Bagram District Project in Afghanistan

Project Goals:

Create safe buffer zones around high concentrations of children such as schools, villages, pathways, and parks in the Bagram District and build recreational areas for students at a boy’s school and girl’s school in the district.

Implementing Partners:

Roots of Peace and The HALO Trust

Time Frame:

May 2004 to February 2005

Projected Budget:

$ 40,000

Background

Mines and Resettling Population

The Shomali Plain, about 30 miles north of Kabul remains one of the most heavily mined areas in Afghanistan. The road running north/south through the Shomali was heavily mined, as it was the main supply route from the north in the Soviet era. Following the Taliban’s capture of Kabul in 1996, the font line against the Northern Alliance was established in this region. Troops from both sides of the conflict established themselves in the villages laying landmines and complex booby-traps in and around houses and agricultural areas. Mines were a feature of the entire font line, a portion of which passed through the Bagram District, just south of Bagram airbase.

Roots of Peace has partnered with The HALO Trust since 2002 to demine the Shomali concentrating on agricultural and village areas where refugees have returned since the fall of the Taliban. During the past two years there have been 78 reported incidents of mine accidents, many of whom are children going to and from school. There are very few parks and recreation areas for kids and children are freely roaming around minefields.

School Recreation

However, children wander in and around minefields despite signage and mine education. Roots of Peace will also focus it’s work to create safe places to play to act as magnets to pull children away from the danger zones and attract them to safe places to play.

While some schools in Afghanistan are beginning to develop recreational activities and opportunities for pupils, in most areas facilities are limited – especially for girls, where cultural norms dictate that play areas are safe and enclosed from public view. Recreation, however, is an essential part of a child’s development; especially in communities ravaged by decades of conflict, where opportunities for social contact and peer support provided by recreation can have an important impact on children’s sense of stability and security.

Project Implementation

Since launching Making Change Work, Roots of Peace has directed our de-mining work with HALO to focus on clearing areas where there are high concentrations of children. We have successfully de-mined and created “safe buffer zones” surrounding a boy’s school and a girl’s school in the Bagram District. In addition, our work has included surveying and marking of mine fields, and mine education programs in schools and villages.

In January 2005, Roots of Peace will install a sports and recreation area at each school where children will be able to take part in team games, as well as individual pursuits. In addition to constructing the play area, Roots of Peace will supply a range of recreational materials for students including volleyballs, handballs, vests, nets, skittles, court markers and supervisors’ equipment.

Summary

The HALO Trust projects that it will take 2-3 more years of demining work at current levels to clear the most heavily populated areas of the Shomali Plain. Our continued efforts will make it safer for Afghan children.