The 2012 ASHS Annual Conference

The views expressed in this abstract are those of the author and do not represent the views of USDA. A  youth club was created to provide an animating environment for junior staff of the provincial Directorates for Agriculture in northern Afghanistan.  The concept was to overcome Soviet-era rigidity and help make the offices a positive place where staff can access both professional and recreational opportunities.  Early activities included English and computer classes, field trips, sports, and a weekly lunch. Recently, USDA was able to co-organize  a series of capacity-building workshops for the agriculture directorates in the northern provinces.   We asked the youth organization to manage the funds  and organize the workshop. This, we hoped, would give the organization additional credibility with their colleagues and administration.    The youth organization successfully organized local arrangements, logistics, budgets, participant evaluations, and reporting for two workshops attended by staff from several provinces.  Workshop attendance stayed constant over four days, a sign of staff interest (past workshops typically experienced drop-outs). Encouragingly, a small but significant number of women were able to participate. Between the two workshops, funding cuts eliminated the salaries of a number of ag directorate staff who were members of the youth club. They have subsequently been rehired through a different funding source.  However, during the stressful time of unemployment and uncertainty, as youth club members they had a context for continuing to work on the successful second workshop. These experiences have led to the idea of developing the youth club into a professional society. It has shown value as way to organize activities that benefit the members and thereby, indirectly, the quality of service that Afghanistan will receive. Moreover, something rare in a developing country, it has provided a professional identify and focal point for qualified members, even in an event of budget cuts and job loss. This is a valuable function in an uncertain future. If this club is developed into a professional society, what are the next steps?  And, should it be expanded to include university members, and perhaps members from NGOs, in order to encompass agricultural research, extension, education, and services? Advice from a mature professional society is welcome.