On the basis of the above-mentioned objectives and selected strategies Denmark will continue to prioritise the following focus areas: human rights and democratisation (section 6.1 below), reconstruction of the public sector (6.2), education (6.3), improvement of living conditions for the rural population (6.4), region of origin efforts for refugees and the internally displaced (6.5 and 6.6), and humanitarian efforts (6.7). The indicative frame for development cooperation is DKK 670 million in the 2005-2009 period.
The table below outlines an indicative distribution of financial support between focus areas during the strategy period:
| Focus area | Percentage distribution of support |
| Human rights and democratisation | 15 % |
| Public sector reconstruction | 15 % |
| Education | 20 % |
| Improved living conditions for rural population | 15 % |
| Region of origin effort (refugees and the internally displaced) | 15 % |
| Humanitarian assistance (2005-2007 alone) | 10 % |
| Minor grants scheme | 10 % |
| Total | 100 % |
In addition to the DKK 670 million, financing is provided for the Danish contribution to the international stabilisation force (6.8), as well as assistance to the work of Danish NGOs (6.9), possible ad hoc contributions from Danish thematic pools for development assistance, and contributions from Danish trust funds in international organisations.
Denmark will continue to support the as yet delicate democratic process in the country. This will take place through the preparation and holding of elections and for building up the Afghan parliament with special focus on democratic control mechanisms. There will also be emphasis on furthering the participation and co-determination of the poor population and especially women by means of capacity building at local level via specific initiatives in selected provinces.
Afghanistan has ratified the most important human rights conventions and established the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. The commission is based in Kabul and since its establishment in 2002 it has opened 7 regional and 3 provincial offices. Danish support to the human rights commission will be continued with special emphasis on women's rights and efforts in one or more of the commission's regional offices and, where it is thought feasible, cooperation with and support to other local human rights units in the administration and among the NGOs. Denmark will also support the capacity building of civil society groups in the area of human rights and by this strengthen cooperation and coordination between civil society and the AIHRC. Special emphasis will be given to strengthening initiatives that further women's rights and their opportunities in society.
Human rights' principles and their practical implementation will also be furthered as a crosscutting consideration in all Danish-supported activities. Because the local structures are still very weak or non-existent, it is anticipated that cooperation with UN organisations, the peacekeeping forces and other international actors will be necessary and appropriate in the coming years also.
In addition Denmark will examine the possibilities for granting support in selected provinces for improved access to due process for weak groups in particular, including women and returned refugees, and with special focus on land rights.Together with the rest of the donor community and the Afghan government, Denmark will work to produce a general plan for the necessary reforms that secure human rights, women's rights and the legal status of citizens.
Up to now Danish support has been conducted by means of contributions to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), which is administered by the World Bank. ARTF has 24 donors and is an example of exemplary donor coordination and harmonisation. The fund covers about half of the state's running expenditures (payroll for more than 200,000 public employees) and certain development activities under the Afghan national budget. ARTF has been decisive for the re-establishment of the Afghan state and provincial administration, which is strategically important as a contrast to the warlords' local power bases. ARTF has built up a system for screening and monitoring that strengthens the state systems of financial control and ensures the sensible utilisation of funds, according to an extremely positive, independent evaluation of the fund from spring 2005.
The evaluation result is a weighty argument for the continuation of considerable Danish contributions to the ARTF and using the ARTF as a channel for earmarked contributions in other areas - see below on support for improving the living conditions of the rural population (National Solidarity Programme and MISFA).
In the coming years Denmark will promote a recommendation from the evaluation report on creating a permanent forum for policy dialogue in connection with ARTF. In this forum Denmark will work for setting up targets and indicators for (1) reforms in the public sector, (2) systematic capacity building, which up to now has been neglected in the efforts to simply keep the state apparatus functioning, (3) increasing state revenues, expenditure management and budget planning, (4) supervision, auditing and fighting corruption, and (5) appropriate methods of reporting that provide the parliament and citizens with insight into the utilisation and outcomes of public funds.
The Afghan government regards improved education as a condition for building a modern, democratic state, for growth and for poverty reduction. The number of schoolchildren rose from under 1 million in 2001 to over 4.3 million in 2003, of which 3.9 million children in primary education (1st to 6th grade). Despite the increase, only about half of the relevant birth cohorts are as yet attending school. Important challenges are to increase the share attending school, both in general and especially for girls, to renovate and build new schools, to raise quality and access to teaching materials, to strengthen the teachers' academic qualifications and to strengthen the ability of the Ministry of Education to lead and administer the sector. The Afghan government is aiming at fulfilling the MDG objective of all children obtaining access to 9 years of education.
