Cost-sharing is one way to describe the education provided by the Afghan Canadian Community Centre in Kandahar City.
The Canadian government pays the bill for the school and the women who attend its classes are prepared to pay with their lives.
There are constant threats to girls who attend school in the conservative province, said director Ehsanullah Ehsan. Just three days ago a female principal of a nearby school was killed – punishment for daring to provide girls with an opportunity to learn.
While the costs to students and teachers are potentially enormous, the cost of the running the program for the Canadian government is relatively small, with an operating budget of $250,000.
But even that might be harder to secure as the Canadian mission in Afghanistan changes this summer.
Canada’s mission in Kandahar will wrap up in July, to be replaced by a scaled-down training mission in Kabul. Much of the aid money for projects like Ehsan’s will join the Canadian exodus from Kandahar.
The Canadian government has announced that it will cut aid funding to $100 million per year through 2014, for a total of $300 million. Another $75 million will be handed out over five years as part of the G8 initiative on maternal, newborn and child health.
During the combat mission aid levels hovered between $200 million and $250 million each year, much of it with a strong focus on the Kandahar region where the Canadians were fighting.
Projects feel the pinch
Judging by enrollment numbers, Ehsan’s project has been wildly successful.
When the Canadian-funded vocational school opened its doors in 2006, 12 women attended. Just five years later, that number has ballooned to 700 women, who attend the school with 900 men. These students take classes in English, business, leadership, project management and computers, some of which are taught by Canadian professors via Skype through a partnership with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. The school also employs 70 people.
“You see a lot of women powerful and educated today,” Ehsan says. “These students they graduate and support the reconstruction of Afghanistan.”
Still, Ehsan has already had a taste of the uncertainty that the cuts to Canadian aid can bring.
The financial agreement, which provided 80 per cent of the school’s funding, ended in February and Ehsan was left hanging until March, when CIDA announced it would extend the agreement and give the school $250,000 to help it operate in 2011.
The cuts have already hit CARE International, with the Canadian government axing funding for a program that provided meals to Afghan widows in Kabul.
And it’s not just Canada. The American Centre for Disease Control pulled its funding for maternal health, says Jennifer Rowell, head of advocacy for CARE in Afghanistan.
“You can just feel this listing of support from several areas at the same time and it is so frustrating and dangerous,” she said.
Rowell said Canada has really stepped up to the plate over the past three years in Afghanistan, creating real change for Afghan people, but pulling out the rug now could turn back the clock.
“We are not going into an immediate position where those strides have been solidified, where those gains can be realized,” she said. “We are entering the time period where they could be put in some jeopardy.”
The story would be different if the Afghan government was in a position to provide the services currently supported by international donors, says Ehsan.
“They have to withdraw, but at least, for God’s sake leave a good government,” he said.
Also at risk is the credibility of the international community in eyes of the Afghan people, says Ehsan.
“They will think that people were just preaching in words, not in actions,” he said. “Today we are in need, they are not. They can help, so why aren’t they helping us now.”
Making back-up plans
The shifting nature of international aid is no surprise for seasoned NGOs such as CARE, says Rowell.
“The world of non-governmental organizations is a world that is perpetually changing,” she said, adding that the organization is always tries to get a diverse group of donors to support its projects. “It’s an unfortunate turn, but it was never an unanticipated turn either.”
Ehsan too knows the Canadians and their aid money can’t stay in Afghanistan forever, but he said he hopes they will stay until 2014, when the school plans to be self-sustaining.
The only other alternative is to ask poor students to pay tuition.
“That will really put a lot of families in a bind and a lot of people will be discouraged because the problem will be unsolved,” he said.
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