Country Description:

CARE has been working in Afghanistan since 1961, though the 1979 Soviet invasion and the violent civil war that followed made it necessary to suspend operations from 1980 to 1989. CARE currently works to fight the underlying causes of poverty in Afghanistan in three major areas:

Advocacy: Through the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, CARE provides the framework and monitors the efforts in governance, security and social and economic development. CARE is supporting the government of Afghanistan in these efforts, and, with fellow NGOs and other members of civil society, is developing platforms and mechanisms to ensure quality civil society consultation throughout the process.

Relief: CARE responds to man-made and natural disasters by working directly and through partners to provide timely and appropriate assistance. The goal of CARE's emergency projects is to assist the most vulnerable with short-term relief measures, while building capacity to reduce communities' vulnerability to future emergencies. These projects include supporting the reintegration of 6,000 households to their home villages in the Shamali valley, providing shelter and sanitation to over 2,500 returnee families in southeastern Afghanistan and winterization assistance to returnees in Logar and Paktia provinces.

Development: CARE conducts several programs to develop civil society, education, infrastructure, gender equality, income generation and good governance. This includes supporting 10,000 households through water and sanitation projects, providing training and support for community projects in remote rural areas, helping widows to earn a sustainable livelihood, promoting women's savings and loans groups and improving Afghanistan's limited educational system.