300 Kuchi families selected KCDCs in Bagrami

Kabul,

Kabul, 17 July 2019 – The nomadic (Kuchies) population have been one of the marginalized and vulnerable groups in the country and little attention has been paid to their development so far. To facilitate Kuchies access to core services delivered by Citizens’ Charter National Priority Program (CCNPP), the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) along with other stakeholders conducted National Kuchies Development Conference on 30 Apr, 2019 at the presidential palace aiming to launch the Kuchies Development Program through CCNPP where 700 Kochi representatives from across Afghanistan participated and discussed how to better implement this program.

As part of this program, on 17 July, 2019, around 300 Kuchies families in Bagrami district of Kabul province gathered and selected 30 Kuchies Community Development Councils (KCDCs). Alone with the men, 200 Kuchi women actively participated at the elections.

The Kuchies development program under CCNPP at MRRD is designed to establish 902 KCDCs (also called Elbands) across Afghanistan for Kochies through transparent and democratic elections to make sure that any category of Kuchi communities is included and benefited by CCNPP over the next four years (2018-2022). Any KCDC must conduct elections to select men and women (where feasible) as representatives that is a pre-requisite to obtain Citizens’ Charter support and funding.

Based on MRRD Kuchies Development Strategy that is compiled as result of the pilot projects on the ground, each KCDC will be covered through CCNPP list of services in the rural areas including water supply, power/renewable energy and transport (encouraged as joint projects).

It is worth mentioning that to design the Kuchies Development Program, a series of consultation and orientation sessions were conducted with Kuchi representatives in Kabul in 2017. These consultation meetings were followed by implementing a pilot project on establishment of KCDCs in Zabul, Paktia, Jawzjan and Kapisa provinces to identify the living condition, movement, routes and corridors where the Kuchies move during different seasons of the year. Based on the findings of both the consultation meetings and the pilot project data and findings, a comprehensive framework for mobile and semi-settled Kuchi communities was developed which was then compiled into Kuchies Development Strategy that defines how CCNPP covers Kuchi communities through its development projects in Afghanistan.

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