PAL Involvement in Business Development Activities

PAL Involvement in Business Development Activities

Introduction

Afghan communities are up against some tough challenges such as low capital, lack of technical skills, marketing management skills and business operating skills.  On the other side there exist the potential to develop natural resources and the communities show remarkable interest to utilize their resources and make best use of their skills to improve their livelihood especially in eastern zone of Afghanistan. Since however the constraints and limitations are not or only partly addressed by governmental and/or private sector, these are basic factors for slow business development or stagnation in eastern Afghanistan.

The speed of globalization faces all countries to new challenges and new competitions but offer also new opportunities. Afghanistan is poor country and has to face strong competition from their neighbors in business sector. Efforts are being made from part of international community and Afghan Government to improve the economical conditions of Afghans by rehabilitating the infrastructure and promote small scale businesses for income generation. One of limited opportunities in this field for people in rural areas of Afghanistan is to generate income from fruit production, honey production, fish production, rose production (distillery products), carpet waving, tailoring and embroidery for women as well.

The PAL

PAL is a 6 year EC funded project (2004-2009) in Eastern Afghanistan, partnered with the MRRD and managed by GTZ International Services.

PAL assisted and facilitated the process of participatory development planning on CDC, Cluster CDC (CDCC) at district level.More than 15 % of the proposals submitted to small by CCDCS from 20 districts of Nangarhar, Laghman and Kunar provinces in the field community development.PAL supports those who try to help themselves and are committed for the development of their communities. It needs community contribution and ownership concept to come up the communities to it full potential.

Proper guidance and training along with input provision as a start up tool kit for business development activities, including poor farmers is thought to be able to strengthen and expand the businesses. This approach is provided by PAL and will help the beneficiaries to lead their lives as successful professional business men and women and responsible citizens.

A network of professional working groups such as producer associations has been assisted by PAL and set up to a help to overcome the bad economic condition and help farmers to share their experiences and knowledge on production techniques and marketing. In addition it also enables them to access with their products larger markets. They can venture into businesses when investing commonly. They will be stronger investor and financer and make best use of the economy to develop their businesses.

The business association members can avoid the minor weaknesses and constraints in promotion of their business. They become capable to take risks and adopt new approaches in conflict resolution and problem solving.

PAL is committed to providing business development training to all producer groups that PAL has assisted to start SME such as local fruit producers, fish producers, rose oil producers, bee keepers and embroidery as professional and profitable business men and women. The mission of PAL is to develop the capacities of small and medium entrepreneurs and to demonstrate the potential business opportunities and growths. As such PAL is assisting in marketing training and support to demonstrate professional business opportunities even in remote rural areas.

Business Development Trainings

GTZ IS PAL conducted training need assessment of various producers associations in eastern zone of Afghanistan. Based on the close interaction with producer associations several areas of immediate priority and several areas of mid- term interest have been identified. Business development trainings were conducted according to the standards and are addressing immediate needs of a common farmer. The trainings are tailor-made, addressing the demand and needs of the beneficiaries.

Business Associations on national and sub-national level are confronted with some tough challenges such as low level of business management skills, poor marketing information, no marketing strategy, lack of communication, low capacity, low capital and insecure legal frame conditions and tax requirements. All these factors lead to unfavorable frame conditions for entrepreneurs.

Objectives of Business Development Trainings

PAL support and train the local and regional producer associations to strengthen their business development skills and operate a sustainable business. Three days BD trainings are designed to enhance the skills of the regional producer association members and to create awareness in regional associations to liaison with rural businesses and interfere in potential sub-sectors.

According to course design it is expected to achieve the following objectives, active participation of the participants provided:

·         Improvement of business skills and develop the talent to management quality of local rural producers to help them lead their lives as a successful professional business men and responsible citizen.

·         Provide knowledge of fundamentals of Marketing Management

·         Sketch importance and access to market information, channels and linkages

·         Explain ways and potentials to penetrate into new markets.

·         Manage their businesses in a sustainable manner.

