Photo By OR-5 Mark Doran | (L-R) Afghan Minister of Interior Mohammad Omar Daudzai, Prime Minister Tony Abbott,...... read more read more
Story by Maj. Haydn Barlow
TARIN KOT, Afghanistan - The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Uruzgan concluded its mission on Oct. 28, capping a decade-long campaign to foster development, governance and tribal cooperation in one Afghanistan’s poorest provinces.
Commencing in 2004 under U.S. military leadership, the Uruzgan PRT changed to a Dutch led organization in 2006, and then to a combined Australian-U.S. team in 2010.
All three phases contributed to what the current Australian PRT Director, David Windsor, describes as a remarkable improvement to living conditions in the province.
“When operations commenced in 2004, Uruzgan was not in great shape,” Windsor said.
“The PRT, enabled and protected by our military partners, and working with our Afghan colleagues, has helped build a functioning government, funded a huge increase in health and education services, and made these services accessible to the people by building bridges and paving 200km of roads throughout the province,” Windsor said.
U.S. Military commander of the PRT, Cmdr. Steven Mathews, U.S. Navy, says the gains in Uruzgan have been possible because of the complementary efforts of the international and Afghan National Security Forces.
“With security comes the opportunity for development, and with development, people come to see the value of the security that the Afghan government forces can provide,” Mathews said.
“At all stages of the mission we recognized that sustainable gains needed to be underpinned by a legitimate government willing and able to provide people with basic needs like schools, health clinics and roads.”
Windsor acknowledges Uruzgan is just starting a decades-long journey.
“Uruzgan remains a poor province in a poor country, and some sectors and districts have improved more than others. We must not understate the challenges that remain here.
“The difference today is that people in Uruzgan can now compare life under the Taliban to life under the present government, and the difference is stark.
“As one tribal leader told us, it is like ‘the lights have been switched on’.
“The challenge for the provincial government is to build on this foundation and to maintain the confidence of the people,” Windsor said.
The Uruzgan Provincial Governor, Amir Mohammad Akhunzada, thanked the PRT for their contribution to his province, and said his government was ready to serve its people.
“The Provincial Reconstruction Team has helped with millions of dollars of support for building clinics, schools, roads, administrative buildings, increasing administrative capacity, good Governance and providing good services,” Akhundzada said.
“Compared to the past, the Uruzgan security situation has improved a lot. Business routes and highways are opened for traffic and we have fully independent military operations being led and executed by Afghan National Security Forces.
“The Uruzgan people will remember this forever and will always be thankful of your cooperation and services.”
Combined Team Uruzgan, the PRT’s partner unit, will continue to operate in Uruzgan until the end of the year.
The international community will remain connected to and invested in Uruzgan in 2014 through a small liaison force based in Tarin Kot, and then through national programs from Kabul.
FACT SHEET: URUZGAN PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION TEAM
Overview
The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) operated in Uruzgan from mid-2004 to October 2013. During this period there were three distinct phases of leadership of the PRT:
• 2004-2006: US military
• 2006-2010: Dutch civil-military
• 2010-2013: Combined Australian-US civil-military
PRTs in Afghanistan have worked on reconstruction, governance and development challenges at the local level. They varied greatly in structure and size, with each PRT shaped by the nations that staffed it, and tailored to the situation in the province it worked in. Each ‘lead country’ faced different conditions on the ground, navigated different domestic political pressures, and applied different programming and engagement strategies.
The strategy of the Uruzgan PRT evolved to deal with changing security conditions and growing government presence and capacity. By 2010, the PRT had three clear objectives for its final years of operation:
• Strengthen formal political and governance institutions in preparation for transition;
• Promote political stability among key tribal groups and encourage a more positive political climate which supports legitimate governance in the province;
• Support GIRoA’s legitimacy through improving service delivery in the areas of rule of law, education, health, agriculture and infrastructure sectors, and to stabilize key areas of Uruzgan through small-scale infrastructure projects.
At its height, the Uruzgan PRT had over 200 personnel from three countries, involving 10 different agencies or services. While most of these personnel worked on the Multinational Base in Tarin Kot, the PRT also permanently staffed outposts in the districts of Chora and Deh Rawud and visited other district centers regularly.
Uruzgan in 2004
The governance and development task faced by the PRT in 2004 was immense. Uruzgan was (and still is) one of the poorest provinces in Afghanistan, with extensive development needs. The capacity and perceived legitimacy of the Provincial Administration was extremely low. Formal health and education systems were non-existent. Literacy rates were around 5% (compared with 30% nationally), with few people having more than a basic primary education. Two per cent of Uruzgan’s teachers met minimal professional standards, representing the third lowest in the country. No paved roads existed in the province. The licit economy was almost non-existent, dominated as it was by subsistence agriculture.
PRT Operations
The PRT adopted a multi-pronged approach common across all three phases of its nine years of operations. The situation called for coordinated security, development and political engagement, each was dependent on the other to achieve sustained outcomes.
