WADAN Civic Education & Peace Building Training Program for Local Leaders

Impacts and Achievements

Transparency & Accountability: The local leaders who received trainings are now demanding transparency and accountability in all areas of governance, civil society and political processes. For instance, most of the Maliks who participated in WADAN advocacy events served as election observers in their polling stations ensuring transparency in the presidential, parliamentary and provincial councils elections held on September 18, 2005 in Afghanistan. Involving themselves in the process, they received accreditation from the regional Joint Election Management Body (JEMB) for observing elections and preventing vote-buying and intimidation.

Promotion of Democracy & Citizens’ Rights: After attending these civic education events, most of the participants have become trainers for their fellow citizens in their villages, town and districts. The trained local leaders educate their constituents regarding democracy and elaborate on the misconceptions that many people have regarding the word “democracy” and its negative connotation especially in rural Afghanistan where the negative connotation regarding democracy is prevalent. The participation of the public, particularly members of the National Maliks Association in the process of parliamentary and provincial council elections is one of the best indicators of the effectiveness of this project.

Election Education & Voter turnout: WADAN training teams initiated effective and timely election education events and made them integral parts of the training curriculum. We received hundreds of thousands of mock ballots from JEMB and distributed them among the voters, especially in remote areas such as Nimrooz, Paktika, Khost, Nooristan, Badakhshan and other target districts. WADAN teams also educated the audience regarding the election process, how to identify their candidate and how to vote, thus minimizing chances of invalid vote casting. These valuable efforts resulted in a high turnout in the target districts as opposed to the districts where trainings were not conducted. More importantly, WADAN implemented these activities in areas where others did not dare to go such as districts in Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and other dangerous areas. This fact was recognized by the JEMB which appreciated WADAN's work in conducting these valuable activities.

Promotion of Peace (Law & Order) & Prevention of Social Evils: As a result of the trainings WADAN provided to the community leaders regarding peace building and prevention of social evils, most of the community leaders maintained law and order in their areas during the elections and vowed to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies in maintaining peace and security. A good example of this achievement is when the local leaders from Paktia, Khost and Paktika provinces decided to form “Arbaki”, a local word for tribal peace-keeping operations. They organized tribal volunteers to maintain law and order in their areas to prevent any sort of subversive activities during the election and even afterwards. They cooperated shoulder to shoulder with the law enforcement agencies in keeping security.

The community leaders who received trainings now advocate the poppy ban and drug control in areas under their control. They motivate farmers to switch to the cultivation of legal crops. For example, trained Maliks from these districts encouraged farmers to respect the government’s ban on poppy cultivation and to be responsive to international norms and regulations.

As far as drug use and abuse is concerned, the trainers made the audience of these events aware of the dangers of drugs and asked them to take preventive measures of this menace as according to the United Nations survey there are around one million addicts in the country.

Also, the community leaders have shown strong commitment to combat terrorism, political extremism and social evils in all its forms. The formation of the “Arbaki” is a very good example of this commitment.

Conflict Resolution: The project teams educated the target groups and communities in conflict resolution techniques, compromise, tolerance, flexibility, and participatory management where the audience of the discussions and advocacy events mastered techniques that they would use in their respective constituencies. Settling disputes is one of the important tasks of these village shuras and Maliks networks that have received trainings. The important distinction between the Maliks who received training and who did not receive is a very vital one which is the respect for human rights. Maliks who received training are now settling disputes while fully respecting human rights while Maliks who do not receive training may violate human rights, not just because they want to, but because they are not aware of such violations. For example, local leaders usually settle disputes by arranging marriages among the disputed parties without the consent of the women involved. Those who received trainings now respect human rights and avoid such unfair practices that have been held for centuries.

Capacity Building & Human Resources Development: As capacity building/human resources development is an integral part of any project that WADAN implements, WADAN teams first gained the necessary knowledge and expertise in project management, community mobilization, community empowerment techniques, training modules and methods, participatory management, communication skills and effective implementation of project activities maximizing positive impacts and self reliance and minimizing dependency and inefficiency. WADAN teams then trained these local leaders in some of these techniques so they could pass them on to their constituencies.

