Welcome to hbs Afghanistan website

Welcome

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS) is a German foundation and part of the Green political movement that has developed worldwide as a response to the traditional politics of socialism, liberalism, and conservatism. Our main tenets are ecology and sustainability, democracy and human rights, self-determination and justice. We place particular emphasis on gender democracy, meaning social emancipation and equal rights for women and men. We are also committed to equal rights for cultural and ethnic minorities. Finally, we promote non-violence and proactive peace policies.
In Afghanistan we have established our work since 2003 and are currently focusing on the fields of democracy, ecology as well as peace and security policies.

Peace & Security

Advocacy Paper

The Challenge of Becoming Invisible:Understanding Women’s Security in Kabul

 Kabul women have two main fears when moving through public spaces: suicide bombers and harassment. Although the risks associated with harassment are less severe than those of a suicide attack, the everyday threat of harassment creates considerable anxiety amongst women. As part of the safety audit, women were asked how they would feel when confronted with various situations when walking down the street. more»

Democratization

Policy Paper

Afghanistan beyond 2014: Elections, Political Settlement, Reforms. Recommendations from the Afghan Civil Society

April 9, 2013 -  As international troops begin to withdraw from Afghanistan, it is important to focus on strengthening the civilian component of international assistance beyond 2014. In order to discuss concrete recommendations for the various challenges facing Afghanistan, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung and the Center for American Progress held consultation workshops for a large group of civil society actors in Afghanistan in November 2012 and March 2013, and brought a delegation of Afghan civil society leaders to Washington, DC and New York City in February 2013. more»

Report

Kabul’s Educated Youth: What Kind of Future?

- January 6, 2013 - At a time when 68 % of the population of Afghanistan is under 25 years, the research aims at getting an insight into the mindsets of Kabul’s educated young generation. What are their perspectives in life? What are their aspired professions and social status? A research conducted by Human Rights and Eradication of Violence Organization (HREVO). more»

Statement

Opening up Afghanistan’s extractives sector: Afghan Government unveils first tranche of mining and oil contracts

- October 16, 2012 - The Afghan government has made a landmark advance in mineral sector transparency, enabling the Afghan people to see and scrutinize the deals negotiated on their behalf. Over the last week, it has published in full the 2011 Amu Darya oil contract and more than 200 small mine contracts.  The crucial question now is what the government’s next steps will be to fulfill and sustain its stated goal of transparency, accountability and international best practice in Afghanistan’s extractives sector. more»

Ecology

Article

Another attempt to safe the planet – or business as usual? – Reflections on the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD)

June 11, 2012 - The UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 was supposed to be a milestone in environmental policy. Nevertheless, since then all important global ecological problems have only become worse. Neither governments nor industries really accept the fact that the Earth’s resources are limited and that climate change is happening fast. Barbara Unmüßig more»

Publication Series on Ecology, Volume 22

Critique of the Green Economy - Toward Social and Environmental Equity

- June 17, 2012 - The idea of growth as the way to end poverty and escape economic and financial crisis remains largely undisputed and is currently reflected in the concept of the green economy. But not everything that is “green” and efficient is also environmentally sustainable and socially equitable. This essay outlines a policy of less, of wealth in moderation, to enable the Earth’s resources to make a life of dignity and without need possible for all.  more»

Publications

Publication Series Ecology, Volume 21

The Future We Want - A Feminist Perspective

January 6, 2013 -

The Future We Want – the motto chosen by the UN in the run-up to the June 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) – is certainly forward-looking. Rio+20 is supposed to define routes towards a safer, fairer, greener, and cleaner world. But the blueprints for a green economy are devoid of gender perspectives. Christa Wichterich’s essay takes a closer look on the relations between feminism and ecology. 

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Manual on Environment

- July 11, 2012 -

The aim of publishing the training manual on environment is raising public awareness on environment and its protection measures.
The manual contains two chapters, first chapter gives general information about environment and the second chapter focuses on environmental protection measures.
To disseminate the manual to wide range of people, simple literature along with so many illustrations used inside. Download publication (PDF in Dari, 34 pages, 11.8 MB)

HBS Afghanistan in the media

Encouraging citizenship agency and political participation

Actively encouraging citizenship agency and political participation, we are in constant exchange with many Afghan activists and organizations working in that area. HBS therefore has become a valuable source of information particularly for German language media where a number of interviews, comments and articles from HBS or with contribution of the office can be found. more»