Drugs and (Dis)order Database of Development Aid in Borderlands in Afghanistan, 2002-2018

Mirzada, Gulsom and Azizi, Mujib and Suroush, Qayoom and Nemat, Orzala and Goodhand, Jonathan (2022). Drugs and (Dis)order Database of Development Aid in Borderlands in Afghanistan, 2002-2018. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-856000

Drugs & (dis)order is a Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project generating new evidence on how to transform illicit drug economies into peace economies in Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar. By 2030, more than 50% of the world’s poor will live in fragile and conflict-affected states. And many of today’s armed conflicts are fuelled by illicit drug economies in borderland regions. Trillions of dollars have been spent on the War on Drugs, but securitised approaches have failed. In fact, they often increase state fragility and adversely affect the health and livelihoods of communities and households. In light of these failures, there’s increasing recognition that drug policies need to be more pro-poor and aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But the evidence base for this policy reform is patchy, politicised and contested. Drugs & (dis)order is helping to generate pro-poor policy solutions to transform illicit economies into peace economies. To do this we will: (1) Generate a robust evidence base on illicit drug economies and their effects on armed conflict, public health and livelihoods. (2) Identify new approaches and policy solutions to build more inclusive development and sustainable livelihoods in drugs affected contexts. (3) Build a global network of researchers and institutions in Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar and the UK to continue this work.

Data description (abstract)

Database of development aid interventions and investments for Nangarhar, Nimroz and Badakshan provinces for period 2002-2018. Data have been compiled from existing paper reports, digital reports and digital databases obtained from donor agencies, ministries, local authorities and NGOs.

The purpose of compiling the database was to gather evidence on whether or not interventions and developments influence the drugs economy. There is a belief that tackling drugs and promoting development are mutually reinforcing, assuming that development will generate viable alternative livelihood options for those engaged in drug economies. Official and NGO strategies thus follow the assumption that if lack of development fosters illicit activities such as drug crops, this can be alleviated by economic development interventions and state-building projects.

Aim was to record all development organizations active in the borderland areas and record the scope, scale, location and monitory investment of programmes, projects and interventions they fund ‒ not just drug control interventions but also mainstream development interventions in general ‒ for the period 2002 to 2018.

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Mirzada Gulsom	Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit
Azizi Mujib	Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit
Suroush Qayoom	Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit
Nemat Orzala	Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit
Goodhand Jonathan	SOAS University of London

Sponsors:

ESRC

Grant reference:

ES/P011543/1

Topic classification:

Politics
Economics
Society and culture

Keywords:

DEVELOPMENT AID (INTERNATIONAL), DRUG POLICY, ILLEGAL DRUGS, INVESTMENT, DEVELOPMENT, DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES

Project title:

GCRF - Drugs and (dis)order: Building sustainable peacetime economies in the aftermath of war

Alternative title:

Building sustainable peacetime economies in the aftermath of war.

Grant holders:

Jonathan Goodhand, Mandy Sadan, Bayard Roberts, Hernando Zuleta, Francisco Gutierrez, Tim Rhodes, David Mansfield, Magdalena Harris, John Collins, Orzala Nemat

Project dates:

From	To
30 September 2017	29 June 2022

Date published:

04 Oct 2022 08:23

Last modified:

04 Oct 2022 08:24

Coverage and Methodology

Temporal coverage:

From	To
1 January 2002	31 December 2018

Collection period:

Date from:	Date to:
1 January 2018	31 December 2021

Geographical area:

Nangarhar; Nimroz; Badakshan

Country:

Afghanistan

Data collection method:

Data have been compiled from existing resources. These include paper-based reports, digital reports, digital databases and documents obtained from donor agencies, Afghanistan ministries, local authorities, independent national and international research organizations and NGOs. Data from ministries were often obtained by visiting them and copying information directly from their records. Often ministries contacted did not have an existing list of data on funding, so had to create this information on request. The main source of information was the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD).

Information received was mostly in Persian and then translated into English. Only information supplied by MRRD was supplied in English. Funding amounts were sometimes given in USD, sometimes in Afghani. This was then converted to USD based on the exchange rate of that year.

Records have also been extracted from the online Development Assistance Database for Afghanistan (DAD) via the National Budget and Aid Management Systems Afghanistan application (dadafghanistan.gov.af), but have been listed separately as they do not specify in which district of the province the investment was made.

Information has been compiled into tabular databases, recording for all projects that have been carried out in each province: Project name, Start and end year, Budget (US$), Implementing agency, Funding agency, Partners, Sector, Location and Source of information.

Observation unit:

Other

Kind of data:

Numeric, Text

Type of data:

Business microdata

Resource language:

English

Access and Administration