OVERVIEW

The Multi-Input Area Development—Global Development Alliance (MIAD-GDA) was a partnership between USAID and the Aga Khan Development Network to improve the quality of life in Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province by strengthening health, education, livelihoods, and governance. The project linked Afghanistan’s public and private sectors to foster sustainable social and economic development. USAID and Aga Khan each invested just over $22 million to fund the Global Development Alliance.

ACTIVITIES

• Social development activities: In improving the province’s health outcomes, MIAD-GDA trained the residents of Badakhshan Province in healthcare service delivery and infrastructure. The project created access to education for the residents, trained provincial and district education departments in teachers’ training colleges, and promoted girls’ education. To advance the region’s agriculture sector, the project trained farmers to cultivate fodder crops and provided female farmers opportunities to market their agricultural products.
• Strategic investments: MIAD-GDA enabled Badakhshan residents to utilize resources from private sector investments to fund social development activities and to create jobs to alleviate poverty in the region. The project explored investment opportunities in the agribusiness, energy, and telecommunications sectors.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Over 1,500 men and women participated in more than 3,000 health promotion trainings across all districts in Badakhshan.
• Enrolled over 4,900 male and female learners in English, information technology, and cashier courses at Badakhshan University in Faizabad and the teacher training college in Ishkashim
• Supported over 850 male and female farmers in 35 farmer field schools in 16 districts through a “learning by doing” approach that encouraged them to test new agricultural technologies
• Supported a seasonal agriculture research farm at the Baharak Agriculture Institute and trained 365 men and women in cultivation methods to improve their vegetable yields
• Established a women’s business center in Baharak to train and provide technical support to women interested in embroidery, weaving, and handicrafts
• In June 2018, completed an upgrade of the Ishkashim Community Health Center, making it a district hospital