IOM AfghanistanNewsletter | Spring 2015

Foreword from the Chief of MissionThus far in 2015, we have seen large increases in both the number of Afghans returning from Pakistan and in the number of natural disaster incidents across the country. These are two distinct situations and challenges, but they speak to the wide-ranging needs in Afghanistan related to migration and displacement.

Since January, over 70,000 Afghans have spontaneously returned and been deported from Pakistan, triple the total number of returns and deportations in all of 2014. At the same time, nearly 50,000 Afghans have been displaced across 21 provinces by natural disaster incidents so far this year.

IOM has been responding to the needs of these vulnerable returning and displaced persons in close cooperation with the Government of Afghanistan at central, provincial and district levels. Revitalising our relationship with the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, with which IOM has had a close working relationship for 13 years, is a current priority, and we hope to soon finalise a plan to gradually move a number of IOM activities into the Ministry.

In March, the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Agency (ANDMA), the Government of Japan and IOM signed an agreement to implement a 36-month, USD 9.9 million project aimed at reducing risks in disaster-prone communities and strengthening government response capacity. This will have a substantial impact on the ability of communities and the government to prepare for natural disasters and respond rapidly when they occur.

Further emphasizing IOM’s commitment to cooperation and partnership, in this newsletter you also will find a story about the hundreds of Afghan professionals living abroad who have returned for temporary placements in public and private sector positions through IOM’s “Return of Qualified Afghans” programme. These men and women play a crucial role in bolstering Afghan institutions and exemplify the positive role that migration can play in rebuilding the country.

Richard DanzigerChief of Mission, IOM Afghanistan

“In 30 years I have only come twice to Afghanistan. I don’t know what to do.”

The words of Habiba, a sixty-year-old Afghan woman who recently arrived from Pakistan with her three grandchildren, echo those of many other Afghans who have crossed through Torkham border since the beginning of the year. Most have spent over 20 years outside of Afghanistan, and returning is a daunting prospect.

The number of Afghan returns and deportations through Torkham border so far this year are more than double the total number in all of 2014. While there is no single cause or policy that led to this increase, it is clear that the climate for Afghans living in Pakistan was affected by last year’s tragic attack on a school in Peshawar.

Since 2008, IOM has been working with the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation to assist undocumented Afghan returnees and deportees from Iran and Pakistan through its Cross-Border Return and Reintegration programme. It is the only programme in the country providing humanitarian post-arrival and reintegration assistance to vulnerable returnees.

The programme focuses on assisting the most vulnerable deported families and returnees. This includes people who are in a life-threatening situation, are unable to help themselves, lack family support or suffer from trauma.

The massive surge in returns at Torkham since the beginning of the year has strained the programme’s capacity. It is estimated that some 30-40% of all returnees meet vulnerability criteria and are in need of assistance, but IOM currently has the capacity to assist only about 10% of Afghans arriving through Torkham.

At the IOM Transit Centre close to the border, eligible returnees and deportees are provided with immediate humanitarian assistance including basic household supplies, healthcare and temporary accommodation, as well as onward transportation to their final destination in the country.

Families have expressed concerns to IOM about re-enrolling their children in school and restarting businesses that they had to leave behind in Pakistan. Many returning families have no land or homes in Afghanistan, and are returning to communities already having difficulty absorbing other newly-arrived and displaced families.

Finding sustainable solutions for these returning families will require coordination between IOM and its partners in the Afghan and Pakistani governments, and continued support from the international community.

Sharp Increase in Afghan Returns from Pakistan

Trucks carrying Afghan returnee families and their belongings outside IOM’s Torkham Transit Centre

IOM’s Return of Qualified Afghans (RQA) programme aims to bridge human resource gaps in Afghanistan’s public sectors by facilitating efficient, sustainable returns of skilled Afghans.

Through the programme, qualified Afghans residing outside of Afghanistan are identified and voluntarily returned for placement into key positions that support the strengthening of the public sector. In doing so, returned experts contribute to reconstruction, capacity building and development in Afghanistan, in close partnership with the government.

One participant in the programme tells his story:

“Afghanistan has suffered a lot in the last several decades. In the 1990s, when I left my country, there seemed to be little chance for progress and self-advancement.

I arrived in the Netherlands in 1997, with hopes to further my education and have a better life. Adjusting to my new country wasn’t easy. It took me several years to learn Dutch and Frisian, and there were many differences between the customs and life in the Netherlands and Afghanistan.

Although I faced many challenges, I eventually began to feel at home in the Netherlands. I continued my studies in the field of management, and as my life became more comfortable I began thinking about how I could contribute something back to my home country of Afghanistan.

In 2011, I became aware of a programme run by IOM that enables Afghans like me to contribute their skills to the development of Afghanistan. The IOM office in the Netherlands helped place me as an advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Education’s School Safety and Security Initiative. The initiative focused on building the capacity of local leaders to mobilize communities and parents to protect education facilities, students, and teachers.

