The Ministry of Finance decided not to support an $11 million project that they initially supported on family planning, or birth spacing, because they thought it was only going to be a $500,000 program. The Deputy Minister of Finance, the appropriate UNAMA representative had already approved this project. The final ok was to come from the Minister of Finance. At a meeting called to discuss the next steps after approval of this project, a 22 year old man, a representative of the Ministry of Finance said, “On behalf of the Ministry of Finance, I am here to say that we do not approve this project. What do you need $11 million for family planning?” He provided no other explanation for the Ministry retracting their approval.
Why is family planning important in Afghanistan? Fertility and infant and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world. A woman should have the right to choose how many children she wants to have. 70% of the population makes less than $2 USD a day to support their families. There are multiple reasons why family planning should be a priority for the government of Afghanistan. They had the chance to do something but decided against it. Why? What can the international community do to suggest to the government how important family planning is in order to have healthy mothers and children in Afghanistan?
Daily, I develop way more questions than I do answers. This country is becoming more of an enigma to me the longer I am here.
Posted By Audrey Roberts
Posted Jun 27th, 2007
2 Comments
audrey
July 2, 2007
A few remarks…
Please let me know if you find an answer to your question. I can’t provide one.
Who are ‘we’ in your question and who are ‘they’?
Prioritization is a risky business. We should also ask about who designs the metrics that make something a priority and how they do it. I should have commented on this in this entry.
What do you think of the argument that a strong government creates a strong civil society by partnering with the people? One thing Afghanistan lacks is partnership between civil society and the government. I would argue that the international community is one of the primary reasons for this. Expect a spicy blog expanding on this point….