Afghanistan: real lives

Following decades of fighting, neglect and poverty, the educational system in Afghanistan - both the physical infrastructure and intellectual foundation - is in ruins. In December 2001, ChildFund Australia's affiliate organisation in Afghanistan began rebuilding the Afghan education system in the northeast of the country.

The areas in which ChildFund in Afghanistan works were war zones, and the landscape still bears the ravages of long-term conflict. Perhaps nowhere was the destruction in Afghanistan more evident than in the dilapidated schools. Various factions once targeted schools, regarding them as instruments of western and Soviet ideology.

In the Kunduz province, where ChildFund in Afghanistan works, only 20 of the 165 officially registered schools were held in classrooms. Children typically studied beneath makeshift shelters or inside tents provided by international organisations.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) provided funding for the rehabilitation of six schools. ChildFund in Afghanistan has also rehabilitated a teachers' training school, one high school, and rebuilt educational facilities in the Takhar and Kunduz provinces.

Using Child Centred Spaces, ChildFund in Afghanistan has provided literacy classes to youth aged 13-25 years with literacy classes and 26,000 children and youth are receiving formal and non-formal education.

ChildFund in Afghanistan's commitment to child welfare is not limited to educational activities alone. It also includes safe water, sanitation, shelter and income generation programs for parents. UNHCR funding is allowing ChildFund in Afghanistan to construct 100 new wells, renovate an additional 30 wells, and build 700 shelters and toilets. ChildFund in Afghanistan is also supporting a micro-enterprise development program, targeting approximately 700 parents who need financial support to start small enterprises.