My experience working on this initiative and helping to foster and protect education in Afghanistan was very positive. In 2013, I took another placement through IOM with the Peshgam Institute for Higher Education. Today, I am Chief Director of the institute. We have over 1,100 students studying in our B.B.A, B.C.S and law programmes. Almost 100 students have graduated from the institute since I started. I am really proud of the huge achievements made at the institute during my time here.

Drawing on my experience and education in the Netherlands, I have trained many teachers on management principles, marketing and other topics that will help build their capacity. Educating our students in these topics will help Afghanistan to have modern jobs and development.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to contribute what I have learned and achieved in the Netherlands back to Afghanistan, and I encourage others like me to do the same.”

Returning to Help Afghanistan

Some of the many Afghan professionals who have participated in the Return of Qualified Afghans pro-gramme, including the Chief Director of the Peshgam Institute for Higher Education (at top).

A man affected by an avalanche in Parwan receives IOM relief supplies at a distribution

Natural Disaster Preparedness and Response“We haven’t ever seen a winter like this,” said Ali Ahmad, a villager in Parwan province. “My house was totally destroyed, along with my car. I’m a driver, my car is my livelihood. Now I have no home and no way to work.”

Ali was one of the estimated nearly 50,000 people across 21 provinces that were affected by avalanches, flooding, landslide and heavy snowfall so far this year.

With funding from the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), IOM has been supporting the Afghan government in responding to natural disasters across the country.

Working alongside the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) and other humanitarian partners, IOM immediately dispatches its field teams to disaster sites to assess the scale of the damage and the needs of the affected communities.

Assistance is mobilized from prepositioned stocks in key locations throughout Afghanistan, and delivered by truck or helicopter.

“When a community is hit by a natural disaster, in an instant hundreds of people can be left with nothing,” says Humanitarian Programme Manager Ahmadi Gul Mohammed. “That is why it is so critical that aid reaches them immediately, especially in areas where the weather and terrain can be very harsh.”

In addition to humanitarian response to natural disasters, IOM’s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities help build resilience in vulnerable communities.

IOM, ANDMA and the Government of Japan signed 36-month, USD 9.9 million project agreement in March aimed at reducing risks in disaster-prone communities and strengthening the capacity of ANDMA to respond when natural disasters strike.

Fifty communities across ten Afghan provinces will benefit from disaster risk management activities under the project. IOM will work with them to minimize disaster risks by developing community disaster management plans, mapping local hazards and establishing early warning systems. The selected communities will be equipped with basic search and rescue equipment and will be trained on disaster risk management.

The project will also build the capacity of ANDMA at the national, provincial and community levels. IOM and ANDMA have worked in close partnership on natural disaster prevention and response since 2008.

As the main disaster management body in Afghanistan, ANDMA is leading the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA) in the country. The new project’s components are directly linked to HFA priorities.

Over the past two years, IOM’s primary Disaster Risk Reduction activity in Afghanistan has been the construction of ‘gabion’ flood protection walls in flash flood-prone communities. The structures are assembled in the lower parts of watersheds, insuring the protection of lives, homes, land, livestock and livelihoods.

In 2013-14, IOM completed a total of 14 gabion walls in 10 provinces, including Paktia (pictured here). The 2,503 meters of gabion wall protects 40 villages and 8,050 houses, benefitting over 87,000 people.

From Oslo to Kabul: Building a New LifeIOM’s Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration programme helps migrants to safely return home and rebuild their lives. Omar, one of the thousands of Afghans who have benefitted from the support offered through the programme, shared his story.

In 2010, Omar decided to leave Afghanistan. He traveled to Pakistan and paid several thou-sand dollars to a smuggler, who took him through Russia to Poland.

“I faced a lot of problems with these smugglers,” said Omar. “They make you very afraid. You can’t talk or do anything unless they let you. I was in their full control.”

Omar finally reached Norway, where he applied for asylum. “When I reached Norway I was treated well, and I submitted my case for asylum,” said Omar. “In the end though, they did not accept my case. I felt lost and wasn’t sure what to do next.”

After his case was rejected, Omar heard about IOM’s AVRR programme. He visited the IOM office in Oslo to get more information.

“I didn’t know that an organization like IOM existed for people in my situation,” Omar recalled. “At first I was suspicious about the support being promised, but in the end they provided everything they said they would.”

Upon arriving back in Afghanistan, Omar was met at the airport by IOM staff and provided with transportation and counseling. IOM offers several types of reintegration packages, and Omar decided to start a small floral business in partnership with a friend.

