Afghanistan is a country we talk about a lot but know little about. The report “Voices of Afghanistan – Citizens’ and Civil Society’s Keys to Peacebuilding” seeks to uncover the everyday realities of crisis management and peacebuilding beyond the news and politics. This time, NGOs and Afghans themselves tell their own stories. The report highlights the 40 years of aid work carried out by Finnish NGOs amidst the war.
The strength of NGO activities lies in focusing on the needs of citizens and allowing Afghans to influence them. The biggest challenges for NGO operations are the multifaceted security problems arising from crime, traffic and health issues, and increasingly, war. Bureaucracy also poses its own challenges.
The report also explores Finland’s role in aiding the country, how Finns view providing assistance, and how Afghans would like their country to be helped. Crisis management and peacebuilding are not easy tasks. The challenges do not always stem from the much-discussed locals but from us, the aid workers. We should be ready to see things differently to succeed better.
“Voices of Afghanistan” was the final publication of the PaTo – Peacebuilding by Local Actors research project, administered by the Finnish Peace Union and implemented by SaferGlobe Finland. The project was carried out with the support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ communication and development education funding.