Background

The long disastrous background of Afghanistan of 25 years of war and especially the remarkable period of the Taliban has caused not only deterioration of the innocent Afghan’s economy and livelihood, it has also destroyed the literacy of Afghans, uprooting their education and initiative. Taliban policies against women were so extreme that this period has come to be known as “Gender Apartheids” or “genecide”. It was also one more chapter in conflict now spanning nearly 25 years, where women have always been the most vulnerable Afghans in many military actions, from the Soviets during the 1980s to the Northern alliance in the 1990s to the present, with the warlord-controlled armies of today.

The on-going conflict has killed millions, scattered landmines to every corner of the country, obliterated most of the country’s infrastructure and placed Afghanistan at the bottom of nearly every measure in the Human Development index, including infant mortality, maternal mortality, literacy rates, as well as having created the worlds largest refugee population. This has lead to a culture and an economy based on war, grave political instability, and an ingrained pattern of human rights abuses against women. These abuses include kidnapping, forced sex trafficking, extra judicial executions, forced marriages and rape. Most women and men in Afghanistan have been unaware of their human rights due to the conservative era in which they have lived, and the lack of sources through which they could get informed. This is the main reason they have not had much participation in society so far. Furthermore, this omnipresent and catastrophic problem has not only had a disastrous effect on men and women themselves but on development of a democratic government in Afghanistan as well.

1. BRD Approach to Human Rights Education

BRD believes that education is their focal point in their mission to assist Afghanistan’s citizens in the protection and promotion of human rights. The respect for rights of others on the part of a majority of the population of Afghanistan is the only guarantee that rights will be respected. Afghanistan is challenged, as is the world, to establish a culture for human rights protection, achieved through human rights education.

The attitudes BRD expects to build through education are:

a) strengthening respect for human rights and basic freedoms
b) development of the human personality and a sense of dignity
c) promotion of tolerance, gender equality and friendship among nations, indigenous people and racial, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups
d) enabling persons to participate in a free society
e) furtherance of activities of the United Nations towards peace.

BRD agrees with the UN that the basis of human rights education is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Its simplicity of vision causes it to be accessible to people of all ages and conditions.

BRD focuses its Human Rights Training Courses on tolerance education. Respect for the rights of others by the majority of Afghan citizens best allows rights to be respected. BRD understands that our understanding of human rights contains a personal value system. This system is a mirror of the culture and region where we live. Our experience in our circles of identity, such as gender, class, religion, and family status, further defines our value system. BRD strives to make its education participants aware of their own assumptions in this regard. BRD offers a specific course which teaches that if we presume that we can speak on behalf of everyone, we risk infringing on others whose rights we wish to defend.

Awareness of the manner in which diversity affects human interactions causes us to appreciate the richness of diversity, and to anticipate the challenges of diversity.

In its Human Rights Curriculum BRD demonstrates group works which cause the participants to acknowledge differences, finding common ground on which to work together. BRD attempts to dedicate its human rights curriculum to the acceptance that the foundation of human rights is the universality of human dignity and interdependence.

In its “Seeking Common Ground” module, the goals are:

• to examine how personal values and long held assumptions about “right and wrong” influence personal actions and reactions and

• to explain the positions in the debate about the universality of rights vs. cultural relativism.

In its Human Rights Curriculum, BRD offers 3 courses:

(1) "Seeking Common Ground", mentioned above;
(2) "Building Global Culture", based upon the UNDHR; and
(3) A Basic Human Rights module which discusses human rights, from the perspective of those which are positive, natural, and constitutional. The relationship between democracy and human rights is discussed. Human rights education is process of transformation than begins with the individual and branches out to encompass society at large.

Activities: BRD has organization human rights and women rights education workshops Gender Courses for women, Youths, Police, and government servant and Teachers of primary and secondary schools in different part of the country.

Achievements: BRD has organization 30 human rights education workshops for women, youths and teachers or primary and secondary schools in the country. BRD also facilitated the Gender, Non-voilance training to Local NGOs staff in Kabul and Ningarhar and Kanadahar provinces of Afghanistan.

