About
Resilient Agriculture and Livelihoods Initiative for Socio-economic Empowerment (REALISE) is a project implemented by ActionAid Australia and ActionAid Afghanistan under the Australian Government’s Australian Afghanistan Community Engagement Scheme. Through the project, ActionAid is working with partners to engage 97 rural communities in Jawzjan, Balkh and Bamyan provinces in Afghanistan to develop their resilience to shocks and seasonal fluctuations in food and livelihood security.
In its first phase, REALISE strengthened community resilience among vulnerable households. This was undertaken in 97 communities in 3 provinces and 6 districts, improving food and nutritional security, increasing their economic security, and developing their capacity to engage with government and others on issues related to service provision and policies at the village, district, provincial and national level. In phase two, REALISE will continue to focus on working with rural women with low levels of literacy and people with disabilities in 78 communities in 2 provinces and 4 districts, working with 2 partners. It will also increase efforts to reach internally displaced persons.
Through this program, ActionAid has been working with groups identified as the most vulnerable and marginalised, including women- headed households, people with disabilities, landless women and men, sharecroppers, and those with small areas of mostly rain-fed land.
Impact
Since it started, this project has addressed the challenges of low agricultural productivity, low capacity to generate income, and weak community participation, particularly of women. The REALISE project has supported communities with livestock and agricultural training, nutrition training, business development training and market entry, community development, food security training, and more.