Achievements

GTZ IS PAL is committed to develop the business skills of local producers. The local producers associations have shown remarkable interest by attending the business development trainings. So far, as of October 2009, twenty seven associations in the eastern Afghanistan provinces have been successfully trained by GTZ IS PAL. Each association was trained in Introduction to business, marketing and accounting respectively. In total 58 trainings have been conducted. The below listed associations received ITB and Marketing trainings respectively.

DISCLAIMER

This article has been produced with the assistance of the European Union and the GTZ IS. The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union or the GTZ IS.

The Project for Alternative Livelihoods in Eastern Afghanistan (PAL) is located at Jalalabad and funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by GTZ IS

PAL’ s assistance to Communities and Districts in eastern Afghanistan in construction of irrigation systems

Introduction

During the last 6 years, the EC funded Project Alternative Livelihoods in eastern Afghanistan (PAL), implemented by GTZ IS and partnered with MRRD, supported participatory planning with CDCs in 20 districts of Nangahar, Laghman and Kunar. Based on a bottom up planning process, village and district development plans has been worked out, of that many requested assistance in the field of irrigation.

Irrigation is an artificial application of water and it is usually used to assist in growing crops in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall. In Afghanistan irrigation systems have a very old tradition and they are very important for agriculture production and rural food security. Except a few larger irrigation systems that has been basically set up in the 1970ies, the rural areas of AFG rely traditional system, that has been applied thousand of years.

Irrigation projects assisted by PAL

So far PAL assisted in the implementation of 6 irrigation structures in different below indicated districts of the three provinces in Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar:

1.      Toup Canal intake in Noorgal district, Kunar

2.      Shurarah canal intake in Noorgal district, Kunar

3.      Karchandou canal intake in Noorgal district, Kunar

4.      Masoudabad canal intake in Chawky district in Kunar

5.      Lawkar canal in Alingar district, Laghman

6.      Majlum khil and Bayee khil canal protection structure in Wazir village Khugiani Nangarhar

The objectives of the PAL assisted irrigation projects are

·         to provide reliable irrigation water to the farmland and to manage the water discharges by the construction of proper head regulators for low water level and high flood seasons to improve the agriculture production.

·         By improving irrigation supply the yields of the crops goes up from 10-20% in a year and farmers gets economic enhancement accordingly

·         To enable the farmers in reclaiming the non-cultivated and rain fed lands

Sustainability of the PAL irrigation structures

As PAL is focusing on the projects sustainability in all infrastructure projects, irrigation is structure is needs proper attention and maintenance as proper water management. In each of the PAL irrigation project a man called Mirab (Water manager) is trained beside the group of the farmers taking care of the structures and managing water right related issues. The scope of work for the Mirab is as follow:

1.      Mirab is over all care taker of the irrigation system from the canal head work to the land

2.      Mirab is responsible for the head work gate monitoring and decreasing and increasing the water discharge

3.      Mirab is responsible to monitor the flood damages to the intake, canal and other structures and informing the local beneficiaries for the repair

4.      mirab is responsible for the time management fro the structure repairs, canal cleaning and others

5.      Mirab is responsible for the water distribution in peek demand time if necessary to make hours distribution of the water

6.      Mirab is responsible to call the farmers and local beneficiaries for “Hashar” volunteer works for one or more than one days. Mirab is paid by the local farmers.

Other aspects of the PAL irrigation projects.

In addition to the objective mentioned above, PAL irrigation structures are combined and contributed in promoting the PAL orchards project. The good example is the three the intakes PAL constructed in Noorgal district. Along the main canal of all three intakes the community set  up new orchards with high quality saplings assisted by PAL irrigated from the mentioned intakes. Such combination of the PAL projects highly motivate the local community in own contribution and maintenance for the construction sustainability.

