Building Afghanistan
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A Dance with Impact Measurement
7 May 2012
We are incredibly excited to launch our Afghanistan Marketplace Impact Report, which will be on our Web site soon. We are even more thrilled to receive this wonderful thank-yo...
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A Juicy Tale
11 April 2012
Meet entrepreneurs, helped by PDM-Helmand, who are building the Helmandi marketplace! This is part five of the series....
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Helmandi Business Resilience
30 March 2012
Helmand is still one of the most difficult operating environments in Afghanistan. Despite the security challenges, local entrepreneurs in the country’s largest province disp...
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Wealth Creation No Longer Creates Jobs & Unemployment Sucks
31 January 2012
Our world is plagued by youth unemployment. Just one more reason why the Marketplace project is so important in Afghanistan....
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Global Entrepreneurship Week commemorated for the 1st time in Afghanistan
5 December 2011
PDT's Global Entrepreneurship Week Event in Afghanistan -- the first time ever in the country -- was a success. Read about how students learned about the challenges facing Afg...
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Holding our Breath for Cleaner Air
4 August 2011
The Taliban may receive greater notoriety; however, air pollution is Kabul’s biggest threat and killer. On any given day in Kabul, a pall of dust and smog coats the city and...
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War, Chaos, and CSR in Afghanistan
21 July 2011
Everyone’s abuzz about corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. Newscorp chief Rupert Murdoch’s appearance before the British Parliament this morning to a...
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A Shot Gun Start – As in Golf, not War
9 June 2011
A weekend of golf and fun – in Kabul? As the invitation to participate in a charity golf tournament at the Kabul Golf Club (KGC) landed in my In Box, it certainly did catch ...
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Recent Graduates Gain Opportunities at Local Job Fair
26 May 2011
What is the foundation on which a free-thinking, stable, and entrepreneurial society with transparent and safe governance must rest? Education! Education remains a top priorit...
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Ski Afghanistan!
17 March 2011
Chamonix, Aspen, Banff, Cortina . . . . . . . Bamyan?! That’s right, Bamyan, Afghanistan. Pack your kit and prepare for a ski outing unlike any other to what must be the wo...
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Afghan Women Power – Here to Stay!
6 March 2011
A full house of enthusiastic networkers A dark, cold, wet and snowy morning in a troubled city full of security threats and warnings is hardly a conducive enviro...
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Revolution Unending…
6 February 2011
There is an indigenous movement brewing in Kabul. It's not the neo-Taliban or foreign fighters, nevertheless it is revolutionary. Unlike Tunisia or Cairo, its agents of change...
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Product Exhibitions at the Forefront of October ‘Event Month’
1 November 2010
October’s “event month” has finally come to a close. I say event month because PDT participated in three product exhibition-type events (AgFair, the AISA International E...
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Buy Local – And From Different Suppliers
21 September 2010
Last week I was finally able to get out of Kabul to see how the project operates in our field offices. I spent some time on KAF talking with buyers and users of our Business P...
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We’ve Got Competition!
29 July 2010
Until recently we plugged ourselves as the only online database with detailed information about Afghan businesses, and to a certain extent that’s still correct, but we’ve ...
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Tips from the Experts: How to Make Afghan First Work
7 July 2010
We know that local suppliers are eager to do business with international buyers, and that buyers increasingly want to do business with Afghan vendors (thanks Afghan First!). S...
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We Don’t Only Sell Handicrafts Afghan Women Tell Buyers
27 May 2010
The media stereo type of Afghan business women is a common one. A women to be felt sorry for who is heartwarmingly trying to “stitch” her life together again through handi...
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It’s hot, it’s dusty and it’s dangerous. It’s Helmand.
11 May 2010
This week I’m in Helmand province on the Lashkar Gah Provincial Reconstruction Team compound with PDT Field Manager, Leigh Ryan. I’m here to begin the process of measuring...
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Afghan First Gets the NATO Seal of Approval
2 May 2010
“Afghan First” is a phrase regularly used by Peace Dividend Trust staff to explain the importance of keeping money designated for Afghanistan spent IN Afghanistan not ON A...
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Local Perspectives: Children on Education
13 April 2012
Meet entrepreneurs, helped by PDM-Helmand, who are building the Helmandi marketplace! This is the last part of the series....
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Growing Local Business
10 April 2012
Meet entrepreneurs, helped by PDM-Helmand, who are building the Helmandi marketplace! This is part four of the series....
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The Helmand National Investors Association: Strength in Numbers
29 March 2012
Helmand is still one of the most difficult operating environments in Afghanistan. Despite the security challenges, local entrepreneurs in the country’s largest province disp...
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PDM-A Builds Bridges Between Helmandi and Kabuli Agribusiness
3 January 2012
It's not only about international connections. Forging relationships between Afghan companies is just as important to private sector development....
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A New Step Towards Information Technology Venture
1 November 2011
Technology is radically changing Afghanistan. That's one thing PDT learned as a participant in the Open Source Technology’s regional four-day conference. ...
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Through Afghan Eyes
2 August 2011
Lights, Cameras, Action! Kabul threw security barriers and cultural differences aside as the city’s glitterati and literati gathered to experience a magical night of film du...
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The Light of a Secure Peace
28 June 2011
Western resources to support Afghanistan in fulfilling its potential is limited. Fortunately, Afghan potential is not. Phil Colgan on what the future holds for "the graveyard ...
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Everyone Loves a Day out in the Countryside
7 June 2011
Everywhere in the world, to a city-dweller, the promise of a day out in the countryside brings with it certain buoyancy, anticipation, and a feeling literally like a breath of...