Denmark launched sector support to basic school education in Afghanistan in 2003, and the activities under the first phase of the programme are expected to be concluded in 2006-07. These activities include drawing up school textbooks, preparing the books for printing, drawing up curricula, renovating and building schools, and support to planning and financial management in the Ministry of Education. Annual reviews are conducted where the programme is adjusted. Minor adjustments are carried out in a steering committee. The extremely poor organisational and professional level of the Ministry of Education has delayed the implementation of the programme. An adviser is providing assistance in financial management and coordination of donor contributions to the Ministry of Education.
Denmark will also assist the Ministry of Education with a civil service reform. The aim is, within the framework of the already initiated reform process in the public sector in Afghanistan, to strengthen financial management, internal auditing, personnel administration, payroll administration, organisational development, development of senior management and supplementary training of personnel.
The planning of continued support to the education sector from 2007 to 2009 will be carried out in 2006.
The Danish effort will consist in continued support to the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) and the initiation of assistance to micro credits through the ”Microfinance Investment Support Facility” (MISFA) to further the development of the private sector in the rural districts - primarily agriculture.
Denmark will continue to support the government's National Solidarity Programme (NSP). The programme is built up around block grants directly to villages which, following democratic election of village development councils, are themselves responsible for prioritising and implementing desired projects with technical assistance from NGOs. The objective is primarily to strengthen democratic structures, further the inclusion of women, and secure peace dividends in local communities. The first phase of the programme has reached out to 7000 villages - one quarter of the country - where the funds have often been used to re-establish infrastructure such as irrigation channels, roads, micro hydropower plants, and the establishment of alternative income-generating activities such as carpet weaving. The NSP programme forms part of the national anti-drugs strategy as a significant measure for establishing alternative sources of income.
The most important mechanism for micro-credits is the Microfinance Investment Support Facility Afghanistan (MISFA) under the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD). In the pilot phase 2003 to March 2005, the donors have granted around DKK 145 million to the MISFA, which is now active in more than 75 districts. The MISFA works through partner organisations, which in March 2005 had a total of 75,000 active clients of whom more than 90% were women. The pilot phase has documented a great demand for small loans among women, which is quite unique both globally and in a southern Asian perspective. Experience has shown that the loans are used to establish income-generating activities, such as agriculture and handicraft production. In addition to direct support to the programme, Denmark will contribute to quality development of the MISFA through monitoring the development impact of the loans.
The Danish region of origin effort in Afghanistan is strengthening the efforts concerning reintegration of returned refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons who can add capacity and resources in local areas. If this is handled wrongly, it could just as well become a source of social and economic unrest.
The strategic target for the region of origin effort is to ensure that refugees and the internally displaced in particular but also others who return to their home country have an opportunity to get going with their existence in Afghanistan, without this effort being distinguished from the support received by the local population who were not displaced.
The effort focuses on the activities that strengthen successful reintegration: start-up support, access to housing, the presence of basic infrastructure, fundamental social services, due process, and opportunities for employment and relevant education and training programmes. A special part of the effort focuses on a group of educated Afghan refugees mainly living in the neighbouring countries and who are ready to move back if the necessary frames for doing so exist.
A flexible approach is needed to implement the activities. The national authorities are very weak and the intention is to strengthen these, including the authorities responsible for identifying and receiving the returned Afghans. This will take place through cooperation with international partners, whose task will be to build up capacity among the Afghan authorities, e.g. through general refugee administration or registration and collection of information to be used, inter alia, in the work with the return to Afghanistan of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers. In the long term this cooperation with the Afghan authorities can to a rising extent focus on the relation between asylum and migration.
Efforts will, moreover, be initiated in the areas receiving large groups of returnees. These efforts will be implemented through international partners, among others UNHCR, IOM and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Given the delicate political and economic situation in Afghanistan it cannot be excluded that the migration flows in and around the country change during the present programme period. Flexibility has been built into the organisation of the programme, as it may eventually be necessary to adjust the projects.
Denmark has entered a tripartite agreement with Afghanistan and UNHCR on the repatriation of Afghan citizens residing in Denmark. Parts of Danish development cooperation are aimed at strengthening Afghan authorities, including the national authorities who take care of the verification of the rejected asylum seekers' nationality, and therefore constitute an important part of the dialogue with Afghanistan concerning the consistent implementation of the tripartite agreement.
