Ongoing Project Profiles

Peace Building through Training and Networking of Maliks

With the initial funding from the Counterpart International, WADAN runs this project with the objective to support the emergence of a democratic culture in Afghanistan through strengthening democratic practices within the indigenous power structures in Afghanistan.

The purpose of the project is to cultivate and develop the institutional capacity of the National Maliks Association (NMA) to embody democratic principles and to serve as an independent watchdog on the public sector. The specific objectives of the project activities are to promote durable peace, national unity, democracy and citizens’ rights in Afghanistan, to empower communities to participate in the political, cultural and socio-economic rehabilitation of Afghan society, to encourage the demobilization of combatants, to raise awareness of election campaigns, encourage voter turnout in the future district level elections, to promote transparency in the election process, to advance collaboration amongst all segments of Afghan society and state irrespective of ethno-linguistic grouping or socio-economic class, and to advance the local building blocks necessary for sustainable development and representative government.

Built upon the current network of local leaders, WADAN has facilitated and further developed the institutional development of the National Maliks Association by holding district, provincial, regional and national level assemblies and meetings. Detailed activities are as follows:


National Maliks Association General Assembly Meeting
With support from Counterpart International, WADAN organized two national assemblies where approximately 400 leading members of the NMA participated in Kabul in November 2006 and more than 1,200 members of the NMA participated the NMA gathering in June 2007. WADAN also conducted several advocacy events for the provincial, regional and district members of the NMA.

Among the priorities identified by local networks for the NMA mission have been: the promotion of national unity by means of joint meetings, discussions, and exchange of ideas on important national issues; the encouragement of a spirit of brotherhood, unity, and cooperation among linguistic, geographic, and demographic segments of society; the education of Afghan citizens regarding social evils such as extremism, terrorism, and illicit drugs; to educate the general public and prepare them for district level elections; and, to advocate freedom and democracy in Afghanistan while fully respecting the culture, traditions, and religion of Afghan citizens.

The provincial and regional NMA shuras have the same structure while the national NMA shura has an executive board, with a chair, deputy chair, treasurer, public relations officer and a rapporteur. All of these members serve as volunteers.


NMA District Level Activities
The National Maliks Association (NMA) holds a monthly meeting where the members discuss important issues such as conflicts among the residents of particular districts and tries to find solutions that fully consider human rights. These decisions are recorded in their meeting books and reported to the provincial NMA shura and the district administration of the pertinent area.


NMA Provincial Level Activities
The provincial shuras convene every month and discuss all issues of interest with a particular focus on issues referred by the district shuras. Their proceedings and decisions are recorded in their meeting books and reported to their regional NMA shura and the provincial administration.

NMA Regional Level Activities
A regional shura is made of one representative of each province in the region and meets monthly. Representatives are elected and sent to the shura from the members of provincial shuras. The shura members call on the heads of the provincial shuras of the region every six months to discuss pertinent issues and strive to find solutions.

A grand meeting of each region is convened every four months.


NMA National Level Activities
The NMA National Shura is convened every month and discusses all issues of interest with a particular focus on issues referred by the regional shuras. Their proceedings and decisions are recorded in their books and reported to the NMA National Shura.

WADAN, through these local leaders, collects the prioritized needs identified by the members of the NMA and their constituents and then communicates those requests to the concerned department of the government, donors and other aid organizations and coordination bodies. WADAN serves as a liaison between the target communities and the relevant departments and donors. WADAN staff members participate in the coordination meetings of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), meetings of the United Nations and Coordination bodies where such requests are discussed and acted upon.

WADAN also distributes questionnaires to NMA members to assess the relevance of WADAN activities to their needs and the effectiveness of these activities and methodology.

WADAN regularly monitors media coverage of the NMA’s activities as an indicator of the coverage of the activities.

WADAN regularly passes the feedback it receives from the participants, district administrators, department heads, governors and local officials that details whoever they are impression and assessment of the training workshops and the impacts these workshops have had on the participants and the target community to the relevant organizations, aid and relief agencies, United Nations agencies, and the government.


Updated On: April 15, 2009