Positive Behavioral Change: The trainings provided by WADAN have had profound impacts on the behaviors of the participants in Kandahar, Zabul, Nimrooz, Uruzgan, Helmand, Paktia, Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Nangarhar, Konar, Nooristan, Laghman, Kuduz, Takhar, Badakhshan, and Baghlan provinces where the local leaders have shown greater interest in voter registration, elections and involvement in all political and economic rebuilding of the country.

Trust-building & self esteem: Through effective negotiations and community participation, the community leaders became more cooperative and expressed their full satisfaction in WADAN’s project activities and approach. After the trainings, most of the trainees welcomed the initiatives and expressed their full support and cooperation. Knowing about the rights of citizens, they became more confident of themselves and realized that they could work to bring about positive changes in governance, policy, politics and any issue of national interest.

Cooperation: The participants of these trainings were cooperative and vowed to support initiatives that promote national interests. They termed the program “the need of the day” and showed keen interest in this very important and useful initiative. For example, local leaders from the southern and eastern provinces requested similar trainings for women which is a clear indication of cooperation and positive change in the attitude of the most conservative segment of Afghan society.

Similarly, the local leaders of other target provinces have expressed their readiness to support any initiatives by the government, the United Nations, and the international community that will promote peace, democracy, social justice, human rights, drug control and fair and transparent elections.

Knowing the importance of civic education particularly in these districts, particularly those that border Pakistan, the district administrators and governors have welcomed the WADAN civic education teams and have facilitated the trainings in their districts/provinces by providing venues for trainings and accommodation facilities for the civic education teams.

These local officials requested that WADAN expand its training programs to other districts so more Afghans can benefit from this very important project that is geared towards winning the hearts and minds of the local people, involving them fully in the political and economical rehabilitation of the country and utilizing this important local resource in promoting peace and combating extremism and other social evils.

Participation and National Unity: The participants became more united as a result of the training events organized by WADAN. People had had misconceptions about voter registration and elections, but after the advocacy events they became more cooperative and united in the proper development of Afghanistan.

For example, the Maliks who received training were very involved in the process of election while those who did not receive training were not that involved. Maliks who received training participated in the election, motivated their constituents to vote, encouraged women to participate in the election, attracted volunteers to transport women to polling stations free of cost, and also served as election observers to ensure transparency in the election process, cooperated with the law enforcement agencies in maintaining law and order, prevented vote buying and promoted accountability.

Districts where local leaders received training were more organized than the others in participating in the elections, motivating others to participate in all issues of national interest, and serving as focal points for maintaining security and observing elections to ensure transparency, accountability and prevention of intimidation and vote buying.

Creation of Maliks Networks: The district, provincial and national networks, created as a result of 2004 and 2005 National Endowment for Democracy (NED) grants, are more active in all issues of national interest such as elections, demands from the government for transparency, accountability, the demand for ‘the right people for the right job' and organizing public events and citizen groups to advocate democracy, transparency, peace and respect for human rights. For example, members of the Maliks Association lodged complaints with the Election Complaint Commission regarding some fraudulent activities during the parliamentary and provincial council elections. The NMA members served as watchdog groups in several polling stations.

Some district and provincial networks, as well as a National Maliks Association have already been established while WADAN will further develop these networks as it covers more districts under the grant for 2006. The NMA will have representatives from all the districts where the trainings have been held. Besides other important tasks such as the promotion of national unity, transparency, social justice, accountability, peace, security, and democracy, we envision the national association of Maliks to serve as a citizens’ watchdog group ensuring accountability and transparency in the public sector.