Community contribution to PAL assisted projects

The participatory bottom up project planning process facilitated by PAL together with the local communities focused on the self help potential of the CDCs and explained and motivated them to contribute in the construction period. This process makes all beneficiaries and stakeholders aware that that and what the community has to contribute. The community contributions consist usually in the activities and achievements as listed below:

-          Guarding and assuring security to the PAL local contractor, construction company

-          Providing daily monitoring group to work on behalf of the local consultant in order to inspect the construction quality

-          To provide labor for the construction, back fillings and working without payment once in two week

-          Contributing in construction maintenance, financially supporting the water manager after the completion of the construction

-          Contributing in temporary diversion of the river for the period of the construction in order to avoid any flood damages to the uncompleted structure

-          Contributing in cleaning and expanding the feeder canal starting from the intake and ending at the agricultural land. By fulfilling the cleaning of the main- and sub-canals the discharge capacity of the canal is getting increased in parallel way to the strengthen of the intake capacity for diverting enough water toward the feeder canal

-          Since at most sites the source of the water from intake are in mountain and river beds and not easy to access by vehicles, the community is therefore taking the responsibility to prepare temporary access road to the construction site in order to transfer the construction materials and to ease the monitoring.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PAL’S ASSISTED IRRIGATION PROJECTS:

1.      Toup Intake, in Noorgal district, Kunar Province

Toup canal intake is irrigating lands in Faizullah, Gerwa and other villages. The mentioned canal-intake is diverting irrigation water to approx 320 hectares agriculture lands. The farmers are mostly cultivating wheat, rice, barley, and vegetable such as tomatoes, onion, Okra, and cauliflowers. Few of the families have orchards and planted Guava, figs, grapes and other. The size of the orchards getting water from the mentioned intake is about 20 hectares (ha) = 100 jerib.

The only livelihoods of the mentioned habitants are farming and livestock. The women are closely working on the agriculture farm together with the men. Out of 300 ha of land irrigated by the mentioned PAL assisted intake 20 ha are orchards and total of 600 families  (4200 beneficiaries) are receiving benefit form the structure

Construction of this intake took 3 months. The technical components of the Toup canal intake is the weir (diversion dame) main body supported by d/s reinforced concrete apron, canal head work fitted by metal water controlling gate,  and the head work or canal d/s stone masonry alignment and canal spillway.

As usual in PAL assisted projects the labors are hired from the village and thus generating income, cash for work, during the construction period. This way about 450 man-day skilled and 2250 man-day unskilled labors were busy in constructing the Toup canal intake. The project costs USD$ 37,800.

2. Shurarah canal-Intake, Noorgal district, Kunar

The mentioned canal-intake is diverting irrigation water to approx 460 ha agriculture land in Ghunday village. The farmers mostly cultivating the same type of the crop as mentioned above for the farmers in Toup canal-intake. The size of the orchards getting water from the mentioned intake is about 60 ha.

Out of 400 ha of land irrigated by the intake 60 ha are orchards and total of 2000 families (14000 beneficiaries) are receiving benefit form the structure.

Construction took of the Shurarah took also 3 months. The intake consists of the same technical components as described for Toup canal intake. 540 man-day skilled and 3150 man-day unskilled labors of the local community found work and income during the construction time. Shurarah intake costs US$ 40,000.- .

3. Karchandou canal-Intake, Noorgal district, Kunar

The mentioned canal-intake is diverting irrigation water to approx 160 hectares agriculture lands. The farmers mostly cultivating the same crops as described for Toup and Shurarah intake. The size of the orchards that are provided with water from the mentioned intake is about 30 ha.

Out of 160 ha of land is irrigated by Karchandou canal intake and 20 ha are orchards and total of 500 families (3500 benef.) are receiving benefit form the structure. In addition to that the canal-intake is providing water to the three existing water mills and two MHP structures in the village. The intake has therefore of significant impact on the livelihood of the people.

Construction of Karchandou canal intake took 6.5 months in 2008. The technical components of the Karchandou canal intake are the same as described in Toup canal intake. Due to heavy rains and floods on the Mazar Dara stream the construction was delayed. 790 man-day of skilled and 4150 man-day of unskilled labors worked to constructed the project. The total cost wer US$ 63,700.-.

