Urban Solidarity Programme

Background and Objectives

Background

Three decades of conflict, natural disasters and deteriorating economic conditions have caused massive population movements, both within Afghanistan and towards neighboring countries. Since the fall of Taliban regime, the massive inflow of more than 5 million refugees has increased the overall population of Afghanistan by 20 percent, with some regions having been affected more severely than others. Over the past three years, the worsening of security conditions in the South, East and Western provinces have forced further waves of population movements and internal displacement. Unable to reintegrate in the communities of origin due to the lack of social and economic opportunities and security, many of the population, particularly returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) have sought for better life through secondary migration toward major urban centers within Afghanistan. Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Bamyan are some of key cities where significant number of migrated population, refugees and IDP are currently living in displacement.

Objectives

The programme aims to address the immediate needs of migrated population, returnees, displaced persons through building community solidarity and improving the living conditions of citizens in Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Bamyan cities. It also strengthens the municipalities through capacity development, municipal infrastructure, settlement regularization and registration of land and properties for collecting of property tax.

Activities

• • Establishing Community Development Councils (CDC) to improve infrastructure and access to services in Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, and establishing Clustered CDCs in Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Bamyan;
• • Implementing priority infrastructure projects at the municipal level in Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Bamyan;
• • Supporting land and property registration in the target communities to enable the Municipality to issue notebooks to raise property tax and create a de-facto security of tenure in informal settlements in Herat city;
• • Strengthening capacity of municipalities to better undertake urban programming and enable them to provide due support to communities in the effective implementation of services and infrastructure, revenue collection, and other community development activities.

Development Partners / Partners

Development Partners: Government of Japan

related links :

• Urban Solidarity – Institutionalizing People's Process (PDF 5.5MB)