June 2010

June 08, 2010

A LETTER FROM CHRIS BEALES, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE AFGHAN TRAINING FOUNDATION

Dear friends

One thing was conspicuous about our recent general election campaign in the UK: none of the political parties said much about Afghanistan. It’s an amazing thing, but we’re actually involved in a war many thousands of miles away, a growing number of people are losing their lives, both British and Afghan, the British public are increasingly opposed to our military involvement in Afghanistan – and yet we heard so little about this distant conflict with such direct significance for our own safety and security, not to mention the future prospects of the populations of central Asia and beyond.

Now our new Coalition Government is in power and three Cabinet Ministers have already visited Afghanistan, we await with great interest an indications of the new priorities and directions they will bring. We hope they will listen carefully to the voices of Afghan people living in this country and also take most seriously the need for innovative and income generating initiatives which local people in Afghanistan can shape and develop. We are convinced that only with good jobs, honest businesses and fair markets will come the lasting and sustained change Afghanistan needs.

WORK IN KABUL

One of Afghan Action’s Board members, Samad Samadi, has just returned from the UK to Afghanistan. He had been in Kabul for three months (December 2009 to March 2010) managing our carpet factory and training school in Karte Se, south west Kabul. We’d been through a desperately difficult period in late 2008/early 2009, at the height of the economic downturn, but managed to survive and regrow, with the welcome support of a number of companies, trusts and foundations and some generous individuals and organisations in the UK.

Samad’s task was to establish good working systems, ensuring that our staff and trainees work in good conditions to the best of their ability and receive all the support they need.

You can see from recent photos that the work is developing well. Our trainees – young men and women - continue to receive high quality weaver training and also benefit from literacy and numeracy classes and really good healthcare. 10 new trainees just started at the beginning of June, generously sponsored by Supreme Foundation. The big challenge now facing us is this: what happens to our young trainees after they finish their training?

?Thanks to the kindness of Ashram International, Control Risks and the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, we have £15,000 raised towards the development of an Incubation Centre for new startup businesses. And we’re working with an innovative new organisation, Buzzbank to raise a further £20,000 for incubation. After training, those who wish to do so and have the necessary skills can move into a further period of training and development – the aim being to become established as businesses over the coming months.

WORK IN THE UK

We had a terrific evening at the Royal Geographical Society on 23 March 2010. International journalist Humphrey Hawksley gave a challenging presentation on the theme “Democracy Kills” – Western ideas of democracy may not be appropriate in other contexts and cultures and we have to be open to different approaches – noting the rapidly growing economies of south east Asia, India and elsewhere and the problems of introducing democracy in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.450 people attended the evening and £9500 was raised. Thank you to Humphrey, the organisers and all who supported this event.

Our work with British schools is growing and a new group is forming, the Afghan Culture and Education Partnership (ACEP), with a highly creative and able group of people working in the arts, Government and education. You can see on our website some of the excellent events and activities now developing in schools. 

Our “Building Bridges” programme, funded by the Department for International Development, has now started. Our colleague Yusof Mirzazada finished with us in January to do a full time MA – but I am pleased to say is remaining involved with us - and we have appointed two new colleagues, Hashim Alavi and Zarlashta Behzadi. Their work will build on Yusof’s work with Afghan diaspora groups across London, funded by the City Parochial Foundation, and they are working across the country to raise awareness about Afghanistan.

We have a number of events coming up – please check our website for regular updates and news of progress. And thank you so much for your interest, support and encouragement.

Chris Beales