A) Background
and Experience
B) Management and Governance
C) Financial and Accounting Management
D) Gender Considerations
E) Our Partners
A) Background
and Experience
Bakhtar Development Network is
an indigenous community development organization founded in 2001
by dedicated Afghans who felt that it is their moral duty to ensure
that development efforts in Afghanistan are carried out in a coherent
and effective manner to rebuild depleted livelihoods for sustained
recovery. Having intensively trained, piloted the approach and methodology
of community participation, BDN implements community development
projects and basic package of health services in more than 40 districts
of Ghazni, Baghlan, Balkh, Kapisa, and Daikundi provinces.
Health Sector: The
health sector provides basic, comprehensive and hospital services
to communities, focusing on maintaining a stable health status.
BDN prides for being the biggest local NGO delivering health services
to 12% of overall population of the country and having representation
in the provinces considered as having most difficult access. BDN
covers a total of 31 districts serving 1,729,770 Afghans through
2 Provincial Hospitals (PHs), 3 District Hospitals (DHs), 5 Comprehensive
Health Centres Plus (CHC+), 30 Comprehensive Health Centres (CHCs),
52 Basic Health Centres (BHCs), 29 Sub Centres (SCs) and mobile
clinics, and more than 1640 Health Posts (HPs). Support in the form
of technical advice, medicine, equipment and materials is given
to rundown and closed public sector clinics and health centers to
improve their capacity to provide services to communities. Projects
in these provinces are delivered through the direct participation
of local populations by forming local health committees to jointly
plan activities, oversee implementation and assume ownership. This
was a major departure from the conventional development approach
which emphasized top-down delivery mechanism. It has succeeded in
creating understanding and harmony amongst village communities but
a lot remains to be done to sustain peace and reconciliation. There
are all sorts of potential conflicts within and between communities.
These include the tensions that remain from the recent war as well
as new tensions resulting from sharing of vital resources; they
will have to be identified and addressed through conflict prevention
for a durable peace.
Community Development Sector:
BDN works with communities if they are committed to helping
themselves and are ready to contribute to the participatory development
process from their own local resources. Community Development Mobilisers
work as link-persons between communities and health facilities in
raising awareness and mobilizing people for community-wide initiatives.
The overall objective of BDN is achieved through a participatory
process which leads to the establishment of Community Development
Committees (CDCs) which, with initial support from BDN, are capable
of participating in project activities. At the national level, BDN
campaigns to bring about changes in strategy of delivering development
assistance to ensure that it is targeted and is long lasting. It
forges links and partnership with governmental institutions, private
sector and development organizations to effect this vision.
BDN prides on its strategy of community-based programming, accountability
and transparency system and on the lasting achievements. It has
established a reputation for innovative ideas and approaches, efficiency
and cost-effective implementation capacity. The active participation
of local communities and authorities in all stages of the projects,
including in establishing effective post-implementation management
and sustainability mechanisms, as well as the well-established on
the ground capacity in five provinces, has turned BDN into a partner
of choice for major donors, including USAID, EU, World Bank with
a total amount of US$12 million in funding received over the past
three years. In addition, the BDN strategy supported the implementation
of the government’s health sector program in a very comprehensive
manner.
B) Management
and Governance
BDN Project management devolves from management
personnel in Kabul to the provincial manager, based in Provinces.
Project responsibilities lay with the provincial managers who oversee
implementation of projects. The provincial manager is backed by
cluster mangers who oversee technical implementation process in
the districts. The technical staff comprises of MCH officer, pharmacy
officers, EPI officers, social/community mobilisers, HMIS officers.
Support for the provincial teams is provided by BDN’s functional
departments in Kabul, finance and administration, human resources,
and monitoring and evaluation. BDN always endeavors to achieve
the project objectives through a sustained staff capacity development
program backed by instituting an appropriate supervision and reporting
system. It will enhance the knowledge and skills of the provincial
teams through meetings, workshops and formal training programs.
Depending on need, BDN can develop in-house training program for
its teams in supervision, monitoring and evaluation, reporting,
community mobilization, record keeping, etc.
C) Financial
and Accounting Management
BDN financial and accounting procedures are
in accordance with internationally accepted accounting rules.
The transparency of the financial system is maintained by having
appropriate internal controls. Highly qualified and professionally
sound staffs are hired in finance department who has vast experience
in the field of accounting and finance.
To classify the different receipts of grants and expenditures, separate
bank accounts are maintained. Separate books of accounts are
prepared for various projects, which facilitates tracking of any
expense at any time and any level. Proper double entry accounting
cycle is followed by using custom made software, which provides
automated cash book, ledger, trial balance, balance sheet etc.
Apposite financial data is produced, which helps the management
in decision making. Internal audits are conducted at both the central
and provincial offices, which identifies the errors as well as improves
for future. At the end of each fiscal year, external audit
is conducted by reputed international audit firms.
Periodic sessions of on job training are arranged for capacity building
of finance personnel. Latest information about financial techniques
is delivered to update them and improve their skills in their field.
BDN annual audit reports are available, can be provided.
D) Gender
Considerations
Major part of BDN projects aim at conflict
prevention (potential and actual) by undertaking social capital
strengthening combined with economic development, specific efforts
will be made to include the most disadvantaged. This is particularly
important for women and the “poorest of the poor” to
whom specific strategies have to be devised to ensure that they
directly benefit from development initiatives.
It is common knowledge that in
Afghanistan, women do not enjoy equal representation and play equal
role in public decision-making processes. This is particularly the
case in rural areas where isolation and exclusion tends to be entrenched.
Rarely do women feel free to openly express themselves. Usually
a woman needed to be coaxed into offering an opinion or would do
so in private. This remains a challenge to development specialists
in Afghanistan.
In its pursuit to enhance the participation
of women in community development programs, BDN promoted the concept
of Community Development Committees (CDCs), involving women. For
reference, there are a total of 450 CDCs actively participating
in community developing projects under BDN programs in 5 provinces
of Afghanistan. This is a milestone by any standard. Gender sensitivity
is developed in district offices. There are 2. female staff working
in the district as mobilisers and this in turn increases the participation
of women in decision-making and delivery of the service. The objective
was to build the capacity of women to play a role in the delivery
of any development program in their area. BDN internal evaluation
indicates that women members of the CDCs are able to more confidently
engage with the public and to demand equal consideration of their
input. Through the CDCs , women are able to mobilise other non-members
to access the various development services such as health, education,
agriculture and including family planning.
Within the limits set by local
custom, BDN will strive that women benefit on equal terms with men
from all components of any project implemented by BDN. BDN will
endeavor to create an enabling environment for women in order to
play a full role in peace building. BDN will build on the experience
it has accumulated thus far and press local elders and religious
leaders to allow for full participation of women in the CDCs and
project activities. It will formally agree with local elders and
religious leaders on the participation of women in all project activities.
This way gender equity and dynamics will be attended to, but it
is important to emphasize that BDN does not have a prescriptive
and explicitly articulated agenda with regard to gender equity.
Thus far it has achieved so much and will continue to refine its
approach and methodology as the situation on the ground permits.
E) OUR PARTNERS
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