Kabul- Afghanistan, Feb 19, 2019 – Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) through its Livelihood Improvement in Tajik- Afghan Cross-border Area (LITACA-ll) is delighted to announce the award of 45 projects to the CDCs in Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz and Balkh provinces. The total value of these projects is 1,629,000 USD.   

H.E. Mujib ur Rahman Karimi, MRRD minister approved 45 basic rural and productive infrastructure along with value chain enhancement projects to the Community Development Councils in the North and Northeast provinces. Minister Karimi was accompanied during the signing ceremony held at the Ministry by Afghanistan’s long-term development partners, JICA and UNDP. 20 such more projects through LITACA-ll are in design phase to be awarded in the coming months.

H.E. Minister mentioned: ‘’ the basic rural infrastructure are to enhance the rural communities access to better infrastructure and public services at target districts, while the productive infrastructure and value chain enhancement projects are to build on the available potential local resources in agro and non-agro sectors and subsectors to enable a dynamic and vibrant rural economy with self-sustaining resilience built within the economic cycle. The productive infrastructure and value chains further aims to create employment both on the demand and supply side of the labor force by providing them with unique set of vocational and entrepreneurship skills”.

UNDP Resident Representative said, “The project will also offer opportunities to increase the skills of the local government officials, civil society and private-sector organizations to plan and manage local socio-economic development. LITACA’s investment in construction of priority infrastructures, will support local business as a means of improving livelihoods of the target population.

UNDP would like to thank the Government of Japan for its generous and continued support. Their contribution will help to improve the lives of rural communities, and particularly the lives of women, who live in the four provinces of Afghanistan bordering with Tajikistan, Balkh, Kunduz, Badakhshan and Takhar.”

These projects will create 455 permanent jobs. Furthermore 20 basic infrastructure projects will create for 7900 unskilled labors days and 2854 skilled labor days. The direct beneficiaries of these projects are 85000 population across five target districts of four provinces in the north and northeast provinces.

These projects soon after award of contract will be implemented through CDCs partnered with MRRD.