Welcome to our new website

Welcome
Heinrich Böll Stiftung is a German foundation close to the German Green Party. It is a non-profit organization with its head office in Berlin.
Since 2003, Heinrich Böll Stiftung has been actively involved in post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan. The main goal of our work here is to support democratization through promotion of a gender-sensitive legal framework and citizenship agency. Moreover we want to contribute to domestic and regional stability and security and to a sustainable development process through people’s participation.

Heinrich Böll Stiftung Afghanistan is currently working in the fields of Democratization, Peace & Security and Ecology.

Peace & Security

Research Report

Women’s Perceptions of the Afghan National Police

The security needs of Afghan men and women differ. Whereas men bear the brunt of the direct impacts of conflict, women disproportionately suffer from the indirect effects such as increased levels of domestic violence, decreased access to health care and poverty. Due to this difference in security needs, gender must be taken into account when evaluating the relationship between citizens and the Afghan National Police (ANP).

more»

Publications

Understanding of Democracy

Book

February 26, 2012 -

In this book the author has reviewed the forms of democracy in different periods of time and has evaluated some questions in relation to the approach of democracy in Afghanistan. This is a valuable resource for learning history of the ideas and opinions as well as making a discussion forum for scholars to debate and consult on how to achieve a governance system that guarantees rights of all afghan citizens. Download Publication (PDF in Dari, 173 pages, 987 Kb)

 

 

Winter in Kabul
 
Snow in Kabul Frozen carrots for sale! Snow tank Centre of the city House at mountainside Oranges available at door step
 
Photos by Neelab Hakim and Rahim Ataee

Democratization

Report

Beyond 2014 there is still a lot to do

November 13, 2011 - As the date 2014 is approaching, and along with that the prospects of negotiations with the Taliban are mounting, there are a lot of unanswered questions among the Afghan society as well as the international community concerning the concrete ISAF policies on the state building project in Afghanistan. more»

Report

A First Step on a Long Journey: How People Define Violence and Justice in Afghanistan (1958-2008)

 - July 18, 2011 -

How People Define Violence and Justice is a joint research project of ACSFo and HBS on international crimes, massacres, rapes, murders, destruction of residential areas, homicide and imprisonment of intellectuals, torture and human rights abuses of the past fifty years.  The standards for justice and human rights violation in this project are defined by people. Views, beliefs and utterances of respondents constitute the basis of this research.

more»

The Afghanistan activities and the Civil Society Forum (2./3. December in Bonn)

Concept

Civil Society Forum Prior to the International Foreign Ministers’ Conference on Afghanistan

- October 12, 2011 - The International Foreign Ministers’ Conference on Afghanistan will take place in Bonn on December 5, 2011. The German Federal Government hereby meets Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s request, which was addressed to Chancellor Angela Merkel at the November 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon. The conference will be held under Afghan leadership.

more»

Foreign Ministers Conference and the inclusion of the Afghan civil society

The Afghanistan activities and the Civil Society Forum (2./3. December in Bonn)

 - October 6, 2011 - On December 5, 2011 in Bonn an international Foreign Ministers Conference on Afghanistan will take place – nearly exactly to the day ten years after the Petersberg Conference on Afghanistan. Also representatives of the Afghan civil society will ask to speak with their own political proposals regarding Afghanistan’s future.  more»

INTRODUCTION

What moves Afghanistan?

- June 21, 2011 - In December 2011, ten years after the Petersberg Conference, the future of Afghanistan will be discussed anew. How can Afghanistan increasingly become militarily, politically and economically more independent? And where does the Afghan parliament and civil society stand in this year’s Bonn Conference? Will they be included? Or will they – as is so often the case in international conferences – be excluded? Barbara Unmüßig more»

Ecology Publication Series

Ecology Publication Series

Afghanistan is haunted by numbers of problems. While people are already aware of many issues security, health …, but environmental issues were not yet topic of discussion. Nonetheless, ecological problems have a strong impact on people’s life. HBS Afghanistan Office in relevance to its activity in the area of ecology considering the role of media as good source of dissemination in public awareness and civic education, has already started a series of ecology publication in cooperation with daily 8 a.m. The goal of the publication is “To encourage the debate on environmental issues” in order to raise awareness for the importance of ecology and “green issues”, enhance people’s understanding of why the environment needs to be cared for and strengthen the idea of citizenship through identification with their country. 
This series is going to be translated in English and regularly published in HBS Afghanistan’s website.  

HBS Afghanistan in the media

Encouraging citizenship agency and political participation

Actively encouraging citizenship agency and political participation, we are in constant exchange with many Afghan activists and organizations working in that area. HBS therefore has become a valuable source of information particularly for German language media where a number of interviews, comments and articles from HBS or with contribution of the office can be found. more»