Background and objectives:

In response to a request of Government of Afghanistan to accelerate community-led development by building on the experiences of National Solidarity Programme (NSP), the Government of Japan (GoJ) financed the Inter-Communal Rural Development Project (IRDP) in Balkh, Bamyan and Kandahar and it is in its third year. UN-HABITAT is facilitating IRDP activities in 13 Cluster Community Development Councils (CCDCs, six in Kandahar and seven in Bamyan) of 56 NSP CDCs in three districts of Bamyan and two districts of Kandahar. IRDP aims at laying the foundation for a sustainable form of local governance, rural reconstruction and poverty alleviation in cluster communities.

Activities:
The main activities included:

• Community mobilization and community profiling of the targeted CCDCs.
• CCDC formation through mass meetings. Creating awareness of the need for CCDCs.
• Preparation of Community Development Plans (CDPs) for implementing self initiated projects proposed by both men and women CCDC sub-committees.
• Project Design: Project proposals along with the detailed design ready for implementation are prepared and submitted for getting approvals.
• Project Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation: CCDC projects are implemented according to the designs.
• Final project evaluations reflecting learning experiences, reviewing of CDPs and future prioritization are conducted.

Results:
The results so far have been:

• Directly benefited more than 2,580 youth through seven training courses.
• Successfully carried out activities from community mobilization to project design in all 13 selected CCDC.
• Selected a total of 19 prioritized projects for implementation.
• Conducted capacity development activities through on-the-job trainings,workshops and other project implementation activities.
• Disbursed USD 1.065 million block grants to the CCDCs.
• Completed about 65 per cent of the total implementation activities.