“Not–for –profit organization (NGOs) in Afghanistan are publicly launching an NGO Code of Conduct to help better regulate not— for – profit organization in Afghanistan and to help communicate more openly about our work with the afghan people the Code Of Conduct will benefit not –for- profit organizations by establishing clear standards of good conduct that signatories must follow, and also benefit the people, the media and the government by allowing them to better to monitor and verify our development work in Afghanistan.”

This was declared in a half-day gathering for launching NGO Code of Conduct which was held at Mewand Hall, Kabul organized by AWN, ACBAR and ANCB.

The program started with recitation from Holey Quran.

Ms. Anja de Beer, head of ACBAR, welcomed the participants and formerly opened the program. Mr. Shahidee from Economy Ministry said: There are many NGOs working inside Afghanistan and it is hard to assess which one is the most active one. There fields of activities are diverse like construction, rehabilitation, health and agriculture etc. Our analysis are based on their periodical reports which can be enhanced with the help of some coordination bodies like AWN, ACBAR and ANCB and I on behalf of Economy Ministry promise to support these core NGOs in order to enhance coordination among them and to play a vital role in regulation related works of NGOs.

UN delegate Mr. Shano said: from the last 20 years I am working with NGOs and I am proud that many NGOs are registered as Member with us and I am happy to conduct the COC that will play a vital role in Afghan community. My best wishes are with you for accomplishing it.

Mr. Saeed Fazullah Waheed, director of ANCB, expressing his views said: Most of you may be aware that when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the people of Afghanistan started the Struggle (Jihad) for safeguarding their religion and country. The human loving and peace loving people of the world started thinking about the ways and means for the provision of unconditional humanitarian assistance to needy Afghans.

After 1980 some international and foreign NGOs had obtained enough confidence to initiate humanitarian assistance to Afghans in the refugee camps in Pakistan and Iran. From 1980 to 1984 many people especially women and children used to live helpless in such areas which were out of control of the governments of that time. it were only the NGOs who initiated projects for providing shelter, food, drinking water and education to help the people of those areas without any discrimination. After withdrawal of the Soviet Union’s troops from Afghanistan in 1989, besides the international and foreign NGOs, some Afghan NGOs were also established with the help of international NGOs.

In the above discussed crucial period, our Afghan mothers and sisters played a significant role, some well – educated women also established NGOs who later on formed a network known as Afghan Women Network (AWN). These coordination bodies ACBAR, ANCB, AWN and SWABAC connect together their activities to serve the people of Afghanistan.
Therefore, the NGO community also desires to present themselves to the people accountably and transparent, and that is why we are gathered here to make you aware about the Code Of conduct of NGOs.

Mr. Naeem Saleemi delegate of ACBAR said : I am happy to announce that the most desired day for ACBAR, ANCB, AWN and its members is to publicly launch NGO’s Code of Conduct in Afghanistan inorder to help NGOs better regulate and communicate more openly about our work with the Afghan people in Afghanistan.

The Code Of Conduct will benefit NGOs, by establishing clear standards of good conduct that signatories must follow, and also benefits the people, the media and the government by allowing them too better monitor and verify our development work in Afghanistan.

Many of these organization have been active in Afghanistan for over 15 years working with local communities in health, education, agriculture and water supplies projects that have been carried out in every province inside Afghanistan and also with refugee populations outside Afghanistan. But this experience and knowledge is not enough, we have to do better in explaining our work and showing that we are both accountable and transparent in our operations. Key requirements of the code of conduct require a signatory to be Accountable, Transparent and Professional. By accountability we must explain what we do and how we do it to the local communities, donors and the government.

By professionalism we mean that we must aspire to good standards of conduction in our work on behalf of our beneficiaries of projects and on behalf of our organization employees. By having effective communication we are being transparent, we have nothing to hide. Mistakes, in our works should be explained and should be confessed if any.

In conjunction with the new NGO legislation drawn up by the Government, the Cod of Conduct launching today also intends to separate more clearly those humanitarian organization with clear principles and standards from so-called NGOs which are in fact private business companies, or otherwise do not conform to the high standard by the Code of conduct.

Heba Trazi Office manager of AWN said : Humanitarian and development agencies have assisted the Afghan People through the years of war against Soviet occupation, the civil wars, the Taliban regime and now the brighter days of post 9 – 11 December Afghanistan, we have shared Afghanistan’s recent history and have a realistic understanding of the regional contexts, environments and people of the country, through this paper, we seek to clarify our specific identity as not –for –profit non Governmental organizations (NGOs ) who meet the standards of the Afghanistan Code of conduct We also present aspects of our contribution to the democratic nation that is emerging from the rubble of decades of war and we address some of the prevailing misconceptions about the nature of NGOs in Afghanistan.

According to data compiled from 31 agencies which have applied to the code of conduct since 2002, these agencies have:

• Provided health education to over 6.3 million Afghans
• Providing food, seed and tools to over 2.4 million Afghans
• Have built , repaired or supported :
• 426 clinics, taking care of over 5.3 million patients
• 3,339 schools, supporting 566,434 students (and overseen the training of 29,192 teachers)
• 6,949km of tertiary roads
• 18,833 of thousands of wells

Currently NGOs are working in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. They have strongly supported and helped the Government, through its various ministries in the development and implementation of national programs, such as the National Solidarity program (NSP), National Emergency Employment program (NEEP), Rural Expansion of Afghan Community Health (REACH) and alternative livelihood programs.

Though we may help communities build physical infrastructure, we are not construction contractors, our overarching purpose is to alleviate poverty and ensure community development on sustainable basis, rather than undertaking (re) construction as an end in itself, This means that we help communities establish mechanisms and skills that ensure an equitable and sustainable use of the assets provided to the communities.
We are prudent in our utilization of donor funds. Our goal is not financial profit.

At the end of the program a press conference was held in which the Code of Conduct committee answered the national and international media Questions

www.afghanwomensnetwork.org
Official website of Afghan Women's Network

Author: Tahir Saeed