When U.S. or NATO soldiers need to communicate with Afghan villagers, they rely on translators provided by private contractors. But for various reasons, translators in Afghanistan often don't relate everything they hear. And what is lost in translation can hurt efforts by NATO and the U.S.-led coalition to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. In the worst cases, innocent civilians can be arrested or wrongly targeted.

The Common Country Assessment report is based on reviews and analyses Afghanistan’s development situation where United Nations System have the greatest impact between 2006-2009 toward the overall goal of poverty reduction. In identifying development challenges requiring priority attention during its harmonized programme cycles, the United Nations System and its partners clustered themes for analysis into four closely interrelated groups: Governance and Institutional Development: Peace, Securi more...

Country programme Action Plan agreement signed by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Full document in pdf format: pages 1-26

The war in Afghanistan is a fact, but it is not the only fact about Afghanistan that concerns Canada. Afghanistan is a developing country, one of the world’s poorest. But despite the violence and destruction of conflict, Afghans are achieving substantial development progress.

The Afghan economy has been growing by about 10 per cent annually for the past five years, and per-capita incomes have doubled. To preserve and pursue the progress made, Afghanistan relies on others for support. Canad more...

'Afghanistan has achieved a great deal over the past six years. Even with modest capacity, strong leadership in the ministries of Public Health, Education, and Rural Rehabilitation and Development has begun transforming the country. The Health Ministry, outsourcing through nongovernmental organizations, is supplying basic services and has cut mortality for young children by 26 percent. It is saving 80,000 lives a year. New schools offer classes for 6 million students, the highest level ever, and more...

Decades of conflict destroyed much of Afghanistan’s physical infrastructure, including its road network. Rehabilitation and upgrading of the country’s roads and highways is improving access to markets, enabling private investment, and expanding foreign trade—all key to Afghanistan’s further economic progress.

The 2007 Afghanistan Human Development Report ranks the country as one of the poorest in the world, and the poorest nation in the entire Asia and Pacific region. Despite significant security and development since the 2001 ouster of the former Taliban regime, the people of Afghanistan continue to suffer widespread insecurity; weak governance; inadequate healthcare, education, and other public service; and gender inequality.

The Country Strategy and Program (CSP) is prepared in active consultation with developing member country stakeholders: the government, NGOs, civil society groups, the private sector and other development agencies. It is usually prepared once every five years. A CSP update is prepared every year to reflect any important country developments and adjustments to the program. CSP contents are:
• Recent Political and Social Developments
• Economic Assessment and Outlook
• Implications for t more...

In Kabul, UNESCO assisted the French NGO, ‘Afghanistan Demain’ in constructing and running homes for orphans and abandoned vagrant children and providing basic educational services.
Many of these children, of young age, are often under-nourished, traumatised by violence and illiterate. This project helps them go to school for up to 4 hours a day, and learn in small friendly groups. The project is also an opportunity for teachers, many of whom spent many years unable to teach or use their ex more...

This study examines the constraints on the housing sector in Afghanistan. It evaluates government policy on housing, looks at the state of housing finance, and examines legal and regulatory barriers with a bearing on the housing market. The report provides policy recommendations aimed at helping to develop a private-sector led housing market. To assist in formulating policies and implementing actions, the study recommends forming a housing finance task force under the sponsorship of the governme more...