The National Solidarity Program (NSP) is the Government of Afghanistan’s flagship program for community development. It is aimed at strengthening community-level governance and reconstruction. The NSP enables communities to identify local development priorities through elected community development councils (CDCs).

The program helps:

• CDCs lead their communities through processes to identify, plan, manage, and monitor their own development projects.
• Empower communities to make decisions and control resources during all stages of the project cycle.
• Promote the inclusion of all groups in project activities, including women, internally displaced persons, returnees, and ethnic minorities.

Canada is working closely with the Government of Afghanistan on accelerating the roll-out of the program in Kandahar province.

The National Solidarity Program (NSP) has achieved the following significant results to date:

• As of March 2011, 26,567 CDCs had been elected across all 34 provinces (more than 775 in Kandahar province).
• Almost 45,358 sub-projects have been completed (more than 998 in Kandahar province) in areas such as:
  • Water supply and sanitation (e.g., wells, hand pumps, water reservoirs, and public baths).
  • Irrigation (e.g., irrigation canals, aqueducts, dams, pipe schemes, and protection walls).
  • Transport (e.g., roads, culverts, retaining walls, and bridges).
  • Power supply (e.g., diesel generators and power lines).
  • Agriculture and livelihoods (e.g., animal raising, carpet looms, and sewing machines).
  • Education (e.g., literacy courses, vocational training courses, and school buildings).