Some of the priorities these networks have identified are:

• To promote national unity by joint meetings, discussions, and exchange of ideas on all important national issues.
• To serve as a citizens' watchdog group to ensure accountability, transparency and good governance.
• To nullify all linguistic, geographic and demographic divisions and encourage the spirit of brotherhood, unity, and cooperation.
• To hold regular meetings and discuss all issues in the spirit of national interest and according to the Constitution of Afghanistan.
• To organize public awareness events regarding citizens’ rights and transparent and accountable governance.
• To educate the general public and prepare them for elections.
• To advocate freedom and democracy in Afghanistan while fully respecting the culture, traditions and religion of Afghan citizens.

Involvement of Mass Media: WADAN has engaged both local and international media to disseminate information regarding civic education efforts at the grassroots level. WADAN activities are broadcast by local and international electronic and print media.

EVALUATION

According to the feedback we received from the participants and independent sources, these initiatives were warmly welcomed by community and local leaders who expressed their full satisfaction and showed keen interest in the program. They also expressed their commitment and cooperation with such initiatives that promote national unity, peace, democracy, transparency, good governance and human rights in their respective constituencies and vowed to train and pass the knowledge, gained as a result of these deliberations and advocacy events, to their respective communities.

The growing demands for such interactions are also indicators that such events are very effective and crucial at such an important juncture of time.

Some of the participants of these events expressed their views and said that transparency should be ensured in all phases of governance, especially during elections, so citizens can have their rights and access to fair and free elections as well as to the services that the government provides in return for the communities’ cooperation.

Various local leaders from the target districts vowed to support the election process and to take an active part in voting, maintaining law and order and taking part in the elections as observers. These activities clearly indicate the effectiveness of these events which is a clear shift in the attitudes of the local leaders toward cooperation.

In areas where civic education events were held, people were more active in participating in the elections. More importantly, people who receive education know exactly what to do during the election and that minimizes chances of invalid voting. The ratio of invalid voting was higher in areas that did not get civic education and awareness than in the areas where there was some sort of civic education.

WADAN received several requests from the Joint Election Management Body (JEMB) to distribute mock ballots and to educate people in voting procedures which WADAN gladly did. WADAN staff and members of The National Maliks Association have registered themselves to be observers during the election. Some of the WADAN trainees or participants of these civic education events worked as observers during the elections.

Similarly, in order to bridge gaps between communities and government institutions, district administrations took active parts in these events and cooperated with the teams in the implementation of the projects. They have welcomed these initiatives and have asked WADAN for a continued relationship with the target communities and relevant government institutions.

In order to assess the relevance of workshops to the needs of the trainees and the effectiveness of the training, content, and methodology, WADAN distributes evaluation forms to participants at the conclusion of each training session. The feedback received from the participants is then incorporated into the training process to make it more responsive to the needs of its audience.

The growing demand for such trainings is also an indicator that these are of vital importance to community leadership in almost all parts of the country.

TRAINERS’ NOTES

Reported by: Kunduz Regional Office

The WADAN team conducted trainings in Istaq and Mah-o-Aab districts, where people have been involved in strong ethnic-based conflicts and quarrels with each other. The districts and their villages were divided into two groups which behaved like bad enemies. They referred to people who were leaders in past as dictators and traitors. There was no give-and-take and social relationships between these districts and people from these districts barely associated with each other.

WADAN team members rounded up all the villagers together and talked to them regarding the advantages of national unity, peace and stability. They all realized what they were doing was wrong. The people embraced each other and promised that from now on, they will all work together for the betterment of their society and will stop the internal conflicts. Through the intervention of WADAN’s team, the dispute was resolved and all the villagers were pleased.

Reported by: Nangarhar Regional Office

WADAN team members went to Manogai district in Kunar province which was somewhat insecure because that place is a safe haven for the rebellious. Most of the people in Manogai district were the vigorous opponents of the government. When they attended the training in which we conveyed information on unity and brotherhood and we took into consideration all the local traditions and values and everything was closely associated with Quran, Hadith, and our code of conduct. They were inspired.

