Yet more foreign aid to the Afghan patriarchy

[ScroobiousPip]

I read these two headlines today and wept:

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghanistans-multimillion-highway-to-nowhere-7922542.html

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18758148

Time and time again, research has shown that an effective and reliable way to lift economies out of poverty is to provide education and small scale business opportunities to women - micro credit facilities for example, and opportunities for female cooperatives to buy farm animals, hand sewing machines etc.

Yet once again, billions are being wasted in Afghanistan on dodgy roads that no one needs, poorly constructed police stations that lie empty and a expensive power station that is only used for back up power. With another 16bn to come - presumably to be wasted yet again on bribes and corrupt pet projects of the male patriarchy. Why? As far as I can tell because our governments base their economic analysis entirely on western male-centric models of economics which entirely discount the value of women in society.

Why the heck don't governments, the World Bank et al get the message that aid to big, government-financed projects is almost always going to end in corruption and failure? Give the money to women for heavens sake, and maybe, just maybe, Afghanistan will be a place worth living again in another generation.

Rant over. As you were.

mirco credit has been shown to work, and very well, but i doubt in a corrupt semi-war zone.

i dont know how to tackle corruption but for stability you need not only a police force ( for which you will police stations built) but a justice system right up to the high courts of the land with thrust-worthy judges.

i have the feeling that if any women get hold of any money in aghanistan, the men will take it off them.

Hillary Clinton's statement, as reported by BBC, do show that "increasing economic opportunities for all Afghans, especially women" is right up there in the headline aims.

People need roads, police stations and reliable power supplies too.

Poorly delivered investments and corrupt and politically motivated procurement are massive problems. But I don't think the answer is just scrap it and only provide microcredit for hand sewing machines etc...

Was at a talk by a bloke from the UK millitary who was talking about how they are coordinating local road building between different agencies and with local govt such as it is, and commissioning local contractors to build and maintain roads with high levels of transparency over funding flows. He was contrasting this to the US approach of bringing in international contractors. Can't vouch for how widespread the approach he described is, or how much is spin. But anyway 'twas interesting.

We can't just say road building and power stations etc... are always destined to be corrupt, because those things are too crucial.

I have just heard on the news that there is footage of a woman being executed in Afghanistan for alleged adultery and a crowd of men watched and cheered. I heard them cheering and whooping. I feel sick

if thats the same footage i've seen it was in the football stadium in kabul and it was under the taliban.

worth noting though, there were more excecutions in texas at that time than in afghanistan, the taliban were not prolific executors, but when they did it, they did it in public.

There was a public execution for adultery there this week: BBC article here. It is however important to note the caveat that the footage has not been verified.

christ, that was a shocking video, and the one linked to it at the end was worse.

seems the taliban still have alot of controll.

That is exactly why the aid proposals also include good governance, security and infrastructure projects; for another main aim is to do whatever seems to give to best prospect of post-NATO Afghanistan falling straight back into factional fighting and thus possibly back towards the Talibs.

seems the taliban still have alot of controll

They will gos staright back to ruling Afghanistan after teh West leaves, with a short purge of course.

Whoel doddamn thing has been a total waste of money, lives and time.

I seem to have missed a key word from my last post - should of course say "... to give to best prospect of avoiding post-NATO Afghanistan falling straight back into factional fighting and thus possibly back towards the Talibs".

Though I must say Whatmeworry's gloomier assessment of the chances does not seem far fetched.

Sorry to barge in, but we've got Andrew Mitchell (Secretary of State for International Development) on for a webchat tomorrow if you'd like to put any of these points directly to him.

Thanks
MNHQ

i would like to know if there is an actuall policy in place to prevent the aid money slipping into the hands of corrupt officials? could ask him that?

First you've got to find some officials who aren't corrupt.

Good luck with that.

Its OK, those who hand over the aid are also corrupt.

Sorry to post and run - time zones are always an issue for me.

people'srepublic - women's projects are up and running in Afghanistan already. Really much of it isn't a war zone, despite the media reports. Too poor and too rural! For example, the DFID Zardosi project is doing good by linking in-home female sewers to local markets so they can sell their embroidery. The money is earned by women and goes to women.

And, yes, I agree that eventually Afghanistan will need roads, power stations and the like. But that will come as the government grows stronger and less corrupt, and people earn more money (and so pay more taxes). It just feels that too much money is being siphoned off into corrupt, pointless infrastructure projects which are being built too soon. I'd just love to see a bigger share of the new 16bn pie specifically earmarked for women's work projects and education.

Also, for all Hillary Clinton's talk, there seem to be precious few guarantees that money will definitely go on female education and development.

Haven't seen the video but it is awful. Intensive spending on Education to 18 for every child, over a generation or two, is the only long term hope for Afghanistan, IMO.