The approach is well-aligned with AKF’s commitment to engaging communities in order to promote local ownership and sustainability. AKF’s NSP programming now covers over 1,500 CDCs in 28 districts in five provinces. AKF designed and implemented the “NSP Plus” programme to accelerate and deepen the CDC capacity development process, by incorporating trainings on poverty mapping, gender awareness and conflict mitigation into its work. Several of these components are now included in national plans for NSP and are implemented by partners across the country. Recognising that many development issues require collaboration beyond the village level, AKF has also undertaken significant capacity building with Cluster Level Development Committees (CLDCs), District Development Assemblies (DDAs), district governor offices and provincial line departments on issues including community participation in reforestation and girls’ enrolment in school. Through these activities, AKF has reached over three million people in 55 target districts with funding support from the Afghan Government as well as Germany, the United States and Norway.  

The Natural Resource Management (NRM) programme has reached more than 2.1 million beneficiaries through its work in field crops and horticulture, land and water management, and livestock. Since 2003, AKF has supported 35 private input suppliers that are now fully sustainable and provide improved seed varieties, fertilisers, pesticides, agricultural equipment, training and technical services (e.g., pruning) to over 400,000 farmers annually. Nine fully-privatised Mother Stock Nurseries (MSNs) provide varieties of more than 80,000 improved root-stock and saplings to more than 1,000 farmers per year. These interventions have contributed to increases in the average productivity of wheat (58%), potato (25%), apple (116%) and vegetable (25%) since 2005. On-farm skills development takes places through Farmer Field Schools (FFSs), participatory technology development groups, integrated crop management trials, demonstration orchards and field crop plots. These interventions allow farmers to share experiences with improved varieties and new technologies. AKF is now focussing on training government extension workers to train farmers through FFS. AKF has also provided significant support to government agriculture research stations in three provinces, four biological pest control labs covering the programme area, and a virus-indexing laboratory in Kabul. Most of these institutions have now been handed over to government. To promote sustainable management of natural resources, AKF has trained the Community Development Councils (CDCs) to implement common property resource plans across the programme area. These plans are complemented by land treatment measures that redress the extensive denudation of watersheds and rangelands. Twenty-three Water User Associations (WUAs), 63 Pasture Management Committees and seven Watershed Committees in five provinces have benefited 630,000 people with 40,000 hectares of land rehabilitated and irrigated for better resource use. AKF has also established 35 Livestock Development Centres (LDCs), 80 percent of which are now fully privatised. These LDCs and 140 associated Livestock Development Field Units have provided access to animal health services for more than 1.2 million people. Livestock farmers in target areas have reported a 65 percent reduction in animal mortality and morbidity, and farmers reported a 35-40 percent increase in milk and meat production and 25 percent increase in herd size in the past five years.

In particular, AKF is working in the tourism sector to support the Bamyan Tourism Development Board, a local steering committee in Wakhan, Badakhshan, as well as 128 service providers and enterprises such as hotels, tour-guide services and ski attractions. AKF uses a variety of vocational training approaches, including support to local vocational training institutions, apprenticeships and Master Trainers in rural and remote communities. From 2007 to 2012, 3,355 people (72 percent female) received vocational training in AKF-supported institutions in 18 different trades. Of these trainees, 74 percent found jobs or became self-employed. Given Afghanistan’s youth ”bulge” (48 percent of Afghans are under 15), AKF plans to expand this area of activity in future.

AKF is now studying the duration of groups that are no longer supported and is considering an expansion of the programme to respond to community demand. As part of the CBSG training, AKF provides information to members about small-scale livelihoods and business opportunities where they may invest their savings. 

Since 2004, AKF-supported CDCs have completed almost 2,000 infrastructure projects, such as roads, irrigation systems, drinking water supply systems, and micro-hydro power. Since 2010 with support from KfW, more than 1.7 million people have benefitted from infrastructure projects implemented in partnership with DDAs. The local construction industry has benefited considerably from technical and organisational capacity building from AKF and is now dynamic and capable of taking on projects of significant scale.