: 1) the political level did not clarify and indicate a concept of the Afghanistan government ownership; 2) the policy-making level fragmented the water resources sector and doubled its coordination body; 3) the policy-implementing level prepared no comprehensive water resource program and secured no coordination among water resource sub-sectors; and 4) the local society had no chance to show its own needs. Considering a strong autonomous sense based on tribalism in Afghanistan local societies, the author infers that the people’s ownership is more important than the government’s ownership. The Afghanistan government and donors must find local societies’ demands and incorporate them into Afghanistan government policies. To do so, local organizations and institutions must be reformed appropriately; local human resources must be developed. Moreover, to respect and facilitate “People’s and Government Ownership (PGO)” in Afghanistan, the donors must indicate their clear reconstruction assistance policy, and must develop their own capacity for raising Afghanistan PGO.