In 2002, the interim administration of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan sought quick ways to expand economic opportunities for the country’s poorest rural communities and promote a sense of shared national citizenship. Afghanistan had just emerged from 30 years of devastating conflict. Standards of living were low. Younger Afghans had never lived and worked together as members of a shared political community, and some had spent most of their lives abroad as refugees. In response, a team of Afghan decision makers and international partners created a community-driven development initiative called the National Solidarity Program (NSP). The NSP provided block grants directly to poor communities and empowered villagers to use the funds for community-managed reconstruction and development. With the help of an elected village council and a civil society partner, a community chose, planned, implemented, and maintained its roads, bridges, schools, and health clinics. External evaluations found that NSP projects generally succeeded in improving villagers’ access to basic utilities and helped give a short-term economic boost to communities, although some of the other planned benefits did not materialize and project success rates varied across districts. During a period of low government capacity, the NSP was among the few programs that made a visible impact at the local level. However, the program's reliance on donor funds and outside partners raised doubts about its sustainability.

 

Associated Interview(s):  Ashraf Ghani, Abdul Baqi Popal​, Ghulam Rasoul Rasouli

In 2007, Indonesia embarked on a multiyear effort to expand an innovative community-driven development program, first started in 1998, into the largest program of its kind in the world. For nearly a decade, the Kecamatan Development Program had empowered communities to determine how they wanted to use funds for their own development, whether for small infrastructure projects, health and education, or microcredit opportunities. Communities planned, implemented, and maintained projects on their own through village and intervillage committees. The program experienced very low levels of corruption, and in some communities it was the only government program to provide direct benefits that actually reached citizens. It was also successful in raising the incomes of Indonesians in poor parts of the country. From 2007 to 2012, the central government significantly expanded the program and launched pilot projects to extend participation to geographic areas and activities beyond the scope of the original program. Although the scale-up strained management, creating occasional delays and gaps in implementation, the program continued to raise the incomes of the poorest Indonesians. This case study offers several lessons about scaling up community-driven development.