Afghan Villages Wage War ... on Corruption

In this remote area amid the rough-hewn mountains of northern Afghanistan, a man gingerly steps forward at a village assembly.

In this file photo, Afghans wait as US soldiers from 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 10th...

In this file photo, Afghans wait as US soldiers from 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, conduct a combined Tailgate Medical Operation and Humanitarian Assistance (HA) mission from Firebase Wilderness in Paktia province. Afghan villages, trained by NGOs. fight corruption.

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"Why did you spend so much money on cement?" he asks village leaders – the first time he has so openly questioned authority.

They check their records and reply: "The cement is high quality, and it was the best deal we could find."

The man sits back down, apparently satisfied.

This bland exchange – one of many at a meeting where local officials must defend their use of public funds – is part of a ground-breaking program to bring accountability to a nation ranked one of five most corrupt by Transparency International, a corruption watchdog. The problem extends from top officials to local village leaders, and it's fueling anger at the government and building support for the insurgency.

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Now, villagers trained by an international nonprofit are tackling corruption at the local level through "social audits." They gather to inspect the books of shuras, or elected councils, that oversee many villages and receive funds from the government and NGOs to undertake development projects. In many villages that uncover corruption, residents voted their shuras out in subsequent elections.

"For the first time, we feel like we have some control in our lives," says one villager, Rahimah, who like many Afghans has only one name. "We can finally hold our leaders accountable."

"It used to be that our shura would get money and we'd have no idea what happened to it," says Begum, another villager here in Kalan Gazar, in northern Baghlan Province. In some areas, money earmarked for a development project had simply vanished.

Learning to Play Accountant

To help build Afghans' capacity in dealing with such problems, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) introduced the idea of social audits – meetings that scrutinize the books of the village council – in hundreds of villages.

The villagers select a "social audit committee," made up of those whom the community deems the most honest and industrious. AKDN then trains the committee on how to inspect the shura's financial transactions – the training is needed because many villagers are illiterate or have never examined financial dealings before.