We discussed peace and security and told them that peace and security is the basic element in the reconstruction and the rebuilding process won’t happen without peace. We told the local leaders and district elders that it’s their job and responsibility to convince the people in their respective districts who oppose the government to lay down their weapons, get together, help others in the rebuilding process and influence others to assist in this long anticipated process.

The participants formed a council who pledged that they will go and meet their people hidden in the mountains and will encourage them to end this conflict and help the people, government and the country in the reconstruction as a whole. Haji Mohammad Gul promised the WADAN training team that the council will do this. They said they appreciated WADAN’s efforts and expressed their gratitude and prayed for the prosperity of WADAN’s activities.

In another example, before conducting training in Goshta district of Nangarhar province, we noticed people strongly violated human rights and particularly women’s rights. They were completely unaware of women’s rights and treated women as animals. The people were marrying women in exchange for a few animals.

They all strictly discouraged and imposed a ban on girls’ education and had never sent their girls to schools. Women were considered property. We conducted training and discussed women’s rights in accordance with Islamic law. People realized what they have been doing is completely wrong and against the Islamic law. They promised that they will give equal rights to their women and will allow their girls to go to school.

They also pledged that they will stop cultivating opium.

Reported by: Herat Regional Office

As scheduled, WADAN Herat team members went to conduct awareness training in Kohistan district, and presented two days of general awareness training to the people on issues such as national unity, democracy, the harmful effects of drug abuse, peace and stability, and human rights. The team discussed women’s rights as part of human rights to ensure men’s awareness of women’s rights.

Soon after the training, the WADAN team received a letter addressed to the Herat regional office from Ghulam Siddiq, a villager from Kohistan district. Due to some problems he had forced his wife to leave his home and go to her father’s home. He wrote that when he learned about and realized the rights of women that he went and brought his wife back to her home and apologized to his in-laws for the inconvenience. The couple is now happily living in their own home with their two children.

They appreciated WADAN’s activities and proposed that such trainings be conducted as these are very important for the local people as most people don’t have much knowledge about such issues. He added that women are the victims of domestic violence here, and many of them commit suicide.

In his letter, Ghulam Siddiq added that half of society is composed of women, and through training both men and women could understand the rights of each other and could build a mutual understanding and could have an equal respect for each other.

Reported by: Kandahar Regional Office

At the end of the Maliks training in Shajoi district of Zabul province, one of the participants of the training remarked that "at the end of each program, you give us turbans as mementos but later Taliban are reckoning with us. He added that their responses to the Taliban would possibly be that until recently we haven't learned anything from you at all, but we have learned a lot from the fellows conducting this training in just two days."

A commander from the Shamalzoi district had also participated in the Maliks Training sessions in Zabul province. He delivered a speech to the participants and then he requested that they observe and note that among us here are both governmental and non-governmental officials as well as our own local leaders, maliks and mullahs, but we hadn't heard even a single word of unity, peace and stability from any of them yet. He suggested that the duration of these trainings be expanded from three to four or five days, and proposed that the WADAN team should also visit other villages and deliver the same messages. But unfortunately, due to the lack of adequate security this would not be possible in some of the villages.

Similarly, one of the participants of the Maliks trainings in Helmand province said "We do really appreciate all the efforts that the WADAN team has made in delivering these wonderful and effective messages to us in such bad and deteriorating security circumstances.” He added, “I personally have participated in many trainings, workshops and awareness events that were organized by various organizations but I haven't grasped such information as I did in WADAN's three-day trainings. The main reason for this is that WADAN's curriculum is closely associated with the Quran, Hadith, and our local code of conduct".

In another example, at the end of the Maliks Training in Baghran district of Helmand province, the district administrator said, “We look equally to all organizations but your organization's programs are more interesting, informative, effective and decent in comparison to others.” He added,” I'm a mullah myself but I must admit that as yet we haven't done anything for the capacity building of our people as WADAN team did in only three days training. I and my entire team really appreciate your good work and will pray for your continued prosperity and success in this good way.” To that end, he proposed that the founder of WADAN expand the work and conduct such trainings throughout Afghanistan.