View of POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN SOUTH ASIA: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF VARIOUS POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMME IN AFGHANISTAN

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal, ISSN NO. 2456-1037

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POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN SOUTH ASIA: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF VARIOUS

POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMME IN AFGHANISTAN Zahoor Ahmad Dar

Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Political Bhagwant University Ajmer Rajasthan Abstract - Poverty eradication has been placed high on the social agenda of South Asia and Afghanistan is no exception to this. Decades of war and destruction ruined the socio- economic infrastructure of Afghanistan and as a result everything in the country had to start from zero. At present more than forty percent population lives below the poverty line.

The population is mainly lives in rural with a very low urbanisation rate of twenty percent.

Many people live in highly isolated small rural areas which make it difficult for the government to provide them essential public services. In this context,the paper tries to highlight various issues of the youth of Afghanistan such as lack of educational and employment opportunities whichencourage them to indulge in narcotic industry, violence, trafficking and terrorist activities. According to recent report published by the United Nations Development Programme more than eighty percent of country‟s population is at the risk of poverty due to the present political and economic crises. However, Socio-economic development over the past ten years ensure that there is good scope to move forward and break the vicious cycle of poverty in the country. The paper attempts to make a comprehensive study of various poverty alleviation programmes which were launched by the government in the last some years.

Keywords: Afghanistan, Poverty, Youth, Trafficking, Terrorism, South Asia.

1 INTRODUCTION

As Afghanistan faces many challenges and high percentage of population live under the poverty line. Since many factors caused Afghanistan to remain a poor country and as result large number of population suffer from extreme poverty. Poverty is a bog challenge all over the world, especially in developing countries. Poverty is not just about money, because poverty affects different people in many ways. Generally it is related to access such as food, shelter, housing, clothing, health and education. However, poverty varies from region to region and country to country. The continued war in Afghanistan has caused widespread poverty in the country.Poverty spreads to such an extreme condition that common people do not have access to basic facilities. Poverty in Afghanistan is directly linked to increase and decrease in Taliban control in the country. When Taliban increased influence in Afghanistan in 2018, the number of citizens living in poverty also increased from thirty eight to fifty five percent. Moreover, almost six million people left the country and migrated to other countries, and abort one million people were displaced within the country.

Government of Afghanistan has launched various programmes of poverty eradication in the last some years. Therefore, the main purpose of this research paper is to highlight factual position of poverty in the country and make a comprehensive study of various poverty alleviation programmes launched by the government of Afghanistan.

1.1 Factual Position of Poverty in Afghanistan

There are many factors which are responsible for poverty in Afghanistan. Over the past decade, Poverty in Afghanistan has risen to record-breaking heights. According to Aryans Aid, (UK based financial Support Agency) poverty in Afghanistan takes birth from two factors: “food insecurity and the lack of social security net.” As a result, fifty percent of Afghan children are stunned and twenty percent of Afghan women of child bearing age are underweight. There is unequal distribution of food and it reaches to the areas where there is instability .As result, it puts more pressure on people in other areas and creates food insecurity. Half of the Afghan population has no access to clean water. The war in Afghanistan is one of the main factors of poverty in Afghanistan. At least sixty percent population is living in poverty in the worst-hit areas. According to Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies, poverty has remained stagnant since the war on terror in 2001. The decades of war across the country has destroyed allinfrastructures and displaced thousands of people and disturbed their daily routine of living. While instability and insecurity stop technology and industry and increase poverty in the country.

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Unemployment is also considered as one of the main causes of poverty in the country, especially in rural areas. The unemployment rate in Afghanistan is estimated to be forty percent; as a result it has increased poverty all over the country. The lack of detailed plan for a prosperous rural economy that makes up seventy percent of the rural population is also a major cause of poverty.

1.2 Different Poverty Alleviation Programmes in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has launched various poverty alleviation programmes for socio-economic development in the country over the past ten years. These programmes have proved very beneficial to improve the stand of living of the people and economic development in the country. These programmes are discussed as under:

1.3 Food for Work-Programme

Food for Work-Programme is the poverty alleviation which was launched by the government of Afghanistan for those families which were affected by drought. This programme was initiated with the support of World Food Programme. It is a programme which supports the effected families with certain food products such as wheat,oils, pulses, rice, salt and other products in exchange for productive labour. The programme has reduced poverty in the country to a large extent. There are number of countries who have provided financial support to Work for Food-Programme (WFP) like USA provided$72 million to various northern and central provinces of Afghanistan. There are at least 60% of children in the country who suffer from different disease caused by acute malnutrition. WFP supports these children by necessary food supplements from the age of six months to five years.

Alone in Shiberghandistrict, four thousand children have been benefited by this programme.

1.4 National Solidarity Programme

National Solidarity Programme was launched by the Government of Afghanistan in 2009 to help the people of the country to identify, plan and monitor their own development projects.

The programme empowers the people to take their own decisions at various levels of the implementation of project. NSP is considered as one the largest community-oriented programme ever launched in the history of the country. It is based on Afghan tradition

„Ashar‟ which brings together the people of different communities to improve the infrastructure of country by following Islamic values such as unity, equity and justice. THE programme is based on certain basic principles like inclusive decision-making process, gender justice, transparency and accountability in the use of funds. The programme is implemented with the support of International Development Association of the World BankGroup, the Afghanistan Reconstruction Fund and some other agencies.The main elements are:

 To facilitate different communities to establish inclusive community institutions through democratic process and implementation of eligible sub-projects on mutual consensus.

