Canal cleaning,
AfghanistanPost-conflict countries are those where there
has been a recent end to hostilities, which may well be fragile.
Conflict may be external war with a neighbouring nation or internal
conflict including conflict affecting only certain parts of a
country. But progression from conflict to post-conflict is not a
linear process and there is a need for interventions to be
sensitive to the causes of conflict.
An increasingly significant amount of infrastructure-related work,
especially for the Department for International Development (DFID,
UK), takes place in countries that have experienced conflict. This
requires a particular approach to infrastructure provision.
Infrastructure providers in post-conflict situations face many
difficulties.
One such country is Afghanistan, where we are providing services to
the Alternative Livelihoods Programme (ALP), an essential
centrepiece of an integrated counter-narcotics strategy. To be
successful, alternative livelihood options, along with a detailed
information campaign which explains the programme, should precede
law enforcement, eradication and the coercive elements of the
strategy. Given the size of the opium economy in Afghanistan, a
sharp economic contraction due to eradication and other coercive
measures may cause social and political upheaval if there are no
income and employment generating alternatives in place to
ameliorate the impact. Mott MacDonald is responsible for the
infrastructure component, which includes farm to market roads,
irrigation systems, flood control and alternative energy sources.
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