2. Adequacy

The protection of human rights is a pressing concern in Afghanistan. The rule of warlords, armed forces and the remnants of the Taliban continue to jeopardize the rights of Afghan citizens. The position of women and girls is of particular concern, with many still subject to discrimination.

The recent presidential elections were an important step forward. However, entrenched poverty and a burgeoning drugs trade are challenging the stability of the country. As it recovers from decades of conflict, it is essential that the human rights of all its citizens are respected and placed at the forefront of Afghanistan's development.

BRD has recently begun to confront the problem of such human rights abuses thanks to its involvement in a unique network. The Civil society and Human Rights Network of which BRD is proud to be a member, aims to influence the development and implementation of polices that promote human rights and peace in Afghanistan. It will do so through ongoing research, advocacy and capacity building.

BRD believes it is its duty to seek the opinion of Afghans about the issues surrounding the protection of their rights, and to represent their voices accurately. By hearing the concerns and hopes of ordinary Afghans, it will influence policy makers to work harder to protect basic human rights.

BRD also believes that ensuring long-term sustainable change in the lives of the most vulnerable requires decision makers and international organizations to be held accountable for their policies.

This is a unique initiative for Afghanistan and for other countries emerging from conflict and insecurity. It brings together local and international organizations which systematically promote human rights through ongoing research, capacity building and collective and individual advocacy.

This Network represents a wealth of experience in the fields of human rights, humanitarian relief, reconstruction, women's rights, peace promotion, research and advocacy. The members include some of the most experienced and respected agencies working in Afghanistan today. The extensive programming experience of its members gives it unrivalled access to communities throughout the country.

BRD involvement means will be able to further the support it offers to displaced peoples. By amplifying the concerns and problems of Afghans, it will work to uphold their human rights and so contribute to the future stability of the country.

Enhancing Capacity of Local Afghan

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Human Rights Advocacy

Problem Identification

 Building a strong and viable civil society in Afghanistan will contribute greatly in raising the level of public awareness on human rights, changing of individual and social mindsets and behaviors to institutionalize human rights and to replace the culture of war and violence with a culture of peace, participation, democracy and human rights.   Civil society organizations harness the voices of the people, serve as vanguards of human rights, and   develop local institutions and processes that are more responsive to the needs of ordinary citizens, particularly the poor. Enhancing the capacities of civil society organizations in human rights advocacy will strengthen their resolve to support the victims of human rights abuses and mobilize the people to fully own and participate in the transitional justice process.  Lastly, sharpening their advocacy skills for the protection and promotion of human rights will move them further to initiate more effective advocacy and lobbying on various human rights issues, to expand its coverage and  to reach out through networking with like-minded institutions and individuals at the national, regional, and international level. 

However, civil society organizations in Afghanistan are faced with daunting tasks and challenges. These include low capacity and lack of skills in human rights advocacy and community mobilization. They have a low appreciation of their collective strength or the power in numbers.

They have limited knowledge and awareness on their role in society and responsibility to the state and the people. While civil society organizations and local NGOs in Afghanistan now reach thousands, there are other important sectors and elements of the society also involved in civic activities but who are not yet roped in ,These include open-minded religious scholars   If mobilized, these groups can exert great influence in the minds of the local community and as such are potent groups in CSOs human rights advocacy.  

The Bureau for Reconstruction and Development, as a national  Afghan NGO committed to improving the lives of the poor in Afghanistan has laid down plans to build the capacity of existing civil society organizations in human rights advocacy though skills training/mentoring and network  building. The project intends to facilitate the formation of a network of local CSOs involved in human rights advocacy in Afghanistan.

 This will generate broad participation in human rights activities from among the the many influential people in the communities, religious leaders and scholars, private sector, and those from the government and civil society. The network will facilitate the sharing of resources and expertise as local CSOs mount several human rights advocacy activities at the local level. 

The project also intends to build and sustain working relations with religious scholars or ulamas, community shuras and other community influential to help in human rights promotion in their communities.  The project also intends to develop and expand a network of human rights volunteers and experts who will help design human rights campaigns and spearhead human rights advocacy activities at the local level.

