“New Home, New Life”
An offshoot of the BBC World Service, BBC Afghan Education Projects (BBC-AEP), launched the educational radio soap opera “New Home, New Life” (NHNL) in the spring of 1994 in Afghanistan's two main languages: Dari and Pashto. Run for years from Peshawar, the overthrow of the Taliban regime made it possible for the programme to be repatriated to Kabul in October 2002.

NHNL was designed to meet the educational needs of both refugees and those in Afghanistan. It draws on the understanding of the BBC-AEP Afghan staff and on the specialist knowledge of donor agencies in order to develop educational messages across a range of topics, including repatriation, reintegration of returnees, mines awareness, health, hygiene and sanitation, and conflict resolution. Techniques of participatory rural appraisal are used to keep the show close to the everyday problems of its listeners’ lives. Teams are sent out to conduct research on the ground through group discussions, in-depth interviews and research into developments in the health sector. The information is then incorporated in the soap's storylines about the lives of villagers in three fictional villages in Afghanistan.

Unlike many soap operas in the world, NHNL began to reflect the changing world situation in its output within two weeks of the events of 11 September 2001. As political events unfolded, it quickly became clear that there was a huge humanitarian crisis in the making in Afghanistan. In response the programme staff in Peshawar soon developed practical messages to support and help their audience, such as the importance of taking all documents with them if they fled their homes, the need to keep families together, mines awareness for people moving into foreign terrain, and conservation of food and water supplies. Initial features developed included mental health issues, post-traumatic shock syndrome (especially in children), practical information about mines and the need to behave safely, what is needed in an emergency kit, how to build a latrine and sanitation advice.

The soap opera format has proved powerful since people identify with the characters and the storylines, and even gossip about the show, so repeating and reinforcing the educational messages in the stories. The show has always provided entertainment as well as information and advice. As the crisis in the country deepened, the show became the only source of entertainment for many Afghans and the only thing that Afghans inside and outside Afghanistan had in common. A survey of 60,000 households undertaken in 1997 found that a dramatic fall in the number of mine accidents after 1994 was due to the impact of mines awareness messages in the soap opera. Around 50 per cent of people interviewed listened daily to the programme.

The number of listeners has now risen, with the overwhelming majority of the Afghan population (including refugees in neighbouring countries) listening in one or both languages. With its huge following, proven audience impact, use of local languages and experience of working very closely with its audiences, NHNL remains as a powerful tool for the grassroots reconstruction of Afghanistan, and provides an excellent model for broadcasting in other conflict areas.

The radio team is now working on programmes that respond to the changed political situation in Afghanistan, including a new series on the process of developing the country’s new constitution to help ordinary people make informed choices and air their views and concerns about the development of good government. It will also continue to cover critical areas such as mines awareness, health education, vaccination campaigns, veterinary issues and farming advice.

(Largely sourced from the Meta-Survey Afghanistan Country Report by Hilary Perraton)

REACH
To reach children in Afghanistan who have been deprived of normal schooling by almost 20 years of warfare and Taliban restrictions, the BBC World service launched these freestanding radio educational programmes for Afghan children (REACH –Radio Education for Afghan Children) in July, 2001. The radio programmes are not a replacement for school, as they do not teach, but rather get children to learn by themselves, by awakening their curiosity and encouraging active learning in the local environment. The BBC-AEP team has identified four audiences as priorities: teachers, medical personnel, farmers and women. They also have a role in capacity-building in radio techniques where they have unparalleled experience in successfully training teams of Afghan broadcasters to a very high standard, including training people with no previous broadcasting or journalistic experience. REACH is funded by the UK Department for International Development, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and managed by BBC Afghan Education Projects in Peshawar.

UNDP IT Centres/ Cisco Networking Academy
A model for public/private partnerships in the region, the first Cisco Networking Academy in Afghanistan was opened in January 2003, as part of the wider UNDP programme aiming to help bridge the digital and gender divides. The Academy, based at the University of Kabul, aims to create a cadre of Afghan specialists who can help ease and catalyze the country’s transition into the digital age. Cisco trains the Afghan teachers and provides the web-based curriculum and networking equipment for the Academy, while UNDP supports the training, provides computer hardware and facilitates the partnership with the University. The formal IT education of the Academy is based on a web-based curriculum that teaches students to design, build and maintain computer networks, as well as other IT skills, through hands-on lab exercises, online assessments, and competent instructor support. Of the 17 students who made up the first graduating class from the Academy in April 2003, six were women.

With the support of $500,000 by the European Commission, UNDP has also set up four new training centres, with a fifth underway. Managed by Afghan nationals, the centres offer basic training for civil servants, the public and civil society organizations. The project is focused on encouraging students' exposure, interest and skills in IT. Over 2,500 Afghanis are expected to take part in the initial part of training - women will comprise 45 per cent of those trained.

Afghanistan's Educational Television Upgrade
The educational television (ETV) service in Afghanistan is being upgraded under a major UNESCO implemented project. The programme, funded by the Government of Italy, includes the rehabilitation of the partially destroyed former headquarters of the ETV service in Kabul, purchase of equipment and training. The supply of new studio equipment comes along with craft-skills training and assistance in restructuring the entire distance education output of the Ministry of Education. At present, the Ministry's Educational Television and Radio Division operates from premises in the Radio-Television Afghanistan (RTA) building. It has some 40 staff but few technical facilities of its own and relies on RTA for studio production time.

Plans are in place to bring an expert in distant learning from the Commonwealth Institute in India to do an overall assessment of the ERTV and the Ministry's long term abilities, needs and targets. In addition, training programmes are scheduled in Afghanistan for ERTV by the BBC Afghan Education Program (AEP). It is hoped that more media experts will come to Afghanistan from the region and provide intensive training courses.