4. Masoud abad canal-Intake, Noorgal district, Kunar

The Canal-intake in Chawky district called Masoud abad intake is being constructed for the villages Masoudabad, Shalutay and Khadikhil. The Masoudabad canal-intake is providing irrigation water to 1200 ha land and brings benefit for 4000 families and costs U$103,400.-

 

The construction of Masoud abad canal started in May/09 and expected to be finished in October 2009 in period of 5 months.

On daily basis 35-45 man-day skilled and unskilled labors are working from the village and are receiving income from the project. By end of the construction 5200 man-day skilled and unskilled labors will have worked in the project.

Masoud abad canal intake is technically consisting of the weir main body supported by the d/s apron, intake wing wall, canal headwork and canal d/s alignment wall, improvement to the old canal alignment by increasing the height of the wall and others.

5. Lawkar canal intake, Alingar district, Laghman

The construction of the Lawkar canal in Alingar district, Laghman is another irrigation structure implemented with PAL’s assitance on the Alingar River in 2008. The structure is consisting of canal alignment, stone masonry walls, spill way structure, head work regulator and a 42 meter wide cross drainage box culver against wash.

The constructing of the Lawkar canal is irrigating 500 ha of agriculture land for 1050 families (7350 beneficiaries). The total project costs were U$ 67,302.-.

The mentioned project were established in 4,5 months in 2008.

30-35 man-day skilled and unskilled labors from the village have worked on daily baises and received income from the project. In total Lawkar canal-intake about 3600 man-day skilled and unskilled labors were busy during the construction.

6.Majlumkhil-Bayee khil canal protection, Khogiani, Nangahahr

The canal protection wall on Majlum Khil, and Bayee Khil canal in Wazir was constructed in during 2 months in 2007 in Khogiani district, Nangarhar with PAL’s assitance. Through the construction of the mentioned irrigation protecting structure 1000 families received benefit and 420 ha of agriculture lands is irrigated. The project cost were US$ 19,200.-  .

In the mentioned project brought labor and income to about 700 man-day skilled and unskilled labors.

Lessons learned and Constraints and problems observed during the implementation of PAL’s assisted irrigation implementation

Though all PAL assisted construction projects were and are thoroughly planned and together with the CDC and IP, they hardly met the expected period of the time for completion of the work due to various reasons. The most critical of the problems occurred in construction are as below:

·         In spite of the high attempts by the PAL team to push the start of the construction, they are mostly not started in expected time and get delayed. If work is even  continued until the rainy and flood season starts, this is usually severely affecting the construction progress

·         In some cases the construction companies are not doing very well to manage the progress according to the plan

·         The community contribution is getting often delayed with their own contribution and in most cases are very slow and causing delay to the construction progress

·         Community internal conflict is one of the other factors that delays the construction and even put them on halt several times during the construction period

·         Often community demands for addition works to be carried out by PAL

·         The security situation is another issue: the incidents mostly occurred either on the way to or near to the construction site and not allowing contractors to smoothly continue the construction. Also the PAL engineers cannot easily go to the construction site to monitor the construction progress

PAL’s concept and assistance in improving carpet weaving handicraft sector in Afghanistan

PAL’s concept and assistance in improving carpet weaving handicraft sector in Afghanistan

Introduction

Afghanistan is a country with along and rich history in carpet weaving especially in western and northern provinces of Afghanistan. Afghan designs and quality of carpets are well-known for their beautiful color and good quality works. In north provinces of Afghanistan carpet weaving is a traditional business and through this business they accomplish their 60-80% of their expenses.

In eastern Afghanistan, carpet weaving was introduced and promoted since the 1960s however traditionally could never cope with quality and design of the carpets produced in the north. On the one side carpet weaving became more familiar in eastern Afghanistan when Afghan refugees return from Pakistan. On the other nowadays mayor Afghan traders in Kabul and in the north, develop new designs with software programs based on the furniture fashion abroad for each season. Any well trained carpet weaving group in the country would be therefore in principle able to deliver high quality carpets to international standards, and by this way, would be able to increase their income.