 The project also intends to harness the skills of local civil society organizations in human rights advocacy including evidence-based or information-backed policy advocacy, building effective partnerships and community mobilization.  Local CSOs, especially those which serve as intermediary organizations between communities and donors, will also be introduced to rights-based approaches to development programming with clear focus on people and their rights in order for them to incorporate human rights standards and practices and methods, to improve the quality, relevance and responsiveness of their institutions, programs, projects, and services.   

1.      Advocacy Strategy

Potential alliances in the communities

·         Local civil society organizations

·         Religious scholars or ulamas, community shuras and other community influential such as those from the government, private sector, local media and civil society to help in human rights promotion in their communities.

·         UN Expert volunteers

Approaches to use/apply

·         A phased approach to contain risk and improve the success rates of the project.

The first phase of the project will be piloted in the Central Region and than after the obtaining the result of the pilot phase will be incorporated in second phase and will be rolled out to other regions if funding was available for the second phase.

·         Capacity building of local CSOs

·         Partnership building and advocacy network formation

·         Training and mentoring of trainers

  Goal and objectives  

The project aims to support the building of a democratic pluralistic society in Afghanistan in terms of contributing to the peaceful political transition to democracy, increasing opportunities for individuals, groups and civil society organizations to interact politically with the government in the achievement of major political changes and playing the role of watchdogs on the performance of the government.  

a)      To Enhance the the capacity of 60 local CSOs on human rights advocacy and their participation in public awareness rising. 

b)      Improve the skill and knowledge of 145 CSO staff on Human, Advocacy and public awareness rising through Conducting 7 workshops in the 6 provinces of Central Region. 

c)      Develop a human rights advocacy network at provincial and Regional level in central Region Provinces.

d)      Develop a pool of human rights trainers by Provision of 5 days ToT Training to 20 CSOs repreansantitive.  

e)      Intensify human rights activities at the local level 6 provinces of the central region.

 2.   Approach and Operation /Implementation 

a. Partnership building : Potential partner CSOs at the local level will be identified.  These local CSO partners will come from community shuras, womens groups, youth organizations, local human rights NGOs, religious scholars, and professional associations.Community shuras or traditional local councils, established for purposes of self-government, represent communities' interests and needs of the local people and are potent forces in any advocacy work.  Since these shuras are closely linked to the communities, they could mobilize community support, educate their people, disseminate information, and reach out to more vulnerable groups in the community.  Well-respected and open-minded religious scholars could also be tapped to support human rights advocacy at the community level.  Women's groups who are part of the most disadvantaged sectors in the community along with youth organizations, professional associations and local human rights NGOs, will also be enjoined to take part in human rights advocacy activities at the local level.

Leaders of these local CSOS will be invited to attend a Local CSO Partnership Building Workshop on Human Rights Advocacy. The objectives of this two-day consultation workshop will be to:

1) level-off on the need to take part in the implementation of the transitional justice and human rights advocacy activities at the local level.

2) Identify issues and concerns and potential areas of cooperation related to local human rights situation and implementation of transitional justice.

3) Solicit the support and commitment of these local CSOs to transitional justice and the promotion and protection of human rights.

b. Training Needs Assessment and Curriculum Development

The local CSOs level of knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) towards human rights will be assessed.  Specific training needs of CSO leaders will be identified based on KSA assessment results. 

In general, the training  program that will be developed based on KSA /needs assessment is expected to enhance the  skills and knowledge of local CSOs in: visioning, contextual analysis, problem/issue identification, analysis and prioritization, power mapping; advocacy goal/objective setting, analysis of advocacy arenas and strategies, message development, reports and media, public outreach and community mobilization, lobbying and negotiation; advocacy leadership and advocacy network building, and assessment of advocacy gains and success. 

