OVERVIEW

The Multi-Input Area Development—Global Development Alliance (MIAD-GDA) is a partnership between USAID the Aga Khan Development Network to improve the quality of life in Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province by strengthening health, education, livelihoods, and governance. The project links Afghanistan’s public and private sectors to foster sustainable social and economic development. USAID and Aga Khan are each investing $30.5 million to fund this GDA.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

This partnership advances two broad components:

• Social development activities: In improving the province’s health outcomes, MIAD-GDA trains the residents of Badakshan Province on healthcare service delivery and infrastructure. The project creates access to education for the residents; trains provincial and district education departments in teachers’ training colleges; and promotes girls’ education. To advance the region’s agriculture sector, the project trains farmers on cultivating fodder crops, and provides female farmers with opportunities to market their agricultural products.
• Strategic investments: MIAD-GDA enables Badakshan residents to utilize resources from private sector investments to fund social development activities and to create jobs which alleviate poverty in the region. The project explores investment opportunities in the agribusiness, energy, and telecommunications sectors.

In addition, by 2018, MIAD-GDA expects to complete an upgrade of the Ishkashim Community Health Center to a District Hospital Facility.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Conducted over 100 public health training sessions in Ishkashim district; more than 6,000 people participated, including government representatives.
• Assisted 18 district education departments and other learning facilities to develop annual implementation plans, helping them incorporate national policy changes into action plans.
• Supported 16 farmer field schools in the districts of Jurm, Khash, Warduj, Arghanjkhwah, Ishkashim, Zebak, Wakhan, Shughnan, Maimai, Nusai, Shekai, and Koofab, which helped 360 farmers (both men and women) in applying new agricultural technologies and farming techniques.
• Established a seasonal agriculture research farm at the Baharak Agriculture Institute (BAI).
• Trained 90 men and 45 women at BAI on cultivation methods to improve vegetable yields.
• Established a Women’s Resource Center in Baharak district to provide training and technical support to women in embroidery, weaving, and handicraft production.
• Enrolled 2,300 students at the University of Central Asia’s Learning Centers in Badakhshan in English, information technology, and accounting courses.
• Completed a micro-hydro plant in Wakhand district supplying 35 kilowatts of electricity to approximately 150 households that were previously without electricity.