31 October 2010 - With a UN-funded micro-hydro project due to be completed next month, locals of Nawlam village in eastern Laghman province hope that the 30-KW electricity it generates will allow their children better access to modern technologies and education.

During a visit to the project site on Thursday by officials from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the villagers said the project also boosts their economy. UNHCR funded the project with contribution from the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Afghan families who have returned from Pakistan, leaving behind their refugee life, make up most of the beneficiaries of the three-month project, which also includes a grain mill and a water canal that helps villagers irrigate their land.

Altogether 350 families, including 45 registered returnee families, are going to benefit from the project in the village about five kilometres from Mehterlam, the provincial capital.

A village elder, Haji Yaseen, 60, who until now uses kerosene lamp for light, said the hydropower project is a great achievement at a time when “many people are still fighting.”

“Now our children can read and write also in the night, and they can learn and use computers too,” said the long-bearded Yaseen, adding that the village will also benefit immensely from the flour mill and the water canal.

The elder, who has spent many years of his life as a refugee in Pakistan, also thinks the electricity will help improve the security of the village.

Another man from the village, Fareed Ahmed, 35, thanked the UN Refugee Agency for choosing his village to set up the projects even as the villagers have demands for more development assistance.

UNHCR contributed US$ 58,317 (approximately 2.7 million Afs) for the construction of the reservoir and the two-storey powerhouse that houses a turbine and the mill, and for the diversion and construction of the water canal and its protection walls.

Under its cash-for-work programme, UNHCR provided US$ 1.50 to each labourer per day, while WFP – under its food-for-work scheme – provided 50 kilograms of wheat, 3.7 kilograms of cooking oil, six kilograms of pulse and 0.5 kilogram of salt to each labourer every month.

According to UNHCR officials, the project is being completed with active community participation and will be a self-sustaining one.

UNHCR has so far built nine micro-hydro projects in three eastern provinces – Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman – and another three are being constructed this year.

UN humanitarian agencies have been supporting the local Afghan population on a number of areas to improve their livelihood, and boost the economy and education.

By Tilak Pokharel, UNAMA

Website: UNHCR in Afghanistan

Website: WFP in Afghanistan