Afghanistan

NDI arrived in Afghanistan in early 2002 and has conducted programs to promote the participation of Afghan civic groups, political parties, women, and government bodies in the country’s political and electoral processes. Currently, NDI has a country office and seven provincial offices throughout Afghanistan. These are in Herat, Jalalabad, Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif. Its operations are staffed by over 100 Afghan employees.

Provincial Councils

Since their establishment in 2004, provincial councils have faced great challenges in fulfilling their mandates to represent their constituencies in the provincial development process. Since 2006, NDI has responded to these challenges by implementing programs that assist councilors in their efforts to reach out to citizens, plan provincial development, conduct oversight and promote government accountability.

NDI is currently implementing a national program to guide newly elected councilors through the process of development planning and oversight, which are key components of their mandate. Provincial councils have held consultations with local leaders and civil society organizations to gain input from the community, conducted open public hearings and developed oversight reports on local development projects. Provincial councils then make recommendations based on the public's needs, in the form of a formal proposal to the provincial governor.

Ongoing efforts include special assistance to women councilors and engaging youth in local government through the Provincial Council Internship program, which places trained university students with provincial councils across the country. NDI also works closely with Afghanistan’s Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) to ensure continuous support for local government.

Political Parties

NDI was the first organization to work with parties in Afghanistan in 2002. The Institute provided significant support in the early stages of transition, introducing the role of political parties and civil society in democratic systems and holding focus groups to determine citizen priorities. In 2003, NDI assisted emerging parties with fundamental organizational and planning principles, helping with the registration process, consulting with parties interested in forming coalitions, organizing seminars for candidates and campaign managers, and conducting polling agent training.

For the 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010 elections, NDI conducted national trainings for registered parties on party development, campaigning and electoral processes. In the lead up to the 2009 and 2010 elections, NDI offered technical guidance to smaller political parties on approaches to strengthen their internal structures, build coalitions and better position themselves to compete while staying compliant with political party law. Following these elections, NDI has been providing technical assistance to parties attempting to build coalitions, strengthen their internal structures and develop longer term strategic plans.

Political Trainers Program

Since 2009, NDI has been helping Afghan political parties reach out to members, strengthen their party bases and build campaign skills. The Institute provides training to representatives of major political parties through its Political Training Program, an intensive six-week course in practical party-building and campaign management.

Political Party Assessments

To track the development of Afghan political parties, NDI conducted and published comprehensive party assessments. In 2009, NDI issued a public report on the country’s political situation leading up to the 2009 elections and individual assessments of the 26 political parties with elected representatives. In 2011, NDI published an assessment report on the state of Afghan political parties after the 2009 and 2010 elections. The reports evaluate party identity, institutional frameworks, party performance, external factors and the relationships between parties and other political actors.

Resource Center for Political Parties and Political Activists

NDI developed and maintains a comprehensive resource center, with hundreds of materials on topics such as political campaigns, coalition building, electoral processes, political leadership development, women’s political participation, parliamentary and legislative skills, public outreach and communications. These resources, made available in Dari, Pashto and English, have been distributed to and used by political parties and candidates to inform electoral campaigns and other political activities.

Political Parties and Policy Development

Currently, the Institute is providing technical assistance to political parties to develop relevant policy programs that address the needs of Afghan citizens and the country’s most immediate challenges. This work involves guiding parties in conducting citizen outreach on the policy development process, and using public opinion research as well as other resources to tailor their policy agendas.

Women in Politics and Government

Campaign Schools for Women Candidates

NDI conducted programs to promote the political participation of Afghan women by helping women candidates compete in the provincial council and parliamentary elections. In 2009 and 2010, the Institute organized campaign schools for women candidates, with curricula tailored to the particular challenges they face. For both election cycles, more than 60 percent of women candidates attended these academies.

Orientation Programs for Newly Elected Women Representatives

Following the elections, NDI held orientation workshops for newly elected women representatives. These were designed to help women overcome the challenges they face, such as engaging effectively with male-dominated civic and government entities, and identifying issues of interest to vulnerable constituencies, including women.

Women Parliamentarians Forum

Following the NDI orientation program for newly elected women representatives, they proposed creating a network to work together to address the priorities of Afghan women. Since March 2011, NDI has been hosting the Women Parliamentarians Forum, a monthly event that fosters cooperation on issues of mutual interest among women representatives.

Continued Political Engagement of Unsuccessful Women Candidates

Though hundreds of women candidates lost in the 2010 elections, there were opportunities in the post-election period to engage women activists – including several first-time candidates – to stay involved in politics. In the post-election period, NDI conducted workshops on ways to stay involved in the political process, from community efforts to address local development needs to national initiatives on peace-building, for women who had run and lost.

