Towards Sustainable Local Governance in Afghanistan

There is no doubt about the importance of local governance institutions for building sustainable peace grounded in local conditions and specificity. Such efforts have been taken in Afghanistan to facilitate a community level governance structure. UN-Habitat has been working in Afghanistan for decades to support community-based planning and implementation of projects on basic infrastructure and livelihoods improvement, through the People’s Process, a people-centered approach to development. This article takes examples to demonstrate how engagement of communities contributes to enhanced trust among community members, and can lead to strengthening local governance structures, catalytic to local-level peace-building.