Some of the soon-to-be masons complete their final project

And so our pilot vocational training project came to an end. The cohort of trainees had come from three villages, and the trainees conducted construction projects in each village during the training cycle. This distributed training had the added benefit of generating greater interest and excitement among villagers across the valley, as many flocked to the training sites to see what all the fuss was about. Village leaders got involved, providing help as necessary, and the trainees were swamped with interest in using their skills for future projects.

On the final day of training, the village leader (malik) of the last training site, together with the three trainers from A.R.E.S.O, awarded the certificates of completion to the newly-graduated masons. In the space of one month, the twenty trainees had gone from being relatively unskilled, to being members of one of Afghanistan's most in-demand professions.

All three maliks from the trainees' villages were in attendance, and together they pledged to explore further vocational training opportunities. To quote A.R.E.S.O, the maliks "said that the youth from their villages have no jobs and due to poverty and having no skills they engage in drug addiction and other immoral activities which are harmful for their village and country as well as for themselves. So such type of training can engage them in work and income earning alternative to avoid them from such illegal and immoral activities".

One of the new masons receives his graduation certificate

Vocational training remains a significant priority for the brigade I am attached to, TF Warhorse, and for Afghanistan as a whole.

In past years, Coalition Forces often focused on so-called "cash for work" programs to prevent unemployed and underemployed men from having to rely on doing work for the cash-laden insurgents to make ends meet. While these programs had the desired short-term effect, the Afghan and foreign governments soon realized that more permanent solutions were needed, along the lines of "teach a man to fish..."*.

Sadly, this realization also coincided with the beginning of the drawdown from Afghanistan. Many past funding streams for efforts such as vocational training have either dried up, or they are now only accessible after a longwinded process. Our military partners are trying very hard to unlock funds for vocational training – to reiterate, it is one of their top priorities right now – but Spirit of America's fast and flexible funding for the masonry pilot program created jobs at a critical time in the cycle of violence in what used to be one of Afghanistan's most volatile districts. On top of that it provided the proof of concept necessary to unlock governmental sources of funding for this approach to lessening Afghans unemployment problem.

Twenty graduates is only the first drop in the bucket, but it is hopefully one of many more to come. Together with the Coalition Forces here, and with your crucial support, we can turn the drop into a steady flow, and have a significant effect on unemployment (a major cause of desperation, disaffection and, ultimately, violence) in the crucial greater Kandahar area.

Next time: we follow up on the trainees and see how their skills have been put to use.

With your help, more men like these will be able to earn a living wage and provide for their families

*Definitely not to be taken literally in this rather dry country

Toby Bonthrone
Afghanistan Field Rep.