BRD will tap the expertise of Geneva-based International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and the International Training Center for Human Rights and Peace Teaching as well as its pool of expert volunteers in the development of training manuals. BRD will help translate and appropriate the training manuals to Aghan situation and language.  Resource materials from ISHR will be used as references in the development of the curriculum and training manuals.  Materials from other human rights resource institutions will also be sourced from the internet.

c. Training of Trainers (TOT) on Human Rights Advocacy

A five-day training of trainers on human rights advocacy, building effective partnerships and community mobilization will be developed and implemented. Twenty five (25) leaders from local CSO and local human rights NGOs will be selected based on the following criteria: 1) general understanding of the need for transitional justice and human rights,   2) capacity to train other CSO leaders , 3) interest on and willingness to pursue human rights advocacy, and 4) respect of and for the community. These core trainers will be trained and further mentored in order for them to properly lead and guide local human rights advocacy activities. 

Proven human rights advocacy methods and critical concepts in human rights advocacy will be incorporated in the course as a means for local CSOs to reflect on and deepen their own work. The course will also include theoretical foundations and critical issues of human rights advocacy, elements of advocacy planning, and strategies for action. Discussions about advocacy and its relationship to: Politics and Democracy; Citizenship and Rights; Power, Empowerment and Citizen Education and Action will also be included.

d. Training Workshops for Other Members of Local CSOs 

Echo trainings on human rights advocacy for other members of local CSOs will be conducted by the trained trainers.   At the minimum, one echo training on human rights advocacy will be held each month in each of the target provinces.  These echo trainings are expected to equip local CSO groups with the tools and skills to advocate for the protection of the rights of vulnerable groups such as poor women and children and implementation of transitional justice.  As capacity of these local CSOs in human rights advocacy is built, communities and local citizens are mobilized to actively participate in the transitional justice, to build peace in their communities and to improve their lives.   

e. Network building

Building democracy and protecting human rights requires mobilizing diverse citizen groups and organizing people around shared interest and problems.  The process of connecting individuals and groups to work together for change is both a significant end in itself and a means to the shared ends of peace, democracy, and development.

Recognizing the power in numbers of advocacy networks, the project will facilitate the establishment of an advocacy network of local CSOs and like-minded institutions in each of the target provinces. This is to enhance information and resource sharing as well as ensure CSO participation and community involvement in human rights and other civic activities the communities.  Collaboration protocols and partnership arrangements among the various CSOs at the local level will be clearly defined.  Mutual trust, mutual benefits, transparency, participation and shared leadership will be promoted among the CSOs.

The proposed advocacy network of local CSOs will spearhead planning, conduct of and monitoring of human rights advocacy activities in the target provinces and villages.  The network as a group will come up with an advocacy plan that will address human rights issues and concerns in their locality including their proposed solutions.  Community campaigns on human rights and related events will be launched in the communities to generate interest from the local villagers and solicit their active participation and support Dissemination forums on human rights will also be held in collaboration with community shuras.  The advocacy network will collaborate with concerned government departments, other human rights NGOs and local media groups.

Achievements: BRD is played major role in coordination of the organization involved in Human Rights Protection, advocacy and promotion in the country.The capacity of the local organization involved in human rights advocacy and protection is very low, the program for the capacity building for enhancing the advocacy skills of the HR organization is good achievement for future of Human Right promotion in the country.

3. Peace Education

“Nonviolence”, a course BRD intends to bring into its projects, begins by establishing its relationship to conflict resolution. The course establishes that there are no societies in the world without violence. Violence is described as neither random, nor apart from the society in which it exists. All societies have norms that determine how the community will function. It is through these norms, that the acceptability and type of violence are determined. The strangeness of this concept considers the reality that most people consider violence to be “wrong.” However, the course considers that within the definition of wrong, there are levels in each society of the acceptability of violence.

In every society, certain acts considered wrong become justifiable when situations change. These justifications create levels of acceptability - places where it is all right to use violence. The course establishes that violence exists by personal conduct, as well as at the urge of governments. The deep causes of violence are discussed, as is the manner in which acceptance of violence can be changed at a community level.

