The National Solidarity Program

Over the past two decades,
community-based approaches to project delivery have become a
popular means for governments and development agencies to
improve the alignment of projects with the needs of rural
communities and increase the participation of villagers in
project design and implementation. This paper briefly
summarizes the results of an impact evaluation of the
National Solidarity Program, a community-driven development
program in Afghanistan that created democratically elected
community development councils and funded small-scale
development projects. Using a randomized controlled trial
across 500 villages, the evaluation finds that the National
Solidarity Program had a positive effect on access to
drinking water and electricity, acceptance of democratic
processes, perceptions of economic wellbeing, and attitudes
toward women. Effects on perceptions of local and national
government performance and material economic outcomes were,
however, more limited or short-lived.