The Danish development assistance to Afghanistan amounts to DKK 785 million over a five-year period (2003-2006) of which DKK 495 million are reserved for the long-term reconstruction assistance until 2006, while up to DKK 250 million are given as humanitarian assistance until 2004. In addition, DKK 40 million have been given for personnel assistance.
The Danish reconstruction assistance has been aiming at supporting the Afghan authorities, which have been able to take overall responsibility for the reconstruction process. The majority of the Danish assistance has been funding programmes administered by the Afghan authorities.
Priority areas of the Danish government are support to education and development in rural areas. In 2003 Denmark donated DKK 85 million in bilateral assistance and DKK 50 million in multilateral assistance.
Since the fall of the Taliban regime, some progress can be noted in education; for instance a strong increase is evident in the number of both boys and girls in the youngest classes in the primary school system. Denmark has given DKK 110 million in assistance to primary education in Afghanistan.
Part of the funds is used for restoring schools. Denmark has prioritised improvements in the quality of the education, for instance by supporting the development of modern curricula, training of teachers and production of new textbooks.
To improve the living conditions of the Afghan rural population, Denmark has contributed DKK 54 million to the so-called National Solidarity Programme. This programme combines the distribution of financial grants directly to the villages with development of local, democratic councils.
Those councils, which are based on the existing participatory traditions in the rural areas, serve the purpose of strengthening the democratic process through concrete involvement in the decision process. The local communities have the responsibility for developing and administering the projects.
Support to promote human rights and good governance has also been a Danish priority. Denmark has been one of the main contributors to the Afghan commission on human rights and has furthermore, among other things, given support to hold national elections and to the recently concluded constitutional process.
In 2003, Denmark donated a total of DKK 80 million for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. The funds were mostly channelled through the UN organisations (especially the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the World Food Programme) and the Red Cross.
The contributions concentrated on support to refugees, internally displaced people and particularly vulnerable groups of women and children as well as various activities in connection with land mine clearance.