Most carpet trading companies from Afghanistan and Pakistan are providing row material and paying daily wage to the carpet weaving workers or pay according to Square meter weaved carpets, provided a good quality carpet is produced within a given time e.g. for the spring season in Europe.

Traditionally most of the females in Afghanistan are house wives and strictly prohibited to work out side the house and have their own sufficient income. Therefore there is no or very limited opportunity for women to generate income (limited source, lack of technical training to women, no access to market etc.). Considering this situation, PAL assisted to local CDC based on their request to upgrade the skills of community members in several months long training, via trained experts from NGOs or traders to upgrade their knowledge and skills on international quality requirements in carpet production in eastern Afghanistan. Carpet weaving would in turn create income opportunities for women and would increase their income due to the raised quality of the carpets in eastern Afghanistan compared to before.

The PAL

PAL is a 6 year EC funded project (2004-2009) in Eastern Afghanistan, partnered with the MRRD and managed by GTZ International Services.

PAL assisted and facilitated the process of participatory development planning on CDC, Cluster CDC (CDCC) at district level to respond to the needs and requirements of carpet weavers based on their proposals submitted to PAL.

More than 5 % of the proposals submitted to SM-AL by CCDCS from 20 districts of Nangarhar, Laghman and Kunar provinces, and requested assistance in the field of carpet weaving. PAL’s assistance is to assist those who try to help themselves and are committed to the development of their own living conditions. Thus, an own contribution and performance of the potential beneficiaries is required.

PAL’s Concept Regarding Carpet weaving

PAL’s assistance is always demand driven based on participatory, bottom up planning with CDCs. Through this planning process CDCs requested assistance for upgrading the knowledge of women in the field of carpet weaving. PAL’s strategy of implementing projects is to provide vocational training on international level carpet weaving to eligible and interested women in rural part of eastern Afghanistan.

1-  Carpet weaving training project in Khewa district.

Initially PAL assists the implementation of carpet weaving training in Khewa district of Nangrahar province in 2007. The project was implemented through an NGO as implementing partner (WROYA) and took 6 months. In total 20 trainees were trained in this training project from two villages 10 trainees from Serajal village and 10 trainees from Khishko village.

Lessons Learned: The skills of the trainers were just sufficient to train the female beneficiaries of traditional eastern Afghan designs and skills. In turn the quality of the carpets and the price they could gain in the market was low and subsequently also the profit for the women. The NGO failed to make the project sustainable in economical sense. Women were always dependent on a raw material supplier and the margin for their work was finally small. A permanent discussion on the performance availability of the female trainer and quality and remaining amount of the raw material made the implementation of the project laborious.

2- Carpet weaving training project in Dari Noor District

Based on the Lessons learned of the Khewa project, PAL changed its concept and facilitated the linkage to professional carpet traders that were able and interested in cooperation.

Based on a request of 5 villages, PAL assists 125 interested semi skilled women in Dari Noor district of Nangarhar Province to get the chance to upgrade their knowledge and skills in carpet weaving according to international levels. The ambitious goal was to upgrade the skills and quality of carpet production in Eastern AFG to international standards and link producers in remote areas to international markets.

PAL’s concept of the project consists in the training of 125 women in design and quality of carpets according to international standards.

The respective CDCs identified an experienced carpet trader, Quassimy Broth. Ltd that was endorsed by PAL. This way, a so called Public Private Partnership (PPP) project could be started.

The traders proved to have successful established marketing linkage to international markets and were able to provide new designs and advice on quality for internationally marketable carpets. The trader himself contributed in

a)      Organising high quality durable carpet frames and transport them to remoter areas in eastern AFG

b)      provision of computer printed innovative quality designs

c)      Delegate an own supervisor to the area for organising the trainings, production of carpets and transport of inputs and carpets to Kabul.

d)      Assist in the screening of sub-trainers and trainees

e)      Provide high quality raw material and organise the necessary tools

f)        Technical and quality control of the carpets.

