Rehabilitation Housing and Infrastructure Overview Stress A social emphasis Community Forums The UN Mission Twenty-three years of conflict and chronic under-investment have had a severe impact on the urban housing stock and the physical infrastructure, as shown in the snapshot table below of the situation as it stood in 2002. Housing and Infrastructure Overview Housing Approximately 50% of total units are located in unplanned areas 26% of all units are seriously damaged or destroyed Water supply 75-80% of the population have no access to piped supplies of safe water ad hoc, incremental additions to system via shallow tube wells Roads and drains 42% of roads are either destroyed or damaged 50% of drains broken or non-functional Sanitation and solid waste management 84% have no proper (sanitary) toilets 52% have no collection of solid waste There are no sanitary disposal sites (landfills) Adapted from UNDP/World Bank/ADB, Jan 2002 Stress The urban physical infrastructure and basic services today remain damaged and in disrepair. The steady inflow of returnees has further exacerbated the problem, particularly in larger cities like Kabul, Jalalabad, Mazar and Kandahar. There are reasons to believe that, as peace returns to the country, its urban population will increase as a much faster rate than its rural population. According to UN estimates, from 2000 to 2015, the national population is expected to increase by 14 million to reach a total of about 37 million; more than half of this growth will be in urban areas. Given the country’s strategic location for regional trade and transit, the entrepreneurial nature of its people and the limited capacity of rural areas to absorb further population growth, Afghanistan is destined to urbanised rapidly. In fact it is one of the most rapidly urbanising countries in the sub-region. Urbanisation will pose both a challenge to, and an opportunity for the development of the country. The way the current pressures on its urban areas are managed will influence the success of its development endeavours. A social emphasis One of the major fallouts of the war is the erosion of community institutions. The conflict has increased the share number of people living in deprivation. It has also eroded the social safety net people used to rely on at times of crisis simply because there is nothing much left to share. On the other hand, at the time when Afghanistan used to be known as a failed state, it was the community spirit inherent in the Afghan society that became their ultimate rescuer. The UN-HABITAT community empowerment approach that emerged in the course of more than a decade of working with Afghan communities builds on this same spirit. Today the approach has become the cornerstone of the flagship National Solidarity Program of the Government. Even during the difficult period of Taliban rule, the community development approach flourished in spite of tremendous odds. Thanks to the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN-HABITAT was able to replicate this approach in four of the largest cities and a few rural communities. Other donors such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the European Union-ECHO, The Netherlands, the Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD), Japan, Switzerland, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), contributed to this endeavour to help establish systems of local governance in the country during troubled times. The approach hinges on the premise that reconstruction is both a physical rebuilding and a social rehabilitation process. Community Forums The institutional manifestation of this approach was the Community Forums that participating communities formed by the people themselves. In many ways, the Forums became the platforms for people to exercise the right to exercise positive governance at a time when there was no legitimate government. Community Forums are local institutions that are managed according to a set of agreed rules of conduct. On the physical side, these Forums also managed both internal and external resources to meet their immediate needs, be they drinking water, primary schools, child and maternity care, or solid waste collection. During the Taliban rule some 50 men’s and 50 women’s Community Forums were established in five cities and two rural towns. It was through these Forums that the largest share of resources from UN-HABITAT was managed and disbursed. The Forums provided an appropriate avenue for women to play their role and meet their social requirements. They endured much risk in participating in the activities of the Forum because of various exclusionary edicts. In a few cases, some of the Forum members became victims due to their association with the Forums. Those members who managed to escape to other cities, however, began the process of establishing new Forums. This way the concept of Community Forums began to spread its roots on Afghan soil. With a legitimate government now in place, the role of these community Forums has become even more important. They represent a fundamental component of an effective system of urban governance that promotes participation, accountability and social inclusion – vital ingredients for nation-building in post-conflict societies. Today, they stand as independent non-governmental organisations and their work continues. The UN Mission Today, the United Nations, through its Special Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), is helping the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (TISA) under the leadership of President Hamid Karzai to bring about change on three fronts – human security, democratic rule of law as defined by the Bonn Agreement, and socio-economic development as defined by the National Development Framework.