Leadership Training for Women in Political Parties

In the spring of 2012, based on requests from women political party members, NDI organized and conducted the Women’s Leadership Training Series, an intensive, multi-week training course focused on leadership skills including creating teams and partnerships, project design and using information technology. These events were co-facilitated by women from the parties and the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organization (NECDO).

Women in Provincial Councils

NDI conducted a pilot three-day management training seminar for women councilors in March 2012. Women from four northern provinces participated in leadership, communication and women’s empowerment workshops aimed at helping them manage the duties, challenges and relationships they face in their role as councilors.

Elections

2009 and 2010 Elections

NDI conducted several programs to support the 2009 presidential and provincial council and 2010 parliamentary elections. These efforts focused on long- and short-term election observation and assisting political parties, candidates and domestic election monitoring groups to participate in the electoral process.

Candidate Orientation

In July 2010, NDI conducted orientation seminars across the country to inform registered candidates of the legal framework and regulations relevant to the elections. These sessions also covered the roles and responsibilities of candidates, with special emphasis on ways to identify and combat election fraud and misuse of state resources. These seminars were carried out in 30 of the country’s 34 provinces and reached 1,709 candidates (68 percent of all registered candidates).

Kuchi candidates outline priorities at NDI roundtable»

Candidate Polling Agents

For the 2009 and 2010 elections, the Institute carried out programs to help candidate polling agents observe and report on election day activities. NDI supported workshops across Afghanistan to help candidates and agents learn about election processes and procedures, effective election administration, and the rights and obligations of polling agents. The program reached more than 31,000 candidate agents in 2009 and more than 35,000 in 2010. The Institute developed a candidate agent manual, in Dari and Pashtu, and collaborated with the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) to distribute thousands of manuals throughout the country.

Read the manual» (English|Dari|Pashto)

Domestic Election Observation

NDI provided technical and financial support to the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), the country’s principal domestic monitoring network. The Institute assisted the organization in its preparations for the 2009 and 2010 polls, including the training of district-level staff, the observation of the voter and candidate registration periods, and the mobilization of monitors on election day. For these polls, FEFA deployed 7,000 monitors across the country.

Visit the FEFA website»

International Election Observation

For the 2009 and 2010 polls, NDI conducted international election observation missions. In 2009, the Institute mobilized more than 100 international and Afghan observers, covering all of the country's regions and the capital, to observe every aspect of the election process. The delegation issued a preliminary statement on Aug. 22 that included 17 recommendations for improving the election process in future years.

In the days following the election, NDI continued to monitor the process, including an investigation by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) into allegations of fraud. In a Sept. 9 statement, the Institute expressed deep concern over the high levels of fraud complaints and said the credibility of the elections depended on a thorough investigation.

NDI expresses concern about Aug. 20, 2009, election fraud complaints (English | Dari | Pashto)»

The Institute also commented on the unfolding events in congressional testimony and policy forums.

In late October, the work of the ECC revealed that no candidate had achieved 50 percent of the presidential vote, which was a requirement for victory, leading the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to schedule a runoff poll for Nov. 7. NDI noted there was little time to make improvements in the electoral process before the vote, but it offered a number of recommendations on steps that could be taken quickly to avoid the problems of the Aug. 20 balloting.

NDI recommends improved security, other measures, to avoid problems in Afghanistan runoff election»

In anticipation of the Nov. 7 vote, the Institute fielded a team of analysts in Kabul to follow developments in the runoff and provide an independent assessment of the process. The analytical mission looked into such key issues as electoral administration, security of the elections and women's participation as well as regional developments. The runoff was cancelled when one of the two candidates, Abdullah Abdullah, declined to participate, but NDI's team issued several reports based on its analysis of election data.

Read NDI's Afghanistan Elections Updates for information and analysis on the presidential runoff election (Issue 1 | Issue 2 | Issue 3)»

In cancelling the runoff, the IEC declared the remaining candidate, Hamid Karzai, the winner. NDI noted, however, that the decision left unaddressed the problems of fraud surrounding the Aug. 20 balloting. In a Nov. 3 statement, NDI called for a rigorous and impartial inquiry into the failures of the election process to be conducted by high-level international and Afghan experts.

In June 2010, the Institute published its final report on the 2009 election, analyzing the election data and making recommendations for future elections.

Read the final report on Afghanistan's 2009 presidential and provincial council elections»

NDI also conducted an observation mission to monitor the 2010 elections, mobilizing approximately 160 observers. This mission involved analysis of the electoral process before, during and after election day as well as an independent assessment of the process based on Afghan conditions, Afghan law and international principles. Issues examined included electoral administration, the electoral complaints process, security and the elections, and women’s political participation.

