From the bottom up

This was the theme of a lecture I heard last week at the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat on Sussex Drive. The topic was democracy in Afghanistan: can it be "built from the bottom up"? The speaker, introduced by the CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation in Canada, was Sujeet Sarkar, Senior Regional Advisor for Governance and Civil Society with the AKF. During the last six years this gentleman has lived in Afghanistan—"the most volatile place in this universe ... the second-most corrupt country in the world"—working in conjunction with that country's National Solidarity Programme to invigorate Community Development Councils (based on the traditional shura) in remote villages where "poverty is more of a concern than violence."

The objective is for each village to identify, plan, manage and monitor its own development projects. The representatives of the Aga Khan Development Network (supported by CIDA), are simply facilitators, sitting deferentially with the village elders at their meetings; the outsiders' role is to influence the council's decisions by offering funding (micro-grants), on condition the local project be planned fairly. "How would you like to see your village in 2015?" each group is asked at the outset, and "Who would you like to have as your leaders?" Our own people, is the usual answer. It turned out that hardly any problems need to be solved outside of the community itself.

In order to be awarded the funding for a new school, for road repairs, bridge building, tree-planting* or whatever, village councils are obliged to participate in role-play games to give them a better understanding of modern approaches to old problems. The men and the women do not "play" these games together, but in some cases the facilitators contrive to give the men concerned a new appreciation of their womenfolk's problems and potential. Sujeet confessed he had been sometimes moved to tears by the frustration conveyed by the women's groups; they had so much to offer and were barred from offering it because of their lower status. However there's a feeling that this will change in future generations because their daughters now get more of an education, and, interestingly, the menfolk seem to encourage the idea of girls going to school. Only 10% of adult women in Afghanistan are literate at present, but 50% of Afghan girls are learning to read. The present day average life expectancy for an Afghan woman is 40 years.

*5 million trees have been planted at the AFK's expense, orchards replacing the former poppy fields

The AKDN has introduced the concept of a social audit to these communities, where those responsible must stand in front of the council and report on how much money is being spent and why. This process is, apparently, acceptable. Women of the village may ask questions but only in writing, and only from behind a screen.

There are also meetings for women-only, for example when micro-loans are awarded for the purchase of sewing machines. The promise to pay back the loan has to be ratified by the women's signatures, or thumb-prints, more usually.

A high-profile journalist from the New York Times came to report on the National Solidarity Program while Sajeet Sarkar was working in Afghanistan. She warned him that if the publicity didn't match the reality she would tell the truth about this, but in the end, having visited one of the the NSP projects in Jurm, she wrote a very positive article about it. The Jurm project was a significant one because it required the co-operation of twenty-two separate Community Development Councils, their delegates sitting together on beautifully woven carpets, to plan a mutual response to the floods which had destroyed some freshwater pipes (18km of pipes having recently been laid). The tricky question of who would be chosen to supervise the teamwork without any of the elders losing face was solved by the drawing of names from a hat!

During question time here in Ottawa, someone asked what proportion of Afghan villages had been supported by the AKF so far, and having seen the somewhat "rosy picture" painted by the documentary film Change in the Making, a Journey in Afghanistan, we were subdued on hearing the answer: "only 3%." But it is a start which, it is hoped, will encourage the remaining 97%.

*****

Before the presentation a group of us had a guided tour of the premises, learning that His Highness, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV (since 1957, the 49th Ismaili Imam) has a suite of rooms in this building where he can stay when he comes to Canada. The building, designed by Maki, an architect from Japan, incorporates traditional Islamic features in its design, such as Jali (lattice) screens and a courtyard garden planted with silverberries and divided by watercourses (rainwater trickles down the warmed tiles into a central hollow).

The AKF also laid on an elegant reception for us in the atrium, with glasses of juice and mineral water and plates of cheese.