Denmark grants assistance to organisations that support returnees, including returnees from Denmark (cf. above) and has also posted an attaché for foreigners to the diplomatic mission in Kabul with a view to facilitating dialogue with the Afghan authorities about repatriation.
Up to now Danish humanitarian assistance has been concentrated on immediate support to vulnerable groups and has included, among other things, food aid, support to returned refugees, internally displaced persons and especially vulnerable groups of women and children in particular, as well as mine-related activities. Since 2002 millions of Afghan refugees and internally displaced persons have returned to their homes. Large mine-infested areas have been cleared. More than 4 million people have been trained in the dangers involved in mines.
The future and more limited humanitarian effort will be concentrated on mine-related activities and will to the greatest possible extent complement the more long-term region-of-origin effort. The aim of the effort is to continue the build up of national and local competences so that the Danish effort can be phased out at the end of 2007. The effort is being implemented through the Danish Demining Group (DDG) and the UN's mine clearance office in Afghanistan (UNMACA).
UNMACA has responsibility for the general coordination of the effort to clear mines and ammunition and for quality control at completion. The aim of the Danish support is to strengthen the work of UNMACA in capacity building of national authorities to enable them to take over these functions in the longer term. DDG is, inter alia, in close dialogue with the Danish forces concerning any activities in connection with the Danish engagement in Afghanistan's provinces. The selection of provinces receiving humanitarian assistance depends primarily on local humanitarian needs. If there are security advantages to be gained, a geographical congruence between the presence of the Danish PRTs and support to local activities in the same area will be utilised in accordance with the government's initiative concerning interaction between civilian and military efforts.
There will be decisive emphasis on humanitarian assistance being conducted in coordination with the Afghan authorities and the UN. A link to the more long-term work of reconstruction will be aimed at, where possible.
Without a fundamental security and stabilisation effort from abroad, the first three years' positive changes after the fall of the Taliban would not have been possible. With threats from terrorism, local warlords and armed groups of criminals, a continued military presence with the UN-sanctioned mandate is a condition for continued progress until the Afghan authorities can shoulder the task.
Denmark will continue to contribute to the international stabilisation and security effort in Afghanistan. In addition, within the frames of the defence forces' international security cooperation, support and assistance are granted to building up the national Afghan army. In addition, the possibilities for supporting the disarmament of irregular militias with funds from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' conflict prevention account are being examined.
To make possible the positive processes of change in the whole country, Provincial Reconstruction Teams, PRTs, have been established. The task for the PRTs is to strengthen the influence of the Afghan government in the provinces through working together with regional and local political, military and religious leaders and cooperation and coordination with international organisations. Through observation and reporting, the PRTs are to assist the authorities in preventing development efforts being sabotaged by armed groups. Denmark will contribute to selected PRTs - for the moment in Samangan and Badakshan - until such time as the Afghan security forces can take over the task.
Provinces with Danish PRT contributions have, like the rest of the country, a great need for stabilisation and development. In connection with Danish military contributions to the PRTs, civil advisers will be posted. They will assist the local authorities with capacity building, coordination and implementation of local and national development programmes. They will strengthen the connection between the provinces and relevant national authorities, initiate minor projects, and further dialogue with Danish NGOs and other aid organisations concerning possible efforts in the Danish PRT provinces. The civilian efforts are financed over the appropriation note for reconstruction and humanitarian efforts.
Danish NGOs in Afghanistan are respected for the high quality of their work and for the long-term efforts, which in the case of many organisations started more than 20 years ago. During the coming period Denmark will continue to support the work of Danish NGOs in Afghanistan. Since 2002-2004 the Danish NGO assistance in Afghanistan financed over the NGO frame has amounted to an annual approximately DKK 25 million. In accordance with the principles of the civil society strategy, the efforts are based on the organisations' own strategic objectives. The main elements in NGO assistance up to now have focused on water supply, agricultural development and health. Thereby, the NGO efforts and the rest of development assistance are in extension of and complement each other.
The practice is close dialogue between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NGOs concerning the situation in Afghanistan, which also in the future will ensure the utilisation of possible synergy between the overall reconstruction effort and NGO activities. In the coming programme period the NGOs should continuously adjust their range of activities to the changing circumstances in the country, including the taking over by the state and private firms of certain of the tasks previously performed by the NGOs.