This way, the trader contribute roughly 12 000 US$ to the project.

PAL funded 25 good quality carpet weaving frames and other necessary carpet weaving tools while the raw material for training was supplied by the trader. On each frame one sub-trainer was in charge who trained in turn 3-5 trainees (depending on frame size).

A common assessment of all stakeholder were conducted to identify 25 interested and sufficiently skilled women that should serve as sub trainers for the carpet weaving project, along with a selection of suitable trainees. This process was assisted by PAL.

As own contribution the community agreed to set up a training centre at a central site between the concerned 5 CDCs. However after longer discussions on accessibility for the young women and dispute over contribution and ownership of the centre, action was postponed. Since the frames were delivered and to avoid the delay of the project, CCDC and PAL decided to set up the frames in each village individually to ensure accessibility of the trainees to training centre. On each frame 4 -5 trainees could work and 1 sub-trainer. The project was initially approved for 6 months for administrative reasons but thought from begin on to last for 9-12 months and subsequently 3-4 rounds of carpets completed by the work of the beneficiaries.

A midterm evaluation conducted by all stakeholders revealed, that start and progress of the carpet weaving project was delayed and slower than expected, however based on promises of the community to compensate the time, since the set up has been properly completed and on recommendations of private partner, the carpet traders, the project was extended by 3 months.

During training session each trainee received 1 USD/day food allowance from PAL for the first 6 months. From 3 month onwards trainers carried out a performance assessment to select those trainees who performed better and provided them with additionally incentives of 1 US$/day.

PAL staff along with the trainers and CDC was responsible to monitor and follow up the training project in entire duration of the project and trace deviation, find solution and run the project process in smoothly manners.

Achievements

The following has been made with PAL’s assistance in the carpet weaving projects:

1.) Skills and knowledge on quality and designs in carpet production of 145 women in rural areas of eastern Afghanistan was improved.

This also led to an improved reputation of the 125 women in their families and villages.

2.) Women were provided with 25 high quality long lasting carpet weaving frames

3.) 145 women generated additional income during the training (particularly the trainers and sub trainers) and those women that received incentive payments due to better than average performance

4.) The CDCs and beneficiaries were linked to a carpet trader with international experience and market relations. That provides them the chance to continue to work in future provided CDCs are able to meet quality standard in the required time

5.) In addition PAL provided assistance to the entire value chain on wool production and processing allowing the CDC to generate additional profit from each processing step:

PAL’s assistance in improving carpet weaving in Dar I Noor must be seen as part of a integrated concept. Since large areas of suitable pasture were available in the mountains of Dar I Noor, labor forces and an old tradition of using (low quality) wool from the traditional sheep, PAL assisted in promotion of a new high quality wool sheep “Ghazni” sheep. 500 of the wool sheep were distributed to 6 villages of upper Dari Noor district, that provided the potential of getting easily 1500 – 2000 sheep within 3-4 years, sufficient to produce enough high quality wool for a center of at least 50 frames. Besides Basic Veterinary Workers assigned from the village by the CDCs were trained to supply veterinary services in the remote mountain areas of Dar I Noor.

In addition women from the villages were trained in improved wool processing methods. After one year the number of sheep increased and reached 840, while there were also some losses due to weak non commitment of the beneficiaries in feeding, vaccination and care as well as misuse and weak performance of BVW. However now the sheep provide good quality of wool. The wool can be turned in good quality thread for carpets that have a market for itself and provide income to women in this remote area.

As described above 125 women in Dar I Noor have the chance to use these thread and weave international level carpet and sale it international market.

Now as the project come to the end trainees are able to continue the business and make profitable home based income for their family

 Below you will find a rough calculation on the profit women can gain from carpet weaving:

On the basis of discussion with women it is estimated that they would like to work on carpet weaving an average of 4 hours daily. It is planned that these women will reach the level of working for 4 hours daily within 6 – 12 months at which time their income will double to approximately 12,000 AFS monthly.

