Afghan civic engagement program (ACEP) ensured that Afghan citizens were well informed about the actions of government officials and that citizens had the means to influence public policy and advocate for political reform. [3]
Problems and Purpose
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A strong democracy requires a robust media and civil society sector. [i][2] The Regional Civil Society Engagement Groups (RCEGs) primarily aimed to enhance the involvement of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) at the regional level in matters of national significance. These matters include promoting transparency and accountability in government, ensuring public servants are responsive, improving the working conditions for women, and endorsing the upholding of the rule of law. Additionally, the aim was to aid Afghan citizens in enhancing their ability to influence local decisions and actions and to have a say in shaping policies at the national level.[ii] [1]
[i] USAID. Fact sheet. Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP) – Counterpart. (2019). https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00W46DR.pdf
[ii] USAID. Request for application. Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP). (2016). https://www.acbar.org/upload/1460017745766.pdf
Background History and Context
The Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP) was a five-year initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Counterpart International, Inc. (CPI) in partnership with Internews, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), and the International Centre for Non-profit Law (ICNL). The primary objective of ACEP was to promote civil society and media engagement to empower Afghan citizens to influence policy, keep a check on government accountability, and act as advocates for political reform. The program aimed to accomplish this goal through five key program areas:
- Regular engagement between Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Government
- Enhanced expertise of CSOs and Media in the field of Democracy and Governance
- Widespread Civic Engagement
- Improved accessibility to Independent News and Public Affairs Information, and
- Increased Organizational Capacity of CSOs [i] [1]
[i] USAID. Request for application. Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP). (2016). https://www.acbar.org/upload/1460017745766.pdf
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
On December 4, 2013, Counterpart International, along with Internews Network, the International Center for Not-for-profit Law (ICNL), and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), were awarded a $70 million grant to implement the Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP). This five-year program, funded by USAID, aims to empower Afghan citizens by enabling them to influence policy, monitor government accountability, and advocate for political reform through civil society development and media engagement.[i] [2]
The program was initially supposed to end in 2018, but it got extended for an additional year. In 2019, the program's primary focus was to support public engagement around the parliamentary and presidential elections. Counterpart International implemented the program in partnership with Internews Network, Aga Khan Foundation, and the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law.[ii] [4]
[i] USAID. Fact sheet. Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP) – Counterpart. (2019). https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00W46DR.pdf
[ii] USAID. Afghan Civic Engagement Program. (December 2019). https://m.reliefweb.int/report/3097283
Participant Recruitment and Selection
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Methods and Tools Used
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What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
The program collaborated with 34 provincial and 7 regional CSO partners to conduct community civic and voter education sessions in 28 provinces, promoting peace-building and encouraging voter registration and participation in elections.
It supported the Civil Society Election Coordination Group (CECG) in enhancing civil society's collaboration with the Independent Elections Commission and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission. This took place after the parliamentary elections in October 2018 and before the presidential elections that were scheduled for July 2019.
The program contributed to improving electoral integrity by providing grants to two civil society organizations based in Kabul. These organizations supported their regional and provincial partners in developing and delivering content and messages. Additionally, advocacy working groups were established to focus on the National Budget, Family Law, and disability mainstreaming. This aimed to promote laws and policies in these areas and enhance accountability and responsiveness to both the government and the public.
The program has helped to improve ties between the Civil Society Joint Working Group (CSJWG) and regional and provincial-based CSO networks and coordination bodies. It has also increased representation by establishing regional hubs in Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, Kandahar and Jalalabad. The program guided the Men Supporting Women Rights advocacy group to promote gender-sensitive improvements in the Cybercrime Law. It has also identified other laws and policies that require review and strengthening from a women’s rights perspective.
The Emerging Civil Society Leaders (ECSLs) Alumni Network received support through an inclusive capacity development package that includes training, peer-to-peer learning, coordination meetings and in-country study tours. Additionally, a competitive process has awarded five youth activism grants to ECSLs. The network consists of 136 ECSLs (53 women, 83 men), four from each province. The program also strengthened women’s political participation by providing four small grants for women-led/focused grassroots CSOs. It has contributed to areas such as national budget monitoring, exposed corrupt practices, and improved access to information through two government service delivery grants.[i] [2]
[i] USAID. Fact sheet. Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP) – Counterpart. (2019). https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00W46DR.pdf
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
The Counterpart has achieved major accomplishments as an implementer of the project. The achievements are listed below:
From PY1 to the second half of PY6, around 35 provincial CSO partners conducted 13,707 civic education and community sessions every year. These sessions took place in 28 provinces and were attended by a total of 420,156 participants, including 207,977 women and 212,179 men. Additionally, there were 1,867 community dialogue sessions held in 26 provinces, which were attended by a total of 54,281 participants, including 27,649 women and 26,632 men.
Through a series of community dialogues, the Ministry of Public Health committed to constructing a 30-bed hospital in Tagab village of Daikundi Province in 2016. In August 2016, electricity power lines and street lighting were installed in Sultan Wesh Baba village in Laghman Province. In September 2017, the community contributed $400,000 to purchase land to build a women's high school in Gor-e-Mar village, Balkh Province. In May 2017, a boys' school was reopened, and a community agreement was reached to open a girls' school in a village in Paktika Province. In December 2017, a wall was constructed around the only girls' school in Faryab Province's Qurghan district. Additionally, the provincial government provided support to upgrade a seven-kilometre road in Hasanak-e Mir Aabad village, Faryab Province, in October 2018, among other projects.