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The Sweet Taste of Success
2 May 2011
You’ve heard a lot about the Afghan Women First Business Matchmaking Event that we organized in support of International Women’s Day. This is partly due to the fact that a...
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Moving Forward While Reflecting Back
17 March 2011
PDT has been in Afghanistan since 2006, and working in Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif since 2008, and we’ve enjoyed promoting and facilitating local procurement as a...
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In a bright mood on a cold, rainy day
23 February 2011
I am in a positively giddy mood this week. I’m excited about Afghan women entrepreneurs. Yes, I’m kind of a geek....
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We’re Back! With Highlights from SIGAR.
2 February 2011
PDT’s Afghanistan team is back on the blog train, folks, and we've got a lot of posts coming your way this month. First, we'll save you the trouble of reading all 160+ pages...
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ABC4 Helps Buyers and Suppliers Shape the Way Forward for the Helmandi Marketplace
19 October 2010
The fourth installment of the highly successful Afghan Business Conferences (ABCs) was held in Helmand on October 4th. Similar to the previous events, ABC4 brought together He...
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The Helmand Job Creation Survey Results Have Been Released!
23 August 2010
Last May/June, we set about measuring the jobs created in Helmand province as a result of PDM-A activities. Despite the highly volatile security environment, the challenges in...
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COIN Contracting Pt 2: Tactical Patience Matters
19 July 2010
As promised, I’m going to focus on “pace of operations,” “operational necessity,” and local procurement for part two in this series. To wit: current demands on Afgh...
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The Afghan First Outreach Event – Not Your Typical Meet and Greet
1 July 2010
We here at Peace Dividend Trust are ardent Afghan First supporters. Connecting buyers with Afghan suppliers and facilitating contracts between the two is our bread and butter....
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Afghan Companies Brave Security Threats for Better Businesses Opportunities
20 May 2010
For anyone who has dealt with meeting donors reporting requirements or has had to navigate countries individual contracting procedures, the complexity and required detail need...
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Fifty Women Entrepreneurs Trained, But Then What?
7 May 2010
Like any good headquarters staff, I also wanted to get out of the office and see the PDM-A project at work. Attending the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women graduation ceremony provid...
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Local Perspectives: A Day in the Park
12 April 2012
Meet entrepreneurs, helped by PDM-Helmand, who are building the Helmandi marketplace! This is part six of the series....
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From Mines to Markets
9 April 2012
Meet entrepreneurs helped by the PDM-Helmand project. Part three in the series....
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PDT and USACE host the Afghan first business matchmaking event
14 February 2012
The full-day event connected about 130 Afghan-owned businesses from Kabul and the Northern provinces with tangible business opportunities from USACE and with each other....
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Helmand’s Business Climate Brings Hope
20 December 2011
New business and education opportunities in Helmand show that the province is steadily changing for the better....
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Strengthening Afghan Economy through Gas channels
11 October 2011
A recently proposed Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline project is expected to strengthen the economy of Afghanistan. The (TAPI) Gas pipeline pro...
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New Beginnings, New Stars
26 July 2011
Decades of war, on-going civil strife, corruption, and poverty are what most people think of when considering life in Afghanistan. But there is a whole other side to life here...
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Mushrooms In Afghanistan
23 June 2011
In this blog I am writing a few words about an important and valuable vegetable which is growing naturally in Afghanistan, The mushroom. Afghan mushrooms are famous for their ...
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Kabul New City – Real Estate’s “Next Big Thing”
31 May 2011
A multi-phased “mega-project,” Kabul New City is the first of its kind of development in Afghanistan and its potential for job creation and investment is staggering....
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More Power to the Panjshir!
19 April 2011
On a recent trip to Afghanistan’s beautiful Panjshir Valley, my travel companions and I were intrigued by the simple yet complex network of rustic water wheels, river dams, ...
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Happy Women’s Day from Afghanistan
8 March 2011
Today marks the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day -- which, incidentally, used to be called International Working Women’s Day -- with this year's theme being:...
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Quietude in Qabul
9 February 2011
We think about and write about development on this blog, but not every inspiration has to be from another development worker or writer or thinker. We can keep a certain perspe...
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A trip to Afghanistan’s biggest industrial base
25 November 2010
I’ve just gotten back from a four-day trip to Herat, which was like a breath of fresh air from the Hescos and barbed wire of Kabul. Those of you who have visited the ancient...
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Local Woman-Owned Companies Win A Large Manufacturing Contract that Will Benefit Afghanistan
29 September 2010
In 2008 Peace Dividend Trust (PDT) was approached by an international buyer’s head of contracting in Afghanistan to put together a conference for women-owned businesses. The...
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Current Contracting Loses the COIN Fight
1 August 2010
One of the brilliant effects of Afghan First, maybe the reason that I believe that it will lead to a stable and secure Afghanistan faster than any other economic policy, is th...
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An Unlikely Headline: Not Every Afghan Company is Corrupt
14 July 2010
Corruption in Afghanistan is a hot topic these days. More specifically, corruption in the contracting process. It seems like every day as I scan the news I see headlines like ...
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Rethinking Contracting as the Front Lines of COIN, Pt 1
22 June 2010
Many international organizations (IOs) are making good-faith efforts at local procurement, without PDT involvement. They do the best they can to collect and store company inf...
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Sneak Preview! The New Afghanistan Building Markets
18 May 2010
It’s finally come! After years of clicking our way through the Building Markets site to get to the search function, wading through the never-ending UN Standard Products and ...
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Spacecraft Found In Afghanistan
5 May 2010
As the market researcher at peace dividend trust Afghanistan, I like to analyze the good and service categories PDT-A suppliers are working in so that our team can keep you up...
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