"The children are our future, treat them well and let them lead the way..." encourages a popular pop song. Unfortunately, millions of children are born and grow up in an environment of hunger, sickness and fear. War, foreign occupation and ethnic strife further hinder the joyous freedom of youth which all children deserve and indeed require in order to escape the vicious cycles of poverty and violence so common to developing nations. Granted, many in the rich Western nations would like to help. But how?
Ideally, one would identify the need, determine a method of meeting the need, gather the resources necessary to implement the method, and guide the implementation to a successful conclusion. Given the vast gulf not only between Western and Afghani cultures, but also between the various ethnic and religious groups within Afghanistan itself, the successful implementation of a foreign aid project, no matter how well-intentioned, is exceedingly difficult.
Indeed, defining the need is already an extremely difficult task. The Western ideals of separation of church and state, universal education and women's rights leave much to be desired in the traditional Islamic cultures of Afghanistan. The Sunni Pashtun tribes demand their own fundamentalist Islamic state which would prohibit girls from attending school and women from leaving the home unless fully veiled and in the company of a male relation. On the other hand, the moderate Ismaili Hazara tribes of the central highlands would welcome schools for all as well as the creation of tourist facilities in Bamiyan and on the shores of the Band-i-Amir lakes. The skilled Shia traders of Herat, meanwhile would prefer that aid be directed toward the improvement of Afghanistan's road and air infrastructure.
Determining the methods for meeting the needs is also not easy. Although nearly all Afghanis would welcome a better health care system, many traditional Afghanis are suspicious of Western drug-based medicine and the conservative-dominated south does not even permit women doctors. A school project will fail if limited to the physical construction of the schoolhouse; additional requirements include not only educated and motivated teachers, a curriculum, textbooks and writing materials, but most importantly the support of the parents who currently rely on their children to plant the fields and tend the flocks. A project implementation developed by and for Western culture is bound to fail if simply transplanted to Afghanistan.
Before a government or an organisation donates any resources for a foreign aid project, it must agree both to the need and to the method. Some organisations are loth to build schools which they know will exclude the teaching of girls. Although problems regarding food security and undernourishment could be reduced by limiting population growth, projects funded by the current United States administration encouraging sexual abstinence would provoke open revolt in the male-dominated Afghani culture. If donors insist on imposing their cultural and religious beliefs on those needing help, those projects will surely fail.
Once a project has been defined and funded, the work has still just begun. In a traditional, tribal-based culture, the implementation and oversight of any development project requires the full involvement and support of local families and tribal leaders. In Afghanistan this becomes an advantage, as the Afghanis are a particularly proud and resourceful people. However, if the local people do not consider themselves respected as stakeholders in the project, it will most likely fail.
In summary, countless aid projects have failed to live up to their potential, mostly due to an unwillingness to understand and meet the true problems and needs of the Afghani people. It should be obvious, but needy people will not invest their precious time and energy in projects which they do not consider worthwhile. Although other problems such as hidden political agendas, technical incompetence and corruption exist, it is quite possible, given careful planning and good teamwork, for foreign organisations to play an active part in the reconstruction and rebirth of a proud Afghani nation.
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