 Formation of Community Development Councils of men and women in procurement and contract management.

 Direct transfer of funds to the approved sub-projects and link them with financial agencies to improve transparency and resources.

1.5 Safety Net Programme

Safety Net Programme is another poverty alleviation programme launched to implement Social Protection Sector in the country. Majority of the population in Afghanistan live in rural areas and the poor are among the vulnerable mass in the country. The target beneficiary of the programme is based on national data collected through NRVs. The safety Net Programme benefits are distributed in the form of cash transfers. The basic condition of the programme for households is to participate in those raising activities which enable them to learn cash transfer and microfinance most effectively and productively. Cash transfer willcover a period of six months aimed at enhancing the food security of the Poor households especially during winter session.

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Vulnerable households of the programme receive a total amount of US$ 360 and US$1.4 million are made available in the form of cash transfers which enable around3900 vulnerable families to be covered under the programme. Cash transfers are generally distributed once a year and most probably before winter starts in the month of November.

The main focus of the programme is to support the following families:

 Poor families with large number of children.

 Poor families headed by a disabled person.

 Poor families with disabled member/members.

 Families headed by poor female.

 Elder persons who are without families.

 Poor IDP families.

1.6. National Skill Development Programme

National Skill Development Programme (NSDP) is the national programme of the Ministry of Labour and Social Activities with the support of TVET activities. Its mandate resolves under two main objectives:

 Funding and facilitation market- driven activities and training for the unemployed as well as underemployed youth.

 Supporting the development of the TVET system by providing support for integration into the curricula, conducting labour market studies, mapping, registering and assessing their capacity.

While education in general and TVET in particular has been recognised as driver of poverty reduction and sustainable development the various challenges in the country.

Around 11 million workers have no formal skills and are mostly illiterate. Only 36% of the population is literate. Unemployment and underemployment rate is very high in the country mainly due to the absence of private sector. The population of Afghanistan is growing rapidly and more thanfortypercent of population live below the poverty line. Afghanistan is predominantly an agrarian economy and where 70% of the population lives in rural areas.

1.7 Provincial Development Plans

The Government of Afghanistan has launched various developmental plans for coordination of different sectorial ministries and other stakeholders to plan and development in the provinces. The main purpose of the programme is to provide assistance to provincial administration for improved and structured decision-making capacity to development- oriented programmes and projects. In particular, PDP provides help in planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and assessment of progress of work andmobilisation of different resources within the framework of duties and responsibilities of provincial administration. Effective provincial coordination and planning requires establishment of appropriate bodies for consultation and coordination to support their efforts. Since a variety of coordination bodies already exist at the provincial level, the government seeks to articulate a policy framework for establishment of single policy and coordinating body at the provincial level for implementation of development programmes, projects and activities.

1.8 Aid Effectiveness Programme

Aid Effectiveness Programme has played a significant role in poverty eradication in Afghanistan in the last two decades. Since 2001 Afghanistan has received a large amount of financial aid and support for development activities, which amounts more than $15million.

It is more sufficient if security situation improves in Afghanistan. It also receives $25 million aid related to security expenditure, which somehow provided sufficient financial support to the annual GDP growth rate during the period 2003-2010. Afghan government is fully committed to make financial aid as effective as possible so as to achieve the targets of Paris Declaration and the Afghanistan Compact. These targets will be achieved with the full cooperation and assistances from the donor community. In addition to the important principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, Afghanistan‟s Aid Policy Strategy is also shaped by the following principles to make financial aid more effective.

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 Result-oriented approach: Government of Afghanistan with the support of financial aid agencies tries to bring good results of development programmes and projects through proper monitoring and evaluation system.

 Good Governance: Good governance brings transparency and accountability in the administrative system and its quality has a profound effect on development success and aid effectiveness.

 Capacity Building: Enhanced capacity in public and private sectors is also critical to sustainable development. Past aid programmes often failed because it focussed on resource transfers by donors, bud did not provide full support to local capacity development efforts to sustain these investments once the donors withdraw support.

 Engagement with Civil Society: Participation and engagement of civil society and people bring positive results in development projects. Locally owned priorities are essential so that aid becomes demand driven and has maximum impact on the development of society. This will ensure aid investment to help meet the needs of the poorest and most marginalised people.

2 CONCLUSION

Afghanistan‟s recent history has significantly influenced its current state of development.

The successive wars killed over a million Afghans, forced about third of the population in to exile, left around eighty thousand people permanentlydisabled and many families without breadwinners. In December2001, after the fall of the Taliban, the Transnational Administration of Afghanistan assumed authority over the country with the conclusion of Boon Conference that led to the formation of function Government. It tried to address various issues of the people including extreme poverty. Continuous war an political instability are the key indicators of war in Afghanistan. In recent memory, people often think of Afghanistan as a nation of the Taliban, who provided safe heaven to terrorists like Osama Bin Laden. Often, when poverty is widespread, terrorism and instability take hold.

Poverty in Afghanistan has been a serious problem for nearly three decades starting with Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. This inability can make poverty alleviation an uphill battle. According to the World Banks Poverty Status Report of 2017, the socio-economic progress in Afghanistan is in danger due to the recent rise of insecurity and political instability. In general, by having a secure society, there would be many positive changes.

Economic cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries as well as other countries is necessary to reduce poverty in the region.

REFERENCES

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6. Hakim Mohammad Haider and Kumar Sumit, Poverty in Afghanistan, Causes, Consequences and Coping Mechanism, Palgrave Macmillan 2020.

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