“Weddings are big business in Kabul, and the IOM staff I worked with to develop my business plan agreed that it would be a good line of work,” said Omar. “I’m making a reasonable income now, and covering my expenses. To the other people who were in my situation, I really recom-mend that they consider IOM’s programme.”

Training Officials and Communities to CombatHuman TraffickingTrafficking in persons is a serious problem in Afghanistan. IOM has been directly assisting an increasing number of victims of trafficking – from 13 victims in 2005 to 168 in 2014 – while also supporting counter-trafficking initiatives at both the government and community levels.

IOM-commissioned studies have found that many Afghans have a limited understanding and awareness of what constitutes human trafficking and how victims can get assistance. In response to this need to better educate the Afghan authorities and the public about human trafficking, IOM has hosted a series of training workshops in high-risk provinces.

The two-day workshops, funded by the Government of Japan and facilitated by Hagar International, bring together representatives from the Afghan National Police, Border Police and judiciary as well as community and religious leaders. The participants learn how to identify suspected trafficking cases, the legal framework for prosecuting trafficking in Afghanistan, how to protect victims and the religious tenets against trafficking.

Between November 2014 and January 2015, six trainings were held in Khost, Herat, Jawzjan, Nangarhar, Kunar and Kandahar provinces, with 182 participants in total (average 30 per session). The officials and community representatives who have taken part in the trainings have reported high satisfaction with the information and skills they have learned, and some provinces have requested additional training to further their counter-trafficking knowledge.

“Human trafficking is a big challenge for Afghanistan, and a crime just as damaging as terrorism,” said Abdul Jabar Naeemi, the Governor of Khost Province. “This training is very important, and I ask all of the participants to take what they have learned and put it to use.”

Helping Train Teachers for Afghan SchoolsThe Afghan Ministry of Education estimates that half of school-age children in Afghani-stan still do not attend school. There is a shortage of trained teachers and also a distinct need for female teachers. To address this gap, IOM’s Construction of Health and Edu-cation Facilities programme has been working since 2008 to build Provincial Teacher Training Colleges (PTTCs) in key locations across the country.

The Parwan PTTC, located in the provincial capital Chaharikar, was completed in January 2013. It is a large, modern facility that provides students from the region with access to high-quality training in education.

“The facility serves not only students from Parwan, but also those from nearby provinces such as Maydan Wardak and Ghazni that have severe shortages of teachers,” says Programme Man-ager Mustafa Nouri. “In total, two million Afghans will directly and indirectly benefit from the teachers that are trained through the college.”

To help encourage female students and support students with limited financial means, the 4,730 square meter Parwan PTTC facility has separate male and female dormitories, as well as on-site dining facilities and a shop.

The academic building has teaching space for 660 students, a modern computer lab, a library, two laboratories. There is a 1:24 teacher-to-student ratio, allowing for individualized attention to student needs.

“There is no facility like this in my home province of Ghazni,” said Mariam, a student at the college. “Once I’m finished here, I’m going to Kabul to get my master’s degree, and then I will teach mathematics at a university.”

Support for IOM AfghanistanFunding for IOM’s activities in Afghanistan is provided by:

Australia

Common Humanitarian Fund

Denmark

European Commission

Germany

Japan

The Netherlands

Norway

Sweden

United Kingdom

UN Development Programme

United States of America

Accelerating the Labour Migration DebateThe lack of an effective overseas migration administration system makes Afghan migrant workers vulnerable to abuse and exploitation at the hands of recruitment agencies and foreign employers.

In response to the growing number of Afghans working abroad and the need for effective overseas migration management, IOM hosted a pioneering event in Kabul in January, which brought together government representatives, labour unions and recruitment agencies to discuss labour migration trends and challenges.

The event: “Recruitment of Afghan Nationals for Overseas Employment” was the first of its kind to be hosted in Kabul and provided a unique opportunity for labour migration stake-holders to meet. In a mix of presentations and group sessions, participants discussed the cur-rent labour migration system in Afghanistan, with a focus on how to better protect migrant workers and optimize the benefits of organized labour migration.

Migration from Afghanistan is a complex and constantly changing phenomenon. In the past it was almost exclusively refugee flows, whereas now the dynamics are influenced by economic push and pull factors. The bulk of labour migration is to Iran and Pakistan, with thousands of workers crossing those borders every year. There is also increasing movement to the Gulf.

IOM has been working with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, ILO and Samuel Hall Consulting to develop a National Labour Migration Policy for Afghanistan. The policy is a practical document that addresses Afghan labour migration priorities, including ways and means to promote overseas employment, while protecting migrant workers.

In addition, Afghanistan has been an active participant in the Colombo Process, a Regional Consultative Process on the management of overseas employment and contractual labour. IOM provides technical support to the Colombo Process and serves as its Secretariat.

International Organization for Migration (IOM) Mission in Afghanistaniomkabul@iom.int

http://afghanistan.iom.int