AFGHANISTAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2011

The Forgotten Front: Water Security and the Crisis in Sanitation  

Center for Policy and Human Development is pleased to announce that the Third Afghanistan Human Development Report (AHDR): The Forgotten Front: Water Security and the Crisis in Sanitation is available on-line. The development of the AHDR is a joint effort between Kabul University and the Center for Policy and Human Development. AHDR was prepared through an inclusive process in which more than 3,500 Afghans from rural and urban settings were consulted. An advisory Board whose membership include the government of Afghanistan, academia, non-profit organization and the private sector guided report‘s preparation process.

This third AHDR is the most comprehensive analytical policy advocacy report of the water issues for Afghanistan. The report examines the deep and persistent deprivation in access to drinking water, sanitation and irrigation in Afghanistan, as well as the risks of drought and floods.

Today, Afghanistan faces a water crisis. Three in four Afghans—16.8 million men, women and children—lack access to safe drinking water. Every hour, six children die because of poor sanitation and the want of clean water. A poorly performing irrigation sector, coupled with highly inequitable water sharing practices, results in missed human development opportunities. Drought and floods combined with limited water storage capacities are propelling thousands of households to adopt survival strategies that often deplete their most productive assets—such as livestock or land—and trap them still more deeply in poverty. This report presents the case that access to water or a lack of access to water facilitates or blocks the ability of Afghans to live full, secure and productive lives.

Afghanistan Human Development Report:

• Assesses the overall status of human development in Afghanistan. Present an analysis of the advances and challenges in areas such as education, health, poverty and gender equality.

• Provides information about the water resources of the country and the challenges that limit the availability of these resources for improving the human development conditions of Afghans. Critique the notion of water scarcity and the drivers of water scarcity-i.e population growth and economic development. Discusses the impacts of droughts, floods and climate change.

• Discusses accessibility and sustainability of safe water and improved sanitation in Afghanistan. The report presents the scale of the progress and the challenges in the provision of safe water and sanitation in urban and rural areas.

• Investigates the management of irrigation water in river basins and along canals in Afghanistan through community-based institutions of Mirab, with a specific focus on equity in water sharing as a key pillar of human development.

• Examines the state of water reform and the challenges facing reform in Afghanistan. It offers insights into the overarching concept of integrated water resources management. A mapping of financing for water sector is presented.

• Presents statistical measurement related to human development indices is presented. First multi-dimensional poverty for 34 provinces and at the national level is calculated.

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