The Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) recently launched a multi-sector development project worth $441,428 for the populations of Goshta and Bihsud districts and social care home inmates in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, in partnership with the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS).
Expected to serve 7,635 families, comprising some 53,445 people, the comprehensive project is aimed at improving living standards in the eastern provinces of the country, which are deprived of the basic needs as a result of 35 years of wars and natural disasters such as drought, floods, earthquakes and landslides.
This has weighed heavily on the already battered infrastructure and displaced hundreds of thousands of Afghans. It has led to malnutrition, high infant mortality rates (97 per 1,000 live births) and low-income (39% of the Afghan population live below the poverty threshold).
In response to such severe conditions, staff from the QRC office in Afghanistan visited some Nangarhar districts to identify basic needs.
Through interviews with local communities, a set of fundamental needs was identified and translated into a complete development project.
The scheme involves building 40 houses in Goshta and Bihsud using the same local patterns and materials. Each house will comprise two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen at an estimated cost of $3,000.
In Goshta, 20 water wells will be dug of 40m to 60m depths, depending on the distance from the river. These will be equipped with tanks, filters and manual pumps, at a total cost of $3,500to $6,500 per well, depending on the soil and depth.
An additional 70, 4sq m, toilets will be built in Goshta and Bihsud, using local material and designs, at an estimated cost of $650 per toilet. The human waste can be turned into fertiliser.
In parallel, four environmental and health awareness campaigns will be launched in Goshta and Bihsud. Volunteer teams will be formed in the two districts and receive three-day training as environmental and health awareness campaigners. Then, they will initiate an awareness campaign at schools, mosques and public places to urge cleanliness and avoidance of disease causes. By the end of the project, another campaign will be initiated, involving distribution of informative brochures, guidelines, posters and illustrations at a cost of $1,250 per campaign.
Finally, the power network in part of Bihsud will be repaired by a power generator specialist. The dysfunctional equipment will be replaced and maintained at an expected cost of $12,000.
These projects have been widely welcomed by the local communities. “My dream has always been to have two rooms to live comfortably. Thanks to God and your generous support, my dream has come true,” said Yousra Gol, a widow with three girls and four boys, the eldest of whom works as a day labourer and two of whom are disabled.
Hadji Seddiquallah, mayor of Bihsud, said: “We thank QRC and its staff, who delivered on their promises to plan and execute a project for the poor.”
The head of the ARCS office in eastern Afghanistan, Mohamed Iqbal Said, said: “The launch of this project is a new form of assistance from Qatar.”
A development project in Nangarhar.
