Community Watch

Activities

In 2014, the Afghan National Unity Government was coping with challenges on a number of levels, chiefly: security, governance and the economy. In the area of security, a key challenge emerging is the role and conduct of security forces, and the lack of community confidence in these forces in the face of continuing insurgency and localized crime. The Liaison Office is leading a consortium of three national NGOs comprising of TLO, SDO andEPD. SET partners established Community Watch (CW) committees in three provinces that will consist of representative members from different districts and wider civil society groups, including women, youth and businesses groups. Under this project EPD worked in Nangarhar.

The CW committee received trainings and conducted intra-community dialogue and exchange on security issues on one side and police and community dialogue on the other. In order to encourage cordial relations with police and authorities and encourage good policing, the project incentivized the police by implementing community award processes for best police in the province through recognition of best performance of police every six months.

Outcomes

Under this project, a Community Watch committee (CW) was established in Nangarhar province whose members frequently observed and advocated for solving them. The members facilitated four dialogue meetings with influential figures such as Nangarhar Chief of Police, CSO and media for effective police functioning and enhance police and public collaboration for control of crime. The committee had some achievements in this regard and supported police to solve a number of issues. For instance, after CW reports, police collected drug addicts in Jalal-abad city and sent them to Kabul for treatment. As a result rate of crime somewhat decreased as drug addicts are among major drivers of crime.

EPD conducted three rounds of advocacy event and police awarding ceremony in Nangarhar province for admiring and appreciation of police good performance.