The first session of the Development & Governance Working Group hosted at ISAF’s Regional Command West in Herat

The first meeting of the Development & Governance Working Group (DGWG) took place today in Camp Arena, home to ISAF’s Regional Command West.

The newly-established Working Group will allow the exchange of information and the synchronization of efforts in the fields of development and governance across Western Afghanistan. Representatives of the Government of Afghanistan, the heads of the four Provincial Reconstruction Teams operating in the western provinces, UNAMA and the development agencies of USA, Spain and Italy (USAID, AECID and Cooperazione Italiana) and many other actors were invited to join the Working Group.

Over 50 people attended the meeting focusing on the integration of the strategies of GIRoA and on the alignment - vertical and horizontal - of projects concerning governance infrastructure, water, roads, health and energy. Updates on the ongoing and planned projects were presented by the government’s representatives, PRTs and development agencies.

In the next meetings, sub-groups will be formed to develop metrics to measure progresses toward goals such as the expansion of government centres to under-served villages and districts, the improvement of the access to health care and to water and energy resources.

In his opening statement, Brigadier General Claudio Berto said that “the Development and Governance Working Group is intended to be a forum where unity of effort among all actors can be achieved and where ancillary projects can be developed in support of larger endeavours”.

At the end of the meeting Mr. Haji Sharafeddin, acting deputy-Governor of Badghis, pointed out that “the establishment of the Working Group will be extremely useful to get a thorough overview of all current development activities in western Afghanistan and to find new opportunities to improve cooperation with ISAF and the International Community”.