Lessons Learned:

• Any carpet weaving project should compensate for work time as short as any possible, definitely no longer than 4-6 months. Payment should be after an initial training period based on output /sqm and quality.
• Particularly in eastern Afghanistan the ultra conservative attitude of families, even in the mountain where they claim to be more liberal, prevent that women are learning from male trainers thus delaying technology transfer, since no afghan women with respective skills would travel to this area.
• Development in eastern Afghanistan is therefore slower and takes longer than elsewhere even in Afghanistan, as could be clearly stated by the PPP partner who is working with several 100 other groups in Afghanistan.
• Beneficiaries and their family quickly overestimate their skills and knowledge and believe that we only some progress they will be able to compete in international markets.
• There is a strong receiver mentality after years of emergency aid in eastern Afghanistan that makes it difficult to convince people to stick to their promises and commitment laid down in mutual (written) agreements although through NSP it is national wide accepted to contribute 10% to the project
• Alike it is difficult to get transparence of any interaction down to (female) beneficiaries in the area since they usually not participate in the meetings and depend on information provided by family members, shuras or representatives of different stakeholders.
• Even simple skills and tasks of a value chain such as sorting of wool according to quality and quality of shearing must be considered and freshly trained despite the fact that communities claims that they this is an old tradition. This again reveals a complete unrealistic picture and assessment of their own skills and knowledge as compared to competitors within and outside their own country.

SUMMARY

PAL in cooperation with private partner Qasimi Brothers Co has achieved that

1.)    125 women upgraded their knowledge on international requirements in design and quality and improved their skills to a step in this requirements. Female beneficiaries will forward their skills to the neighbor and to their other family members as well and get a better self esteem and consideration.

2.)    An improved value chain in the field of improved wool sheep, Veterinary services, wool processing and finally carpet processing has been supported and provide the chance of the CDC to meet the demand and requirements of in national and international markets.

DISCLAIMER

This article has been produced with the assistance of the European Union and the GTZ IS. The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union or the GTZ IS.

The Project for Alternative Livelihoods in Eastern Afghanistan (PAL) is located at Jalalabad and funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by GTZ IS

PAL Involvement in Micro Hydro Power (MHP) Projects

PAL Involvement in Micro Hydro Power (MHP) Projects

Introduction

Micro Hydro Power is the system providing power to the smaller community in rural districts where the topographic feature of the district or village is suitable for the construction of such structure.

The system has mostly been implemented in mountains areas in Afghanistan and elsewhere because of the following requirements:

-          Topographic feature and preconditions of the districts are suitable to the criteria for the construction of the system

-          Sufficient spring and/or stream water is available for the construction of the system throughout the year

-          The local community requested and appreciate the system

-          The people are prepared to contribute in the implementation and construction of the project as well as the maintenance of the system

-          Small branches of the canal can run a small turbine for a small community and therefore, many stations can be constructed for several groups of the community.

-           

National Solidarity Program (NSP) has so fare funded many of such projects sized below 25 kw in Afghanistan, while up to 150 kw of the MHP has been funded and constructed by different agencies.

As result of the criteria mentioned above, in Afghanistan the MHP have mostly been implemented in Nooristan, Kunar, Nangarhar, Laghman, Bamian, Takhar, Samangan, Baghlan, Panjshir and Kundos

Planning for the implementation of the MHP system

In order to properly plan the MHP project, the following procedures is followed:

-          Identification of the target district

-          Conduction of a feasibility study and in case of a positive outcome

-          Planning of the MHP structures and requirements

-          Carry out a social and technical survey and designing the system accordingly

-          Coordination of the construction of the MHP system with the other concerned department, funding and implementing partners.