The PRT initially invested in quick impact projects which sought to reach out to new partners and stabilize targeted areas. This was often successful, although not always sustainable and often limited in geographic focus. This approach was complimented by a host of development programs which focused on service delivery, governance, rural development, infrastructure, and justice.
As conditions improved, these development programs were shaped as multi-year interventions which saw local capacity building as the primary outcome to reinforce the broader ‘Afghan-led’ concept. Simultaneously, the PRT engaged as widely as possible with political, tribal and local powerbroker actors to understand the complex socio-political dynamics of the province. This was critical to building trust, understanding the drivers of conflict and fragility, reinforcing good governance, and supporting a ‘do no harm’ approach in all PRT programming.
Achievements
Governance
• Increased reach by the Provincial Administration across the province, including 714 Community Development Councils formed, from none in 2005
• One of the few provinces to regularly complete Provincial Development Plans
• Around 60% of government positions are filled, up from an estimated 30% in 2009
• Uruzgan successfully gained a significant increase in core development funding in the 1392 Budget that was approved by the Afghan Parliament on 20 January 2013 (US$23 million, a 41 per cent increase on the 1391 Budget allocation).
• An active Provincial Development Committee, with regular sector-based meetings
• Uruzgan was among the first provinces to develop a comprehensive transition management plan (Transition Strategic Response Plan) to manage the transfer of PRT-led activities.
Education
• Number of schools has increased from 34 in 2006 to around 200 active schools in 2013, including 26 girls-only schools and 19 co-ed schools
• Community-based education classes have been established in the most difficult to access areas, providing 2,500 children, including more than 500 girls, with access to basic education
• Active students up five-fold from 2006 to 2013, with more than 60,000 children attending school – 15% (9,300) of whom are girls
• 516 students graduated, including 36 girls in 2012
• About 1,500 teachers in the province (including 77 female ones), 15% increase from 2010
• The Teacher Training College has 311 students in 2013, up 300% since 2010
• The first university campus in Uruzgan opened in 2011 – a branch of Kandahar University
• Delivery of a nine-month basic literacy and numeracy course to 600 women.
Health
• A functioning hospital in Tarin Kot, with a women’s wing and surgery unit
• Health facilities have increased from nine in 2006 to 29 facilities in 2013. There are now 29 public healthcare facilities (from 9 in 2006) and 322 health posts in operation throughout the province, staffed by 106 healthcare professionals and 493 volunteer community health workers.
• Improved maternal health care – up to 80% of women now receive at least one antenatal visit, up from 50% in 2007, and 24 new midwives and 26 nurses have been trained.
• Lessons in hygiene and health delivered to 4,400 children.
• 12,470 health consultations provided between January to June 2013
• More than 8,700 children under five screened for malnutrition; with more than 300 children with severe malnutrition referred to treatment centres and counselling.
Agriculture and Private Sector
• Agriculture production slowly improving and passed pre-conflict levels
• Improved rural infrastructure to protect against floods, droughts and other disasters
• Businesses have more than tripled in the Tarin Kot Bazaar in the past decade
• The Agriculture Directorate has a 90% budget execution rate, the highest in RC(S)
Infrastructure and Stabilization
• Hundreds of small infrastructure stabilization projects completed, including wells, culverts and reservoirs: Australia alone completed 500 small-scale projects in 116 villages
• An all-year commercially capable civil airfield
• More than 320km of improved roads, including 200km of paved roads across the province
• Government buildings constructed
• Mobile phone coverage has expended dramatically, particularly in the inner districts
• Electricity to 100% of the Tarin Kot center, from low levels a decade ago
Rule of Law and Human Rights
• Court cases have increased from virtually none to about 150 cases in 2010, 503 cases in 2011 and over 600 cases in 2012
Future challenges
Uruzgan has a basic foundation for future development, but progress has not been uniform across all sectors or districts. This is not unusual in developing and conflict-affected states, where states are functionally and institutionally weak and struggle to effectively extend authority. Improvements in the justice sector have been tangible, though slower than in education and health. Gender equity will take decades to improve. Service delivery has improved most significantly in the inner districts, while security and logistical challenges make programs in the outer districts more challenging. Some of these differences relate to inconsistencies in the capacities of Kabul-based ministries to plan budgets and release funds; the geographic isolation of a decentralized population; and low human capacity in Uruzgan, resulting from decades of lack of education opportunities.
While there have been real gains made in Uruzgan over the past ten years, ongoing progress will depend on the security environment and standards of governance ¬ both of which will be the responsibility of Afghan authorities. Australian Kabul based aid staff will continue to advocate for the flow of resources from the Afghan Government to Uruzgan under national programs, to consolidate development gains made.
| Date Taken: | 10.28.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2013 12:28 |
| Story ID: | 115894 |
| Location: | TARIN KOWT, AF |
| Web Views: | 515 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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