The program trained a total of 64,678 individuals, consisting of 34,704 men and 29,974 women, including 29,126 boys and 25,851 girls. The training included various topics such as institutional development, civic engagement, project cycle management, policy dialogue and partnerships, access to information law, financial sustainability, gender equality, women's empowerment, elections, journalism, community mobilization, counter-trafficking in persons, communications, leadership, good governance, and peacebuilding.
The CECG has evolved into an inclusive platform for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to discuss Election Management Bodies (EMBs) challenges. Since 2017, with support from Counterpart and coordination from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the CECG has held eight meetings. Before the parliamentary elections, civil society's communication with EMBs had improved, and CECG members partnered to implement election observation projects and coordinated with donors focused on elections.
The CSOs-Advocacy Group on the National Budget submitted recommendations on the National Budget Law of 1397 (March 21, 2018 – March 20, 2019) to the Parliamentary Budget Commission on January 10, 2018. Out of the 17 submitted recommendations, six were approved by the Commission and included in the National Budget Law of 1397. One of the recommendations was partially considered. In December 2018, the government adopted several of the group's recommendations into the 1398 National Budget.
From 2014 to 2017, ACEP enrolled 34 young men and women every year in its ECSL program. The program has 136 members in its alumni network, consisting of 83 men and 53 women. ACEP provides continued support to the alumni network through various activities such as training, networking events, and study tours. The goal was to enhance their collective and individual roles in elections, peace-building, and civil society development. The program included four ECSLs from each of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Out of these, 40 (25 men and 15 women) are from the urban areas of Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Balkh, and Nangarhar, while the remaining are from rural areas. In addition, the ECSL program has produced leaders who are globally minded and politically active. One notable ECSL became the first-ever youth to speak at the United Nations Security Council in September 2018 as Afghanistan's inaugural United Nations Youth Representative. Another ECSL won the One Young World Scholarship Program in September 2018. Six ECSLs, including two women, participated in the parliamentary elections. Mr. Gul Ahmad Kamin of Kandahar Province and Ms. Farzana Elham Kochai, representing the minority Kuchi nomads, were among those who ran for Parliament and were successfully elected.
As part of Internews' Young Journalists Internship Program, one hundred female interns completed three-month placements in media outlets across ten provinces in Afghanistan. As of October 2018, more than thirty of these interns have been offered employment, with twenty-two of them being employed in the media sector.
Internews held the annual National Media Conference in Kabul in April 2018 with the theme of "Security, Rights, And Professionalism." The conference resulted in a resolution to establish a joint coordination committee to review violations of the Access to Information Law in collaboration with the Oversight Commission for Access to Information (OCAI). OCAI's work led to the replacement of the 2014 Access to Information Law with a much-improved version in May 2018.
ICNL provided technical assistance to several government authorities and CSOs in Afghanistan to develop and revise policy documents related to CSOs' legal framework. The aim was to create an enabling environment for CSOs to operate in. The technical assistance covered various topics, including establishment and registration procedures, internal governance, sources of income and financial sustainability, accountability to different authorities, reporting procedures and revision of forms, dissolution, and consequences of dissolution. The assistance also included steps to avoid unexpected termination of CSOs.
ICNL released seven publications on various topics. These publications include (1) Registration Brochure for Associations in June 2015; (2) Guidelines on Legal Framework Affecting CSOs Funding Sources in September 2015; (3) Operational Guidelines for Associations in October 2015; (4) Registration Brochure for NGOs in September 2017; (5) Reporting Guidelines for NGOs in October 2017; (6) Operational Guidelines for Associations in September 2019; and (7) Guidelines for the MoU for Cooperation between IDLG and CSOs and Civil Society Networks at the Subnational Level, in August 2019.
The counterpart organized and hosted several events, including the following:
- The 2014 Civic Engagement Social Media Conference had 120 male and 80 female attendees.
- The 2015 Partnering for Public Good Summit was held on June 10, 2015, and had 98 male and 52 female attendees.
- The 2016 Partnering for Public Good Summit was held on August 10, 2016, and had 83 male and 23 female attendees.
- The 2016 Women CSO Leaders' Summit in Kabul was attended by 130 women-led CSOs and female advocates.
- The National Conference for Persons with Disabilities was held on October 26, 2016. The event provided policy input on the Afghanistan National Disability Action Plan, a five-year strategy launched by the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs, and Disabled (MoLSAMD) in 2017. The conference had 378 male and 52 female attendees.
Representatives of the government, civil society, and media came together for the second Framework for Cooperation Conference on May 7-8, 2018. The participants worked together to develop recommendations for engaging and cooperating in addressing common issues. The Ministry of Economy (MoEc) is currently using the findings to develop a civil society roadmap, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2018. The conference was attended by 190 men and 40 women.
On March 7, 2018, the CSJWG General Assembly was held where participants elected 31 members to the CSJWG Secretariat, resulting in 19 women being elected as members. This move resulted in 17 new members and a more inclusive assembly. To further promote inclusivity, the first of seven planned CSJWG regional hubs was established in Mazar-e-Sharif on January 24, 2019. The event was attended by 85 civil society representatives from the Northern Region.[i] [2]
[i] USAID. Fact sheet. Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP) – Counterpart. (2019). https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00W46DR.pdf
Analysis and Lessons Learned
See Also
https://m.reliefweb.int/report/3097283
References
[1] USAID. Request for application. Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP). (2016). https://www.acbar.org/upload/1460017745766.pdf
[2] USAID. Fact sheet. Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP) – Counterpart. (2019). https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00W46DR.pdf
[3] Relief Web. Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP). (2019). Official website page: https://m.reliefweb.int/report/3097283
[4] USAID. Afghan Civic Engagement Program. (December 2019). https://m.reliefweb.int/report/3097283