Humanitarian Organisations and Afghan Civil Society

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have played an active role in Afghanistan since the early 1980s, though primarily as providers of humanitarian assistance and implementers of small scale rehabilitation and development projects. By mid 1990s a discussion emerged about what peacebuilding roles NGOs might play in peacebuilding, or at least how they could ensure that they did no harm. The United Nations were, one the one hand, involved in direct peace negotiations at the national and international level, while, on the other hand, UN agencies engaged themselves in more grassroots oriented peacebuilding processes, as UNDP’s P.E.A.C.E project.

Presently, UNAMA is assigned by the Bonn agreement to assist the ATA in the peace process, while ATA relies heavily upon NGOs for implementation of rehabilitation and development projects. A number of NGOs have also engaged themselves in the wider peacebuilding process, some in close collaboration with Swiss Peace.

The prominence of UN agencies and NGOs have to a degree overshadowed Afghan Civil Society organizations and structures, which have a long history of conflict management and mediation.