By: Jessica and Sean

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Population: 35 million Dari in West, Pashto in South 80% Sunni, 19% Shiite 2,400 NGOs

• Rich in Resources: Oil, Natural Gas and other Minerals • Communist coup of gov. in 1978 • 1979 – • U.S.- trained Mujahideen expels Soviets in 1989 – Opposed secularism

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the US lost interest. Pro-communist party fell. Power Vacuum… Chaos Taliban come to power – 1994ish Eventually controlled about 95% of Afghanistan by 2000.

• Operation Enduring Freedom - October 9, 2001 – By December, Kandahar fell.

• But remnant Taliban and other insurgents remained.

• December 2001 – Afghan Interim Authority • Loya Jirga 2003 – Constitution • October 2004 – Hamid Karzai elected president • September 2005 – Legislative elections

Poverty:

24.5 million below poverty line Life expectancy of 44.5 years

Health:

Malnourished children 6.5 million on food aid Poor access to clean water

Infrastructure:

5-7 million landmines Roads destroyed

Refugees: 4 million NGO insecurity:

Doctors without Borders stopped Targeting up 1300% NGOs contained to Kabul

Military Coalitions (OEF, ISAF) International Coalitions (UNAMA) International NGOs (MSF, CARE) Grassroots NGOs

NGOs claim: USAID is a tool to build support for OEF USAID is mismanaging funding Afghans don’t trust PRTs Taliban threatened CARE not to collaborate with PRTs NGO principle: “the independence of aid from political and religious standpoints”

http://www.usaid.gov/locations/asia_near_east/countries/afghanistan/

Does the site play a role in improving the credibility and transparency of USAID? Highly Politicized Broken Down by Sectors Good Updates Management of Funding Available but Unclear Poor NGO cooperation

http://www.nato.int/ISAF/

Unclear name, good mission Good updates Not Holistic, but Scattered Still Politicized No portal for international NGOs and contractors

Make information impartial Incorporate more local and international NGOs Make geographic categories

• How do NGOs coordinate using the Internet? • Is there an easy way to get involved? • How do they establish legitimacy?

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Mission: Train Afghans to be carpet weavers http://www.afghanaction.com/ Clear objectives: manageable Information about Afghanistan… propaganda? • FAQs: How does it spend money? – Legitimizes • Easy to get involves

• “Afghanaid supports rural communities in Afghanistan, helping them to find sustainable solutions to their everyday problems.” • Information: – “Neutral” - FAQs -Unclear how it is working with gov. other NGOs etc. – Lots of information about History… current? (nothing from 2003+)

• Getting Involved: Easy – Place to Donate, Shop, Advertise Fundraising Events, Sign up to Volunteer/Job

• Clear-cut website & easy to navigate • http://www.afghanaid.org.uk/index.phtml

• Campaign for reproductive health and rights through advocacy and services, especially for poor and vulnerable people. • Is working with IPPF • Core Values: (as opposed to Mission & Vision) – “We consider the spirit of volunteerism to be central to achieving our mandate and advancing our cause. – We are committed to work in partnership with communities, government, other organizations and donors.”

• http://www.afga.org.af/ • Lots of information about what they are doing • Not very well organized information – not aggregated well • Able to contact organization, but no place to give money, volunteer, or get involved. • Clean cut • Font somewhat small

• – See coordination efforts – Establish legitimacy – Clear ways to get involved – Poor layout?

• What is the solution? – Umbrellas?

ACBAR - http://www.acbar.org/ – – – –

Code of Conduct 97 NGOs Membership difficult… important Information about member NGOs… hard to find? • List of NGOs no contact • Search under directory: more information • For example: afghan aid

– Job Search! – Clean.

• Afghan NGOs Coordination Bureau’s http://www.ancb.org/default.htm • “to coordinate the activities of Afghan NGOs” • “about ANCB” last updated May 29, 2003 • List of NGOs, with phone #, and e-mail address, no websites or information • Layout unattractive & difficult to navigate • Objectives – do not achieve

• To improve the situation in Afghanistan NGOs – Must establish their legitimacy and credibility – While remaining somewhat neutral – Umbrella networks can work, but possibly not to the best of their ability.

• How do we bridge the language gap? • Should NGOs get involved on a political or humanitarian level? • How can we improve access? • What political barriers or factors should we take into account when designing our website? • How do we establish credibility, legitimacy, and transparency?