KUNDUZ - Community leaders and government officials gathered to discuss best approaches to address the key challenges facing Kunduz residents following last year’s conflict in and around the city.

The meeting is part of a UN-Habitat peacebuilding programme, launched in Kunduz in late 2015, to focus on improving the relationship between the community and local government.

Khalil Ahmad Quraishi, a UN-Habitat official in Kunduz, said that new community-development councils are providing the opportunity for residents to express their needs and prioritize them. Each council consists of 22 members, half of whom are women.

“Special attention will be paid to the rights and needs of marginalized groups of people by giving them an opportunity to participate in civic affairs,” he said.

According to UN-Habitat, Afghanistan is one of the world’s fastest-urbanizing countries in the world. Every year, Afghan cities are collectively growing by several hundred thousand people, placing pressure on municipal governments to deliver services and maintain safe and inclusive cities.

Women and girls, young people, displaced families and returnees are particularly marginalized and vulnerable in these increasingly populated urban environments.

The peacebuilding programme is designed to help support local government efforts to accommodate new arrivals, especially those who are marginalized and vulnerable, and enhance partnerships between the community and the local governments officials that serve them.

Zabihulla Majidi, Head of the Kunduz Municipality Advisory Board, said that programmes like the peacebuilding initiative are vital – particularly in the post-conflict Kunduz situation –to improve coordination within the community and connect citizens with government.

The Taliban attacked Kunduz city on 28 September and temporarily occupied the city for about two weeks, with conflict also taking place in Kunduz province. Pro-Government forces mounted a counter-offensive and regained control of the city.

In December, UNAMA and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report Human Rights and Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: Special Report on Kunduz Province.

UN-Habitat is the United Nations programme working toward a better urban future. Its mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all.

UN-Habitat is part of the UN family in Afghanistan. More than 20 different UN entities are present in the country, working to support the Afghan government’s priorities through a broad spectrum of development and humanitarian activities, including through support for development planning, resource mobilization, and coordination of international donors and organizations.