Sub Governor’s Small Budget Pilot Program: A better way to rebuild Afghanistan

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - The governor of Paktika along with eight sub-governors of the province gathered at Forward Operating Base Rushmore in Paktika province, Afghanistan, Feb. 22, to discuss a new budget program that will help the sub-governors improve their communities.

The ultimate goal of the program is to build the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan by enhancing sub-governors’ ability to provide basic services within their districts.

The meeting provided Paktika sub-governors, also referred to as district governors, with a block of instruction on how to use the Sub-governor’s Budget Program.

The meeting also served to transition the management of the program from 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Task Force Yukon, to the, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Task Force Rakkasan.

This new budget program is intended to help local Afghans help themselves and legitimize the government of Afghanistan, said Capt. Christopher Drescher, project manager with 3rd Bn, 187th Inf. Regt.

In the past, the U.S. would just come into a town and tell villages what they will build for them, or what they think the villages need repaired, Drescher said.

“The communities never have a say, all they see is the U.S. Army providing services that their government is supposed to supply,” said Maj. Jeffrey S. Crapo, executive officer for 1st Bn, 501st Inf. Regt. “They don’t want to see that, they want to see Afghans doing it.”

The program keeps money in the community by using local labor and the system often fosters a sense of ownership, an approach that hasn’t been previously tried.

When outside contractors arrive in villages for a building or repair project, the community has contributed to nothing to the project, said U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Ken Wolf, the 1st Bn, Inf. 501st Regt. command sergeant major.

“They didn’t invest any time or money, if it gets blown up. Who cares,” Wolf added.

Using this program, the members of a Waza Kwah community recently repaired a schoolhouse, previously damaged by a Taliban bomb.

“The workers from the community actually wrote their names into the wall of the school as a message to the Taliban,” said Crapo.

“The future of Afghanistan is not the Afghans working with the U.S. Army. The future is in the people solving problems, themselves, at the community level,” added Crapo.

The program’s intent is to target a gap at the district level by connecting the local populations with their government and it is ultimately designed to teach good community level governance.

If you want to know how to help the people of Afghanistan, you have to ask the people on the street; and right now all these people want is for their government to work, said Wolf.

“We believe this is the one project that ties the people to their government,” he added.

This new system for requesting projects is designed to be much like a city council meeting. The community identifies a need, votes on it and submits a project proposal all with the district sub-governor facilitating the process.
The money for the sub-governor budget program is requested through Commanders Emergency Relief Program Funds. These funds are channelled directly into the community, instead of an outside contractor.

The sub-governors of Mata Kan and Waza Kwah both agreed that the use of local labor and planning is essential to the program’s success.
 
If you give this project to contractors, they will charge $50,000 to $60,000 or more.  This town completed a project of better quality than a contractor and did it for about $2,000, said Mohammad Ramazan, the governor of Waza Kwah.

“This is the first time the community has used any government money and this is the first time the project was completed,” said Ramazan.