Helping War-Torn Afghan Communities Rebuild

Since 2001, CHF International has helped deliver provisions to thousands of families affected by hostilities in Afghanistan, in part through an award from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and a grant from the U.S. State Department's Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM).

Current Programs:

Afghanistan Microfinance Initiative (AMI) for the Microfinance Investment and Support Facility (MISFA)

Through AMI, CHF International has already helped nearly 10,000 low-income Afghans start businesses, improve their homes, and build their communities. As the program develops into a locally registered independent institution, the Afghanistan Microfinance Institution (AMFI), it is continuing to provide long-term access to a broad range of financial services to low-income individuals, and business owners in Bamiyan and Ghazni Provinces.

Past Programs Include:

Building Opportunities for Local Development (BOLD)

Working in the rural Waras district, this project is helping 70,000 community members through the construction of a major connecting road, development and refurbishment of seven local schools, and the establishment of 20 shallow wells. The program was launched in June 2004.

Schools and Clinics Construction and Refurbishment Program (SCCRP)

CHF is also addressing the long-term humanitarian needs of the extremely vulnerable Afghan refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) returning to their homes in the northern Bamiyan and rural Kabul provinces. SCCRP includes components to create a favorable environment for the successful return of refugees and IDPs by:

• improving living conditions by providing safe drinking water, reactivate health clinics, and repairing damaged schools;
• constructing 100 rural schools and health clinics; and
• creating income-generating activities through construction activities, replenishing herds, and restoring livelihoods.

Other examples of our work through SCCRP include:

• providing rapid winterization assistance to over 15,000 repatriated families and host families in Kabul and the Shomali Plain;
• working with local contractors and communities to repair and rehabilitate roads, schools, and health clinics.
• promoting the livelihoods of Afghan women by providing vocational training, literacy skills-building, and microlending to female entrepreneurs and farmers to stimulate income generation; and
• reconstructing schools to increase attendance for girls.

In implementing these efforts, we have partnered with the US Agency for International Development; the Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration; various agencies of the United Nations; and the Afghanistan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.