The course discusses facts about violence, including:

(1) Estimates of deaths from war and other forms of political violence in the twentieth century are approximately one hundred million.
(2) The economic costs of that violence are substantial.
(3) Those costs can endure long after the fighting stops.
(4) People contract diseases from the biological and chemical weapons used during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
(5) Dozens of people are killed or wounded daily from millions of landmines left over from long-concluded conflicts.

The role of both the individual and the nation state are discussed. The Goal of Human rights Education is Empowerment, the result is Social changes. Human right education involves the exploration of human rights principle and instruments and the promotion of critical reflection and inquiry. Ultimately human rights education inspires women and men to take control of their own lives and the decisions that affect their lives.

4. Teacher Training Program
'Civic Education, Peace and Basic Human Rights Training'

1. Objective & Aim of the program

The purpose of the project is to support the development of a strong, viable and pluralistic civil society in Afghanistan already from a young age of its citizens by providing teachers of primary and secondary schools sufficient knowledge and information on democracy, human rights and peace training in order to enable them to extend this knowledge to their pupils. The program aims to raise the level of public awareness, changing of individual and social mentality and behaviors to institutionalize human rights and to replace the culture of war and violence with a culture of peace, participation, democracy and human rights.

Principal goals of the project include:

• To lay the foundation for building a democratic community

• To empower the youth to participate in promoting democracy in the country and to actively take part in the political process

• To encourage mutual trust, confidence building among the Afghan population and its different ethnic groups and help secure relationships already amongst school children by teaching conflict resolution techniques at primary and secondary schools

• To increase local understanding of the political process and facilitate active participation of all levels of the population

• To create alternatives to structures of inequality and injustice, war and violence through education, research and action

2. Background

Since the removal of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the country is gradually building up awareness of democratic principles among the civil society. Yet Afghanistan is still facing numerous challenges due to ongoing human rights violations, political instability in different parts of the country, violence and difficult access to political participation. The lack of knowledge about basic civic and political rights constitutes a major constraint in effective engagement of the society in the political and democracy promotion process. Teachers of primary and secondary schools should therefore be trained in the effective observance of international human rights standards, as a means to prevent the type of widespread and grave violations of human rights that have occurred under successive governments over the last twenty years. By teaching already school children the principles of democracy, human rights and peace, a triggering effect for the society as a whole can be reached, assuming that the children share this knowledge with their families and take it as a guideline for their future actions in the society they live in.

In May 2003 (1382) the Afghan Ministry of Education released the “Education and Vocational Training Budget 1382” in which the principles of the education sector are outlined to “provide quality education for all regardless of gender, ethnicity, language, religion and geographical location and to build a skilled labour force able to meet the challenges of reconstruction and national development”. At present the return of more than 3 million primary students back to school, the reconstruction and rehabilitation of schools both in Kabul and in the provinces, lack of suitably qualified and inadequate numbers of teachers, curriculum revision and textbook development is posing an enormous challenge for the Afghan government. Significant investment is still needed to meet present needs in faculty development, institutional strengthening and providing equity in higher education.

In order to contribute to the demands in the Afghan education sector, namely the training of teachers in human rights, democracy and violence prevention, BRD plans to hold a 3-day training seminar for teachers of primary and secondary schools.

3. Target Groups

The target groups are in the first place primary and secondary school teachers from different provinces all over the country. By training the teachers in human and democratic rights, children at schools would benefit as well.

4. Outline of the project

To address the problems outlined under 2, BRD plans to conduct two 2-days-training seminar in East Region for 50 teachers of the primary and secondary schools.

The seminar will be divided in three parts:

• Civic Education: which will include topics like definition and understanding of democracy, good governance, civic rights, constitution, Election (the Right to vote) public law, institution building.

• Human Rights: which entails definition of civil and political human rights (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949)

• Peace training: types of conflict, psychological, cultural and systemic reasons for conflicts, understanding and applying conflict management styles, basic problem solving, systematic conflict resolution and mediation training, achieving win/win solutions

The seminar will be conducted in participatory manner in order to improve the active participation of the participants and time will also be given to group works during the session. Power point presentations will be used during the seminar. The participants will also receive the hand out of the seminar materials.