For seven years the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) has brought the resources of many donors together and helped the Government of Afghanistan both meet its wage bill and deliver the beginnings of a long-term development program to citizens across the country.
There is much, much more still to be done. The village that has a new school still awaits a clinic; the village with the clinic looks forward to a better road; and the village with the road needs a new irrigation system. The development initiatives supported by the ARTF are beginning to have a real impact on the lives of Afghans but the examples of what can be achieved serve also to highlight the many needs that remain to be addressed.
As administrator of the fund, the World Bank considered it timely to begin sharing some of these gains more widely in a modest newsletter. We hope to share progress, but also to remind donors and their constituencies of the multiple challenges that remain unmet and unfunded. And we hope too to demonstrate how, very often with the passionate leadership and work of the communities themselves, a little goes a long way to rebuilding lives for people who see hope for the first time.
Our
newsletter carries a logo we had specially designed at the Turquoise
Mountain Foundation. We wanted something that looked Afghan and we were inspired
by the foundation's work teaching local crafts to young Afghans, thus the calligraphy
and the resonant turquoise color which speaks to the traditional pottery from
Istalif, both crafts being nurtured at the school. In Dari and Pashto script,
the logo says ' Rebuilding Together'. We hope this reflects the interwoven
spirit of the international community working together and Afghans in turn
working with each other in government and in communities across the country
to build a safer nation.
Abdul Raouf Zia
Editor
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