Afghanistan: Borjegai

Borjegai Schools Project

(project established: 2003)

The Borjegai Schools project continued to surpass expectations this year. With the full support and dedication of all involved, the project grew and developed in a transparent and sustainable way, well recognised by the District Government and the surrounding communities. Assistance during the 2010-11 year amounted to $57,510 thanks to the support of Rotary Club of Ryde, NSW and other generous indigo foundation donors.

Project Background

The village of Borjegai (population 36,000) is located in a mountainous area of central Hazarajat in Nawor District, Ghazni province.  The Hazara population of Borjegai, like the other parts of Hazarajat, has been the victim of institutionalised discrimination by Afghanistan’s central governments in the past. The harsh geography and historical discrimination have made it difficult for Borjegai’s population to access socially valued resources, such as education.

Our partnership with the village of Borjegai to develop educational opportunities for the village’s children began in 2003. After eight years, the Borjegai Schools Project has become a micro-development success story with potential to be used as a model for rural development throughout Afghanistan: it is community managed, focused, results-based and very cost-effective.

There are currently nine schools with 4,500 students operating in Borjegai all of which are registered with the central government’s Ministry of Education.  We have provided project management support, funding for salaries of professional teachers and the purchase of school textbooks and stationery materials, support for the construction of three school buildings (accommodating 2,200 students) and furnishing for a fourth. One of the three buildings funded is a separate Girls’ High School, which has 750 students.

Provincial authorities have ranked the Borjegai schools as the best both in outstanding academic achievement and the quality of buildings.

Since 2003 approximately $340,000 has been spent in the Borjegai village to improve education. Of this, almost half has been contributed by the community, in the form of land, labour and $80,000 cash.

Achievements in 2010-11

During this year we worked closely with the School and the Borjegai community to further develop infrastructure and improve teaching and education outcomes. Achievements include:

• Construction of a third school – Koshkak High School for 1,000 students, funded by the Rotary Club of Ryde. Schools at Borjegai have been built at an average cost of $80,000 whilst the national average is $200,000.
• Supply of furniture and building of a well by local communities for a fourth school.
• Continued funding for three qualified teachers for the girls high school, enabling girls to attend university and gain employment in the village schools: seven graduating female students have returned to teach, a significant milestone for achieving gender equity.
• Continued funding for five qualified teachers for the main Borjegai coeducational high school.
• An extended monitoring and evaluation trip by Salman Jan, indigo foundation’s project adviser in 2010. Salman’s findings are documented in his report The Awakening: the Tale of a Community’s Quest for Education and supported by extensive video footage and photos. Salman was presented with the Rotary Foundation‘s Paul Harris Fellow Award for contribution to humanitarian and educational programs as a result of his efforts in this project.

Challenges

An unfortunate difficulty in the project during 2010-11 arose from the allocation of funding for the village’s university students (especially under-privileged and female students). The aim of this funding was to support students with their tertiary education from 2009-2010. Whilst all funds were correctly allocated and administered (and the support has been vital), the increasingly politicised nature of the students association and the difficulties of managing the funds across Kabul, Mazar- e -Sharif and Kandahar created conflict within the community. We are currently looking at alternative ways to support these students, as the social transition and cost of moving to a capital city from Borjegai can be prohibitive for many.

Posing greater challenges for the community was the widespread damage to agriculture and infrastructure caused by severe flooding in September 2010. Many families lost their annual crops and Borjegai had five bridges destroyed.  The bridges have been temporarily rebuilt by the community but because of lack of government or international funding they are sub-standard and continue to be major challenges for transport and communication.

Broader impact of the project

Over the last seven years, we have seen a number of successful (if at times unforeseen) outcomes emerge from the partnership. These include:

• Increased community understanding and value for education. The vast majority of families now encourage and support their children to attend school and ultimately university.
• Increased cultural change towards the education of girls. While there is still a long way to go to achieve full gender equity, significant improvements have been made. About 45 percent of the students in the village are girls, a much higher rate than the nationwide one of less than 35 percent.
• Increased level of community cooperation and harmony (as identified by the community) due to all three tribes of the village having to work collectively to support the schools.  This complements the natural benefits of the children attending school together.
• Cultural shifts in Mullah’s attitudes from supporting only religious schooling towards a greater understanding of the need to educate children to have the capacity to respond to the increasingly diverse needs of the community.
• Enhanced capacity of the community to lobby the District and Provincial governments not only in matters related to their schools but also in health, security and legal services: the three tribes successfully lobbied the government for a Medical Clinic to be built in the village.
• Lastly, the end of ‘gun culture’ that was crippling the country during the war and the rise of a collective awareness about the importance of peace and education.

The future

The partnership between indigo foundation and Borjegai has provided a solid base for the continuation and expansion of the project in partnership with surrounding communities.  We are developing a five year strategic plan to increase educational infrastructure and improve teacher quality in Borjegai and adjacent villages, with the ultimate goal of supporting 15,000 students in schools in the District by 2016.

We would like to extend our thanks to Mr Mohammad Anwar Haidary, indigo foundation’s long term in-country representative, who continued to provide crucial support this year in building a volunteer culture in Borjegai community.

We look forward to working with the people of Borjegai as they continue to invest in their children’s future.

Project Manager	Cynthia Grant
Project Officer	Christopher Murphy
Project Advisors	Salman Jan, Ali Reza Yunespour
Management Committee Representative	Alice Cameron
Contact for more information	info@indigofoundation.org