In the Field

The project will empower civil society organizations in Afghanistan by developing tools for socio-economic monitoring, conducting a baseline survey of measurable indicators, establishing a public forum to promote accountability and publishing findings and recommendations.

Religion is often seen as the cause of strife around the globe, but in reality, it can provide the foundation for what helps to end conflict. USIP’s work, from Indonesia to Pakistan, demonstrates that religion can play a positive role in managing conflict. USIP’s David Smock, senior vice president for the Centers of Innovation, explores the issue in this brief question-and-answer.

USIP's networks of facilitators in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan provide peaceful counter to the pull of extremism and promote bottom-up conflict resolution.

The war in Afghanistan has had a negative effect on Afghan children, who have been exposed to extreme levels of violence and often see aggression as the primary means to resolve conflict. To counter these trends, USIP’s Grant Program supported Help the Afghan Children (HTAC) to administer a peace education program at seven middle schools in Samangan Province in northern Afghanistan.

Since early 2010, USIP’s Cross-Border Dialogue Initiative has brought together more than 300 people, teaching the skills of policy advocacy and negotiation and, at the same time, building bridges between communities suffering from endemic violence and separated by a tense national border.