12 April 2010 - Latest news and information from various United Nations agencies in Afghanistan.

MACCA CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON DEMINERS

The Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA) today condemned attacks on humanitarian deminers, following an attack on a team working for an NGO DAFA in Kandahar on the 11 April, which resulted in the death of five deminers and 17 persons being injured.

Dr Haider Reza, Programme Director, MACCA, said: “Mine action is a neutral humanitarian activity, which should not be confused with military operations in the country. We strongly condemn the use of all anti-personnel mines and other improvised explosive devices, which have led to such a high number of civilian deaths in this country already and will do for many years to come if humanitarian deminers are prevented from carrying out this life-saving work. I call on all my fellow Afghans to support this important humanitarian work to protect Afghan men, women and children from the threat of landmines and other explosive remnants of war.”

MACCA is the coordination body for all humanitarian mine action in Afghanistan.

For more information, contact: Flora Sutherland (Public Information Officer, MACCA) on 0705 966 371.

UNFPA AND MINISTRY OF WOMEN AFFAIRS RENEW THEIR COMMITMENT TO REDUCE GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN AFGHANISTAN
The Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) signed the Annual Work Plan (AWP) on Gender in order to reduce gender-based violence and to empower women in Afghanistan.

The AWP 2010 focuses on elimination of violence against women with emphasis on awareness campaigns through religious leaders and capacity building of health service providers and community health workers in psychosocial counseling. Providing information to communities on legal/formal system of justice is another element of this AWP that will be executed through justice institutions on sub-national levels.

The AWP will be implemented by government institutions and civil society with technical and financial assistance from UNFPA.

For more information, contact: Asma Rahimi (Advocacy and Information Management Officer, UNFPA) on 0700 203 118.

ADB BUYS STAKE IN LPG FIRM TO BOOST ACCESS TO SAFE, RELIABLE ENERGY IN AFGHANISTAN

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is investing up to US$ 8 million for a 25 per cent stake in Sungas LLC, a recently established liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distributor in Afghanistan, to help it expand its nationwide storage and distribution network.

Around 70 per cent of Afghanistan's energy needs are met using firewood, animal dung and vegetation brush. Access to safer, cleaner and more reliable forms of energy such as LPG is essential to enable the Afghan economy to flourish and to improve the daily lives of the country's 28.4 million people.

Sungas aims to invest US$ 58.2 million to build LPG distribution centres, initially in the major Afghan cities of Kabul and Herat, followed by another three centres in Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar, and Pul-i-Qumri. It will also purchase additional LPG cylinders for distribution to consumers.

The company expects the network will have the capacity to distribute 190,000 tons of LPG per year, allowing 230,000 households to switch from using solid fuels to LPG by 2019. National demand for LPG was only 250,000 tons in 2008 – accounting for 14.4 per cent of fuel used by households - but is forecast to rise to 1.4 million tons by 2019.

For more information, contact: Hafizullah Ramaki (Programme Officer, ADB) on 0799 191 484.

AFGHAN GOVERNMENT AND WORLD BANK SIGN AGREEMENTS TO BOOST RURAL ECONOMY AND IMPROVE ACCESS TO BASIC HEALTH SERVICES

The Ministry of Finance and the World Bank signed two grant agreements worth US$ 52 million on Sunday.

Under the first agreement worth US$ 30 million, the World Bank’s International Development Association will support a new government initiative designed to boost employment and incomes for people living in rural areas of the country.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s most vulnerable, essentially women and children in 11 of the country’s most far and remote provinces including Helmand, Farah, Kapisa and Parwan, will get access to health services in a second agreement worth US$ 22 million.

The funds will be made available from the Bank’s Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF).

For more information, contact: Abdul Raouf Zia (External Relations, World Bank) on 0700 280 800.

UNDP RELEASES ASIA-PACIFIC HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT
While Asia and the Pacific can take pride in the region’s vibrant economic transformation in recent decades, this has not translated into progress on gender equality. Discrimination and neglect are threatening women’s very survival in the Asia-Pacific region, where women suffer from some of the world’s lowest rates of political representation, employment and property ownership. Their lack of participation is also depressing economic growth.

Those were some of the findings of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-sponsored 2010 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report launched on Sunday in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Afghanistan witnesses gender inequalities on the three areas targeted in the report – economic, political and legislative – due to many structural and social restrictions.” said UNDP Resident Representative and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Afghanistan, Robert Watkins in presenting the Report: Power, Voice and Rights: A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific. “This report presents an opportunity to reconsider Afghanistan’s economic and policy opportunities in terms of gender equality.”

The report focuses on three key areas—economic power, political decision-making and legal rights—to analyze what holds women back, and how policies and attitudes can be changed to foster a climb toward gender equality.

The Report recommended reforming constitutions, training judicial law and enforcement personnel in gender-sensitive practices and progressively interpreting religious principles—which recognize the equal value of all human beings. Political quota to increase women’s political participation, with sanctions for non-compliance, could be necessary. More women should also be enfranchised into party policies; and relied upon as brokers of peace in times of emergency.

For further information, contact: Fezeh Hosseini (Public Information Officer, UNDP) on 0700 475 714.

WHO AND MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH FINISH TRAINING ON GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) completed a comprehensive training on Geographical Information System (GIS) in collaboration with other agencies such as Afghan Public Health Institute (APHI), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and USAID, from 10 to12 April 2010.

This is the first GIS training organized for public health experts and health data managers to introduce them to highly sophisticated ways of presenting public health information which can be used in planning.

In all, 14 public health experts, including regional surveillance officers and data managers representing all regions of Afghanistan, were certified.

This training, which will be offered twice a year, will be followed by establishing GIS units in all regions and at the federal level with an overall investment of US$ 34,500.

For more information, contact: Rashida Bano Syed (WHO) on 0708 811 856.