• The five- year old Hamid finally enrolled into Kindergarten that was his dream and hopes of his mother
• Community Development Councils (CDCs) established, identified problems and agreed to build Kindergarten in Herat city through “Afghanistan Urban Peacebuilding Program” (AUPP) which is funded by Kingdom of Netherland and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), with the technical support of UN- Habitat. One of the goals of program to make sure that children can go to good and safe schools.

Hamid is a five-year-old boy who lives in District 13 of Herat city. Instead of going to a kindergarten, he collects garbage with his brother for winter fuel. His mother Fatima is the head of their household since his father was disabled. “One day, I was going to the market to buy food. In one of the alleys near our house, I saw my son sitting in front of a private kindergarten with his garbage bag in his hand. He was looking at the painted wall of the kindergarten,” Fatima said. “When I approached him, Hamid looked at me with a smiling face, but his eyes told a different story. He asked me if he could go to a kindergarten like those children, play and read poems. I did not have an answer for him. I was helpless. I could not send him to a kindergarten because it was too expensive for us.”

Later, Fatima met her friend Zahra, who was going to a Community Development Council (CDC) meeting. Zahra told her about UN-Habitat and its Afghanistan Urban Peacebuilding Program (AUPP), which supports communities to identify and implement projects that support realizing the safe and inclusive city, particularly for vulnerable members like women and children.

Fatima learned that CDCs had been established in District 13, and their members had identified problems in their neighborhood and discussed ways to address their challenges. “I asked Zahra to support projects for children and suggested the idea of building a kindergarten. The idea was agreed by all members of the CDC. It was mentioned that one of the goals of the AUPP program is to make sure that children can go to good and safe schools. This made me very happy. Zahra and I felt positive about realizing our dream.” Community and municipality members soon laid the foundation stone to start building the kindergarten, which will enable many children, including those from low-income families, to get educated in proper facilities. “When I told my son the news, he threw himself into my arms and said he was excited about going to a kindergarten soon. It was a very joyful moment of my life when I witnessed that good things can happen to us, especially to our children,” Fatima said.

AUPP, funded by Kingdom of Netherland and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) with the technical support of UN- Habitat is supporting Afghan community to build safe and inclusive city. One of the goals of program is to ensure children to go to safe schools.