The LRRD project in Afghanistan

January 2005 - December 2007

Groupe URD carried out research into the links between emergency, rehabilitation and development phases in Afghanistan. The LRRD project used a multi-disciplinary approach and focused on six sectors : Rural Development, Water (and Irrigation), Nutrition, Urbanism, Health and Education. It involved a mixture of research, evaluation and training which meant that it was possible to cover the different aspects of aid in the main operational sectors and to establish a cross-sector analysis of practices and their impact on crisis-affected people.

Funded by

European Commission

With the aim of improving the service delivered to crisis-affected people, the LRRD project looked at how NGOs – and the aid sector as a whole – position themselves in the transition period between emergency relief (visibility/rapid impact) and development, when longer term approaches are favoured.

This project led to the opening of an office in Kabul in January 2005 and involved a team of both experienced and junior researchers.

-* The research consisted of:

-** Five studies of agrarian systems which were representative of the country’s agro-ecological diversity;
-** Three detailed studies of cities – Kabul, Jalalabad and Bamyan;
-** Institutional diagnoses were carried out for each of the sectors cited above.

-* In terms of evaluation, the project involved :

-** Several evaluations which led to sector-based and multi-sector reports on the impact of reconstruction in Afghanistan. The multi-sector evaluation report, which has two parts (the first dealing with each individual sector, and the second with cross-sector issues) was part of a series of monographs which dealt with institutional developments in different sectors.

-* Each year, several conferences, workshops and training sessions were run involving Afghan and international NGOs, Afghan ministries and donors.

The LRRD project ended with a large conference in January 2007.

The Kaifiat research project (‘Kaifiat’ is Dari for ‘Quality’) is the continuation of the LRRD project.