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Established in August 2002, the Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan is an indigenous, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization with accreditation from the government of Afghanistan and the Afghan NGOs Coordination Bureau (ANCB) and Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) to undertake community and institutional development, civic education, and drug control initiatives. Based in Kabul, WADAN has offices in Badakshan, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunduz, Ghazni, Khost, Logar, Maidan-Wardak, Nangarhar, Paktia, and Zabul provinces, and employs around 1,000 full and part time employees as of July 2011.

WADAN respects the laws of the Afghan government and the culture and traditions of Afghanistan’s communities, and exists primarily to build the capacity of Afghan citizens toward the establishment of a healthy, functional, Afghan democracy. WADAN envisions a peaceful, drug free, democratic and developed Afghanistan. Our mission is to advance the spread of democratic principles, sustainable development, social justice, human rights, and freedom in Afghanistan.

WADAN aims to foster peace and stability, national unity, human rights and drug control by strengthening and empowering communities. We are dedicated to supporting the needs and interests of Afghans, inclusive of all ethnic and linguistic groups, and we recognize the central role that community plays in the structure of society. In our activities we initiate innovative ways to improve the quality of life in the broad community: local, national and international.

As an organization seasoned in civic education efforts and as an Afghan NGO with extensive experience working with people at the grassroots, WADAN has a unique understanding of methodology that would work with citizens’ desires that Afghanistan emerge from its early disappointments with democracy to develop a citizenry with knowledge of democratic principles, respect for the rule of law and the need and promotion of education in Afghanistan. We are cognizant that at all levels, Afghan governing entities are in the process of learning how to develop and follow systems of good governance and service delivery, particularly how to provide citizens with educational and health services. WADAN builds people; we believe that progress in a geographically remote, largely illiterate and unschooled population still affected the physical, emotional and political effects of long-term warfare will be incremental, and that education in these circumstances is as essential as survival. Also essential to successful nation-building is the development of traditional local leadership figures including maliks and mullahs. To meet the needs of a nation in the 21st century, women must be included in nation building efforts every step of the way. Therefore, long term, focused efforts are necessary.

WADAN has received repeated funding for its projects from the United Nations Agencies, the Commonwealth and Foreign Office of the United Kingdom, the Department for International Development (DFID), the Save the Children Fund, Sweden/Norway, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) & the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the U.S. Department of State/INL through the Colombo Plan. WADAN received funding for the pilot phase of the Increasing Access to Education Project from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).