Assessment conducted by ACTED’s AME Team in Baghlan Province
After several years of consecutive drought, Northern Afghanistan is once more hit by below-normal precipitations and extreme heat. This year, the shock is particularly worrying since it comes after a harsh winter and a significant increase of the food prices all over Asia. The cumulative effect of this situation has a direct bearing on most of the households which rely on agriculture and livestock for their income and food needs. ACTED Afghanistan’s AMEU team conducted an assessment in July, in the Districts of Nahrin and Burka (Baghlan Province), to understand the mechanisms of the current food crisis, and identify potential solutions.
Since the outbreak of avian influenza in Southeast Asia in 2003, the first cases of this disease commonly known as “bird-flu” appeared in Kazakhstan in 2005. Many non-governmental organisations recognized a need to prevent a further spread in Central Asia. UNICEF is currently funding a new project implemented by ACTED addressing the avian influenza risk. It is a pioneering initiative for ACTED with regards to the theme, thanks to which the organization will be able to widen its scope of activities.
ACTED’s main goal is to support activities aiming at improving livelihood through cultural and sustainable methods. In this context the project’s strategy is to demonstrate to communities the economic and social benefits that environment and cultural protection can provide.
A series of educational seminars are being conducted in the framework of the project “using governance, cultural promotion and ecological protection as pathways to sustainable economic development” implemented by ACTED in Murghab Base. In Murghab, ACTED works in close cooperation with the International Non-Governmental Organisation “SEEDS”. Together they organised and conducted a three day seminar on the theme “Solar Energy and Environmental Preservation” in June 2008, and “SEEDS” Country Director was in charge of the training.
The representatives of seven Village Organizations (Mahalla Committee), directly involved in this project, participated in the training which was organized in 3 modules about climate change in Pamir, energy, biomass and ecology and the introduction to solar catching devices: solar plates/dishes and ovens. All the seminar participants were extremely interested in the process and were also very surprised to see that it was possible to fry four eggs in 8 minutes on a solar stove as well as prepare a soup in 40 minutes.
All participants were really satisfied with the seminar topics because the use of alternative energy resources in East Pamir is one of the region’s hot issues and such alternative energy resources could be a solution to environmental protection problems.
ACTED is mobilised to provide emergency relief to the populations in need in Haiti
In line with the whole international community, ACTED is working in order to bring emergency relief to the communities who are already benefiting from its daily actions.
We have already started the distribution of more than 450 hygiene kits to the populations in needs in our intervention zones with the support of OFDA and IOM, as well as took organised emergency food distribution with the WFP. Read more…
In line with the whole international community, ACTED is working in order to bring emergency relief to the communities who are already benefiting from its daily actions.
