Every day, all over the world, USAID brings peace to those who endure violence, health to those who struggle with sickness, and prosperity to those who live in poverty. It is these individuals — these uncounted thousands of lives — that are the true measure of USAID’s successes and the true face of USAID's programs.
Zabul Province is exceptionally poor, rural, and illiterate with a challenging topography of mountains to the north and remote villages speckled across a dry, arid landscape. Although there are clinics or hospitals in eight of the 11 districts, access to quality health services remains a great challenge for the majority of the province.
The paved road running through the Panjshir is transforming the Panjshir Valley. “Panjshir used to be isolated like an island,” explains Tajadeen, a well known Panjshiri. “The people know about this road, and they are excited about it. We’re moving forward.”
“I worked on poppy fields in Badakhshan and could hardly earn Afs. 5,000 per month ($100) including my stay and food. When I got to know that ALP/E cash-for-work projects started in our village close to my home with good pay, I decided to come back to the region and work in the cash-for-work project,” said Mohammad Noor, a 28-year old who supports a joint family of seventeen members in Zawa, Khogyani District of eastern Afghanistan.
The current Afghan Geological Survey (AGS) complex in Kabul is approximately 25 years old. However, Afghanistan inaugurated the Mines Agency in July 1955. During the recent years of instability the majority of geological work ceased and the facility was reduced to a derelict shell.
Road reconstruction is a high priority for the Government of Afghanistan. The Pul-e-Alam road to the Kabul Kandahar Ring Road was a rough trail that passed over rugged hillsides, gullies and creeks. The travel time was slow, expensive, dangerous and unreliable.
In March 2006, Fareba Miriam became the first woman to enroll in the para-vet training program sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Rebuilding Agricultural Markets Program (RAMP). She learned about the para-vet training when she was teaching geography at a high school in Fayzabad, Badakhshan, a northern province of Afghanistan. Fareba is 26, the eldest daughter in a family of 12.
Noria Sedequi and her family of ten lived in Pakistan for eight years during the Taliban regime. They returned to Parwan Province, about 60 kilometers north of Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2001. Jobs were scarce and Noria realized that there were even fewer jobs in her community for women who wanted to work.
Effective in 86 percent of tuberculosis cases treated in Afghanistan, the USAID-sponsored treatment regime requires patients to commit to daily treatment at a clinic for two months and weekly treatment for six months thereafter.
Nangarhar, a province in eastern Afghanistan, was once home to over 5,000 hectares of olive orchards. The province was famous for its olives, and raw olives were once one of the largest agricultural industries in the country, but decades of violence led to the destruction of many of the province’s olive groves.
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