Accounting for social context in programme planning, implementation and M&E: Concepts and Practices

Former AREU Director Dr. Paula Kantor gave a one-day training workshop to staff at the Afghan Ministry of Finance (MoF) based on AREU recent research on Afghan rural livelihoods, which illustrated the important role social relationships with peers or village elites have in supporting rural livelihood security. It also demonstrated the role of power and social inequalities in making and keeping households poor. The workshop aimed to strengthen capacity among Afghan policy actors to better incorporate the social realities of Afghan villages into programme development, implementation and monitoring processes. This can improve the ability of programme planners to define and achieve objectives targeting the causes of poverty and livelihood insecurity.