OVERVIEW

USAID seeks to build Afghan capacity to conduct annual national-level public opinion research and disseminate results through “The Survey of the Afghan People” program, which is implemented by The Asia Foundation. The program supports survey research and drives substantive policy discourse on issues such as security, governance, rule of law, freedom of speech, economic growth, disability issues, migration and other important topics. The program works to improve the ability of Afghan researchers and government officials to conduct data analysis and encourages data-driven policy making. The first survey was conducted in 2004. The polling data has been a respected source of information about public attitudes, which is used by policy makers, civil society organizations, donors, and journalists to gain a better perspective of Afghan views on current social, economic, and political issues.

ACTIVITIES

• Nationwide Public Opinion Survey: Conduct annual surveys using a progressively refined methodology that covers all provinces and includes a sample size of more than 9,500 respondents
• Capacity-Building for Afghan Researchers: Introductory Data Analysis training course for Afghan government officials and researchers
• Dissemination of Survey Findings through international and national presentations, printed copies of the survey report in English, Dari and Pashto; and a web-based data visualization tool; data sets freely available for download
• Developing and publishing the first-ever Dari language textbook on statistics and data analysis using Stata software.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Longest running, continuous annual nationwide public opinion survey in Afghanistan since 2004
• Since 2014, trained more than 240 researchers, including 84 females, in data analysis and the Stata software package
• The Survey of the Afghan People cited in more than 150 media reports during 2015
• More than 1,000 copies of the 2015 survey results have been distributed to national and international stakeholders