Building Afghan Research Capability

More than two decades of civil war and occupation have devastated Afghanistan's research community. A few internationally educated members of the Afghan diaspora have returned since 2001, but most have not. Those few core faculty and government agency staff who managed to pursue higher education over the past two decades - mostly in the Soviet Union or Pakistan - are ill-equipped to meet the country's challenges.

This project will endeavor to build Afghan research institutions through a combination of graduate, professional and management training for researchers, officials and development practitioners. The program will combine MSc-level training in South Asia and China for Afghan faculty members, with short-term professional and management training for less-qualified faculty members, educators and development practitioners. This will be followed by some modest site-based support, and networking and exchange workshops. The program will be managed by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development on behalf of the Hindu Kush Himalayan University Consortium.

The idea is to prepare Afghan researchers, public administrators and development practitioners to operationalize a sustainable mountain development agenda in Afghanistan.