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Reporting on education project cuts to Afghan refugee communities in Pakistan

Ockenden International works in Afghan refugee camps in northern Pakistan, working on education projects with the communities there. We provide teacher training, and help set up and maintain primary schools within the Afghan refugee camps. We work to help prepare Afghan refugees for return to Afghanistan, by ensuring that the schools conform to Afghan curriculum, and linking returning refugees with training, education and job opportunities in Afghanistan.

Since the first round of camp closures in 2005, Ockenden has had start cutting back its programme in Pakistan. Less funds have been available for Afghan refugees as the closure of all camps becomes imminent, and we have been working with the communities to help them understand the changes in their situation.

Ockenden staff held meetings to discuss with the beneficiaries the cuts in funding, explaining what was currently available for funding schools and what was not. We let them know exactly how much we now received to work with the schools, and how much had been available previously, also that they could see clearly the cuts in funding, and appreciate why less, proportionally, could now be spent. After discussions among Ockenden staff, we did not share the amount spent on staff salaries with the beneficiaries, since the feeling was that this was a private and confidential matter.

Initially, many of the community members found the information hard to understand and to relate to the practical outcomes of reduced activities or campy closures. In consultation with the Parent-Teacher Associations, which form the backbone of community groups in the camps where Ockenden works, it was therefore decided to train members of the communities in some basic finance skills so that they could better relay the meaning of the information to their friends, relatives and fellow community members. In groups of between five and ten, over 500 men and women were trained. This proved a more effective way of providing the information than public meetings or announcements.

At the same time, it was decided by Ockenden and the PTAs that a practical outcome of financial reporting to beneficiaries should be for the communities to discuss and consider different options for continuing the schools and training schemes with reduced funding. Together with partners we designed a format which communities could fill in together, saying how the schools could be run differently, considering the reduced funding. Various options were presented to us by the communities, including Ockenden reducing its own expenditure (through cutting staff costs and moving its offices, among others) and providing its own funds for the schools, to the parents and communities contributing in-kind to the schools' running expenses.

While the first option was not tenable for Ockenden at the time, it was a good discussion process for all involved. Staff explained why cutting staff salaries or other costs were not acceptable, and how in any case funding mechanisms meant this would not necessarily provide more funds for the schools. Through open and frank discussion of what money was needed for the schools to operate, and what exactly this was spent on, the communities understood better how they could help their schools carry on running. Since this exercise, the communities in the affected camps have already increase their contributions to their schools, both financially and in kind. We have also found that it is easier to discuss other issues with the communities than it was previously, since there is a new environment of trust and openness in our relationship with the project beneficiaries.