1. CONTEXT

On the 3^rd of March 2002, war-struck Afghanistan was once again affected by an earthquake (7.2 on the Richter Scale). This dramatically affected the Northern Samagan Province, an area in the North of Afghanistan. In a few hours, the news reached Kabul and a significant aid effort was launched. Military from ISAF, NGOs already based in Afghanistan and UN organisations hurried to the earthquake zone. Food aid, emergency and rehabilitation initiatives in the field of health and shelter were immediately put in place. This case is the most recent of recent large scale natural disaster, which have mobilised aid.

Though the likelihood of having several rapid-onset disasters during the remaining period of the Global study is still high, it is preferable to study one that has already, and just recently, occurred rather than to risk missing the type of case study needed for the study !

 

2. OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this case study are to appraise the level participation and the approaches used for that purpose in Afghanistan in the area affected by the recent earthquake, with three objectives :

• To identify and describe existing practices;
• To identify important lessons through an analysis of the emergency programmes that were implemented;
• To transform these lessons learned into a "capital of knowledge" which will be capitalised, used for the preparation of the Practitioner Handbook and the Overview book and disseminated at the "system-wide" level.

3.1. Overall approach

The mission will utilise the following tools :

• Distribution of relevant information on ALNAP and the Global Study to possible partners in the field;
• Review of the documents made available by agencies;
• Interviews with agency staff;
• Interview and focus groups with affected populations;
• Feed-back to both affected populations and agencies on the findings for discussions

It is important to note that this study will be part of a larger framework (addressing issues related to programme quality), where the analysis of participation and consultation mechanisms was already included. These mechanisms will be further developed than initially planned, now that Afghanistan is included in the Global Study as country case study.

Sector-related and transversal issues

Sectors     Transversal Issues	Health		Economic security		Human settlements		Protection		Education
	Health	Water and sanitation	Food aid	Agricultural and economic rehabilitation	Housing	H. S. management	IHL	Human rights	Primary	Others
Relevance Impact on the population
Impact on the social cohesiveness
Impact on the security and conflict dynamics
Links between relief and development
Viability and sustainability
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Participation by, consultation with and partnership
Coordination
Population movements
Gender
Environment

 

3.3. The team

The team for the mission is composed of 4 persons :

François Grünewald, Global Study Project Director;

Charlotte Dufour, research assistant, nutritionist : she will particularly look into the issues of consultation and participation in the food aid sector.

Christine Bousquet; public health specialist : she will particularly look into the issues of consultation and participation in the health sector.

Eric Levron; human settlement and urban specialist : he will particularly look into the issues of consultation and participation in the housing/shelter sector.

(Dr Hugues Maury, a Quality Specialist, will also join the mission, but on the Quality agenda)

Three members of this team have already a good knowledge of Afghanistan. Groupe URD was particularly keen to ensure a gender balance within this team.

It should be noted that Groupe URD was already planning to carry out a mission in Afghanistan. The only extra costs to be covered by the Global Study budget are the involvement of Charlotte Dufour as a fifth member in the mission.

 

3.4. Implementation timeframe

Pre-mission preparation :

• Team seminar for the elaboration of a common approach with the other ALNAP Global Study teams (will take place early July 2002)
• Contact agencies at HQ and field levels. A series of meetings is being organised for the next couple of weeks with the Desks of interested agencies;
• Collect and read relevant documents (started already through the URD’s documentation centre);
• Prepare "ad-hoc" analytical tools;
• Inform in advance both HQ and field teams on the status of the preparation of the mission. These TOR will be circulated widely.

 

During the Field missions :

• One team (F. Grünewald and Charlotte Dufour) will come in advance to prepare the logistics and inform the actors at the field level (EDA 21/July 2002);
• Upon arrival of the rest of the team (around the 28/7/2002) a "presentation meeting" will be held for all interested agencies;
• Field visits, during which meetings with beneficiaries, agency staff, local authorities and other key informants will take place;
• Organisation of a "mini-seminar" in Kabul for feed-back and reactions;
• Preparation of a draft summary of the findings which will become the architecture of the Country Monograph;

 

Post-mission activities :

• Preparation of a draft Country Monograph;
• Wide circulation of the monograph through the Steering Group in order to stimulate reactions;
• Participation to the mini-seminar with the other country teams, in order to start shaping the recommendations that will contribute to the Practitioner Handbook;
• Finalisation of the Country Monograph;
• Preparation of a small "bullet-point" end of mission report to be sent to ALNAP and the Global Study Steering Group.

A tentative schedule for the mission is presented bellow:

	06/02	07/02	08/02	09/02	10/02	11/02	12/02	01/03	02/03	03/03
Preparation	--------	--
Inter-team workshop		-
Advance mission		--					-
Mission		--	--------
Feed-back Kabul			-
1st Draft of the Monograph				-
Presentation at ALNAP Biannual						-
Inter-team for the Handbook								-
Preparation of the Handbook								-----	-----	----