Election Data Mapping

In December 2009, NDI launched an innovative online mapping tool for analyzing election results data from Afghanistan's August 2009 presidential election using demographic, ethnographic, topographic and security information. The tool also identifies areas that had significant electoral irregularities. The information can be found at www.afghanistanelectiondata.org.

Presently, the website features election data from the 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010 Afghan elections. By making this data widely accessible, those involved in the Afghan political process, including government officials, political parties and domestic monitoring groups, as well as those in the international community can use the information to help improve future elections.

Since its launch in December 2009, the site has been viewed by thousands of unique visitors from over 120 countries. Tim Berners-Lee, the British engineer, computer scientist and MIT professor who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web, singled out for praise the Afghanistan Elections Data site in a talk at the Technology Education Design (TED) conference in Long Beach, Calif.

Electoral Reform

In the period following the 2010 parliamentary polls, various national and international organizations discussed problems identified and as well as recommendations for improvements. From April 2011 to July 2011, NDI engaged Afghan citizens across the country in small group consultations and interviews. Representatives from political parties, human rights organizations, civil society, electoral management bodies and community shuras identified lessons learned from previous elections and recommended short- and long-term reforms.

NDI, in partnership with FEFA, hosted a two-day conference in Kabul in September 2011 for key actors involved in the electoral reform process. This event engaged government officials, civil society representatives and political party members. At the conference, the findings of provincial level consultations were presented and discussed, and concrete next steps were identified for carrying out a comprehensive process of reform. FEFA, NDI and the participants organized post-conference meetings to follow up on the application of the reform plan, observe the implementation of short-term recommendations and track measures taken to introduce longer term reforms.

2004 and 2005 Elections

In advance of Afghanistan's first-ever direct president elections in October 2004, the Institute provided political parties the infrastructure, services and information necessary to participate effectively in Afghanistan's political and electoral process. Through NDI's regional offices, the Institute conducted training seminars and workshops on a national scale for political parties on electoral processes, campaigning and party development.

On Sept. 18, 2005, Afghanistan held elections for the lower house of the National Assembly (Wolesi Jirga) and provincial council, following an energetic campaign period with nearly 6,000 candidate participants, more than 550 of whom were women. Given the enormous complexity of the balloting, voting and vote-counting processes, the generally smooth administration and conclusion of these elections were considerable achievements.

In advance of the 2005 parliamentary elections, NDI trained more than 13,000 campaign participants, including 2,000 women, and provided training workshops to approximately 44,000 candidate agents. NDI also assisted in the establishment of an Afghan election monitoring organization known as the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), which conducted the most extensive domestic monitoring effort for the 2005 elections.

NDI Final Report on the September 2005 parliamentary and provincial council elections, April 2006»

Parliamentary Monitoring

FEFA has monitored the country’s four national elections since the fall of Taliban, mobilizing thousands of domestic observers and providing the most extensive election monitoring coverage for these polls. Since the 2010 parliamentary elections, FEFA has broadened its focus to include long-term democratic reform in Afghanistan. In December 2011, FEFA began a program to monitor the Afghan parliament using standard international democratic practices. NDI is supporting FEFA in conducting this project.

National Assembly

Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections in September 2005 produced a National Assembly composed largely of independent members with little or no experience operating in a democratically-elected legislature. NDI provided assistance to the parliament’s leadership, its commissions and the professional staff to help them effectively manage legislative affairs. The Institute worked with five parliamentary commissions in adopting strategic work plans, developing legislation and coordinating oversight hearings.

NDI also provided professional development training to the assistants of members of parliament and to parliamentary staff, including those supporting the commissions and the research department. The Institute coordinated a parliamentary internship program, providing additional skilled resources to the legislature.

Success Story: Parliamentary Intern Drafts Government Code of Conduct, December 2007»

The Institute has supported the development of a women's legislative network that includes women members of parliament and civil society leaders to advocate on issues of concern to women.

To strengthen political processes in the National Assembly, NDI has provided technical guidance to parliamentary leaders on legislative rules of procedure and comparative examples of electoral systems to the Electoral Law Commission.

Funding

NDI’s current programming in Afghanistan is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the Danish and Swedish Embassies in Afghanistan.

Previous donors of the Institute’s programs in Afghanistan include the British Foreign Commonwealth Office, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Contact Information

For more information about these programs, use our contact form or contact:

Washington, D.C.
Raissa Tatad-Hazell, Director of Afghanistan and Pakistan Programs
(202) 728-5653

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The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.