Afghanistan Civil Society Forum Organization (ACSFo)
ACSFo was founded at the request of 76 participants of the first Afghan Civil Society Conference in Bad Honnef, Germany, at the end of 2001. This conference was facilitated by swiss peace parallel to the official Bonn Conference. The goal of the conference was to involve Afghan civil society in the peace and rebuilding processes. With the initial financial support of SDC and German government, ACSFo began its activities in February 2002 and opened its Kabul office in May 2002 and operating till now (20 years).
ACSFo vision is to engage citizens and civil society institutions for a democratic, dynamic and vibrant society based on citizenry values. The overall mission of ACSFo is to facilitate and contribute in the processes of citizen building and state building for a just society and the goal is to foster the development of a vital, diverse, inclusive and united civil society. Since its establishment in (2002), most of the organization’s work as of the inception was through a grassroots approach. The organization core programmatic areas are:
a) Human right promotion and protection
b) Women and youth empowerment
c) Sustainable peace and access to justice
d) Good governance and democracy
e) Crisis response through humanitarian intervention
Since in September 2021, ACSFo shifted its core programmatic intervention and revised its strategy for post August 2021 Afghanistan situation. ACSFo has also been able to have more than 52 programmatic interventions in these areas in last 10 years where five new interventions have been in the year 2021.
ACSFo has widespread beneficiaries that consists ACSFo organizational and individual members, community members including Marginalized groups (people with disabilities, women, ethnic and religious minorities) youth and media representatives. Moreover,
ACSFo targeting its program beneficiaries, HRDs, WHRDs, Women and girls, CBOs, CDCs and community key figures such as Mullahs, religious leaders and community elders.
The overall approach of ACSFo project delivery is Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA); working to support democratization by ensuring accountability, public participation, and informed citizens; to focus Gender and diversity to ensure that equal opportunities for men and women; to ensure that the program activities contribute to peace-building efforts. On the level of program implementation, it is vital to recognize that infusing resources in environments of inequality, scarcity, conflict, polarization, and intergroup tensions, can exacerbate existing tensions and conflict.