Afghanistan: what to look out for when donating | NDR.de – News

2023-04-27 00:02:38

One reason for the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is drought and drought, leading to food shortages in the country. The result: According to the UN refugee agency, 875,000 children are malnourished, and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers are particularly at risk. A total of 20 million Afghans suffer from acute food insecurity. In addition, the Taliban have significantly restricted human rights: girls are banned from attending school after sixth grade, women are no longer allowed to attend universities and are no longer allowed to travel without a male companion. As a result, many girls and women are leaving the country. According to the UN refugee agency, 80 percent of the Afghan refugees in 2021 were women. Around 1.6 million people have fled Afghanistan since last year.

The Taliban restrict human rights with strict decrees, but also the work of aid organizations. All aid organizations were instructed to forbid their employees to come to work. Several aid organizations report that this work ban is a major challenge. In addition, it is difficult to plan for the longer term. “Every day the Taliban issue sudden decrees, changes, regulations and specifications that come out of the blue and can then influence our project work,” says Christina Ihle from the Afghan Women’s Association in Hamburg. Aid organizations have to check almost every day how the work can continue. In addition, the decrees leave a lot of room for arbitrariness – this is a great danger, especially for employees.

Despite the nationwide decrees, many aid organizations were able to negotiate local exemptions. For example, many women have been able to resume work in non-governmental organizations. The special thing about the work in Afghanistan is that the aid options are “different in every province,” according to Ihle – “depending on the attitude of the provincial leaders and which Taliban wing they belong to.” Altogether, there are local opportunities for aid organizations to support the people in Afghanistan, despite the strict decrees across the country. “We see the daily suffering, especially of children and women. Our very clear interest is to alleviate this suffering. That’s why we keep demanding that humanitarian aid in particular must be continued,” said Mathias Mogge, Managing Director of Welthungerhilfe, NDR Info.

Many aid organizations were already campaigning for better education, health care and children’s rights before the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. Close cooperation with village communities is important for this, says Christina Ihle: “Our projects are locally rooted, and the village elders protect and support them.” Like other aid organizations, the association runs its own schools and a clinic in the country, among other things. But since the Taliban took power, the work of aid organizations has changed. “As the situation worsens, we need to provide more humanitarian assistance,” said Sarah Rieper, Save the Children’s Asia Regional Manager. In addition to long-term development cooperation, many organizations are currently increasingly focusing on emergency aid – such as the distribution of food and medicine. Mathias Mogge from Welthungerhilfe adds: “We must try to support people’s own efforts, especially in the agricultural sector, in production – for example by distributing agricultural equipment, seeds and chickens to promote rearing and protein production .”

Donations in kind make little sense for many aid organizations that work outside of Germany. “It is logistically very expensive and complicated to bring things to Afghanistan,” says Christina Ihle. “Usually so expensive that the transport exceeds the value of the donation.” Aid organizations can therefore often use money more flexibly and efficiently than donations in kind. In addition, monetary donations in structurally weak countries such as Afghanistan can also have a lasting effect. Aid organizations such as Save the Children therefore rely on buying the required goods locally. “We also want to support local markets and the local economy,” says Sarah Rieper. The organization therefore refrains from donations in kind.

The German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI) recommends making unbound donations to aid organizations because: earmarked donations narrow the decision-making scope for aid organizations and cause additional administrative work. In Afghanistan in particular, earmarked donations are often difficult to implement, says Christina Ihle from the Afghan Women’s Association in Hamburg: “If donations are earmarked, the organization has less flexibility if, for example, a donation purpose is lost, for example because a specific project has to be closed for security reasons.”

You can find out more about the concrete work and the use of donations from aid organizations – for example in annual reports and project descriptions. Committees should also be listed there by name and finances should be disclosed in detail. Characteristics of reputable aid organizations can be the donation seal and the Being a donor advisory service from the DZI, or participating in the Transparent Civil Society initiative. In any case, however, institutions should be transparent to the public in their work. In the The DZI recommends a checklist for safe donations to also evaluate organizations after their public appearance: Are provocative or strongly emotional images shown in the advertising? Does the ad generate pity and fear? According to the DZI, reputable aid organizations refrain from addressing people emotionally.

The easiest way is to donate money to aid organizations that are active in Afghanistan or support local partner organizations – including: