Agency for Assistance and Development of Afghanistan, a national NGO focused on health and nutrition, has a significant operational presence in Herat Province. “We led the selection of health facilities, recruitment of community health workers, and coordination with community leaders,” says AADA’s Project Manager, Dr Mustafa. “These decisions were made locally without waiting for outside instructions”.
AADA received training in project management, safeguarding and risk management, which helped them develop new policies and improve internal systems.
“People now trust AADA more,” Dr Mustafa reflects. “They see us as a strong organisation that supports their health and nutrition needs, especially mothers and children”.
In doing so they recognised the complementarity that local and international organisations offer in humanitarian response, with an “aim to reinforce rather than replace local and national capacities”.
The impact is tangible: improved access to maternal and child health services in remote areas and faster, more relevant implementation thanks to local decision-making. One innovation from AADA is improving emergency care across the consortium. Ambulances are too expensive for most health facilities to purchase and run, resulting in avoidable deaths, particularly among pregnant mothers and young children. AADA developed a local ambulance model whereby private car owners in each village are contracted to undertake emergency referrals. The contracted drivers are well-known community members, which increases trust and accessibility. Basic emergency supplies and oxygen are provided to contracted vehicles, and volunteer health workers assess emergencies and contact the transport providers for rapid response. This approach uses local community resources, making it more sustainable and culturally acceptable.