Feasibility Study

Precondition to any decision to start the construction of a project is to investigate if topographic position of a village is suitable for the MHP project or not. During the feasibility study the factors below are considered:

-          Availability, source and minimum and maximum discharges of the water that is intended to be used in running the turbine

-          Visually check of the topographic position of the canal or any water courses that the system is implemented on, this will give the team a picture of possible Head (H) required for the system construction

-          Identifying the user group (Target group) that the system is going to be implemented for

-          Determine if the public land for the civil structure is available, or requires to be donated by one of the user families.

-          Identification of the local resources (materials and labor)

-          Assessment of the access to the site

-          Risk assessment that list the problem that might be encountered during the system construction.

-          To visit and list the current system already constructed by other agencies in the same and surrounding villages

-          Identifying the local beneficiaries contribution in project construction, and for the system maintenance

                                                                                    PAL engineers surveying Ludlam MHP

Main component of the MHP construction

The followings are the three main components in course of the construction of an MHP system:

A.      Civil works consisting of:

a)      Intake, in order to raise the water level and divert to the feeder canal

b)      Canal, may necessary to deepen and/or widen to increase its capacity, or might necessary to build the new canal.

c)      Settlement basin

d)      Fore bay

e)      spillway

f)        Penstock

g)      Power house

This is very important to identify the size and quantities of the civil activities since the conduction of the civil works of MHP projects in most cases increase the project cost. The construction of the fore bay, settlement basin, spillways, power house and penstock is the parts needed to set up in any case, while construction of the canal and intake depend upon to the given conditions of the project site and might be or not necessarily to be set up by. On the one hand the mentioned last two structures are mostly very expensive and increase considerably the project costs even for the smaller size of the MHP, on the other hand they are of significance for maintaining the required discharge of water.

B.     Hydro Mechanical Work consisting of the following:

a)      Turbine

b)      Speed ratio

c)      Governor  (turbine speed regulator)

Different types of the turbines for the MHP construction are manufactured. The most common turbine in Afghanistan is “cross flow” turbine that requires a higher head (H) and not too much water flow. An other, but less often suitable turbine, is the “Kaplan” that is suitable for the shallow head but needs a lot of water to run.

The turbines standard efficiency factor varies for different types. The efficiency factor ranged from 65-95% for different types of turbine and depends on the manufacturing quality.

Currently the turbines are manufactured in Kabul, Jalalabad and abroad (eg. in Pakistan). Maintaining the quality and efficiency depend on the qualification of the management skills of the factory (quality management) and skills of the manufacturing staff.

C.     Electrical work is consisting of:

a)      Alternator

b)      Fuse box and Switch box

c)      Transmission line

d)      House wiring and users

PAL in MHPs planning and construction

While the purpose of the MHPs construction in NSP programs is to provide access to light and rarely to run the small electronic devices, PAL attempts to find the suitable sites for the construction of more power full, bigger sized MHP that are appropriate to serve also small enterprises, to be established by the male and female groups of the target villages.

The Ludlam MHP in Noorgal district may serve as a good example. There PAL is currently constructing a 65 kw MHP project. The mentioned project is consisting of intake construction, construction of 230 meter canal, new alignment for the discharge range 300-800 l/sec and all other necessary structures.

380 Households benefit of the PAL funded mentioned project, and supplying 144 watt/per family, while the minimum watt per family is 65 watt.

PAL has already targeted to construct 4-5 MHPs in Kunar province. The first one out of that these is the Bargam MHP in Ghaziabad district has already been started by the PAL implementing partner, but because of security reason is suspended for the time being. The Bargam MHP will be supplying 29 kw power to the 300 Household in the mentioned village

The PAL next MHP project was already studied in Kundagal village, district Alingar in Laghman is thought to be started in early September 2008. The feasibility of the mentioned project shows that will be supplying 41 kw power to the 400 household in the Kunadal valley

DISCLAIMER

This article has been produced with the assistance of the European Union and the GTZ IS. The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union or the GTZ IS.

The Project for Alternative Livelihoods in Eastern Afghanistan (PAL) is located at Jalalabad and funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by GTZ IS