While it is a daunting task in any transition country to instill the culture of democracy in the hearts and minds of the young generations; difficulties surrounding the task assume gigantic proportions if you are in Afghanistan, where the devastation of decades of war and destruction has left deep scars in the psyche of the people and confidence in governance structures is just being restored.

Students of Rabiya Balkhy School at the  Wolesi Jirga hall

The staff of the Public Relations Department of the Secretariat at Afghanistan’s new legislature, the National Assembly, led by Tahera Shairzay, have taken the bull by the horn and launched a scheme to familiarize the young generation with the functions and procedures of the country’s law-making organ.

For the past six weeks now, groups of 10-15 students, 10 th to 12 th grade, from various secondary schools of the capital have been paying half day visits to the National Assembly to see at work the representatives, elected by their parents or uncles or aunts.

Ahmad Jawid Payab, the Public Awareness Officer working under Ms. Shairzay, said the “parliamentary tour” of the students included all main components of the National Assembly, even the specialized committees.

The “itinerary” prepared for the students includes a half-hour visit to the Wolesi Jirga (the lower house) plenary hall where they sit and watch the proceedings at the section reserved for guests, followed by a similar observation at the Meshrano Jirga (the upper house), then the students take a look at the legislature’s library which has been recently inaugurated. In the course of their tour, the students also get the chance to see how the Assembly’s specialized committees and commissions deliberate on draft legislation paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence. During the visit, if circumstances allow, they can also briefly ask questions to legislators, even to Speakers of the two houses or their deputies.

Boys of Ansari Secondary School waiting  to visit the Meshrano Jirga hall

Gul Hassan, the 12 th grade student from the Ansari secondary school, confidently said “This is the meeting of the public and the State”, when asked about what his visit to the Assembly meant for him. “I believe our Assembly will help solve the problems of our country” he added. An 11 th grade student from the same school, Mohammad Sadiq said: “This is where I bring the problems of my community and ask the Members of Assembly to bring about solutions to them.” He underlines that he wants to be a legislator, himself, someday in the future.

Ms. Shairzay says the students are presented with a small dossier at the end of their visit to the National Assembly, with an exemplary copy of the Official Gazette, several brochures detailing the procedures and mechanics of legislative process and a modest notebook. She complains that they do not have enough funds to be able to supply a more informative package to the curious youth. “This is where we come in and try to improve things” says Peter Lunding, the Advocacy and Outreach Advisor to UNDP’s SEAL (Support to Establishment of Afghan Legislature) project.

“I am very glad to see Ms. Shairzay and her team taking the lead and organizing these outreach activities, including the visits by school children,” says Mr. Lunding, expressing satisfaction that the National Assembly Secretariat, having realized the importance of building bridges with the public, is taking bold steps in the right direction. He says the SEAL team are on the side of Ms. Shairzay and her colleagues, trying to make available whatever they need: Additional equipment for recording proceedings, funds for translation of education and information material, support for their printing and distribution among other things.

Regardless of the AK-47 rifles dangling from the shoulders of the private “security guards” of the Assembly members just outside the perimeter fence of the Afghan National Assembly building, both the young students and the Assembly staff trying to inform them on the functioning of the legislature appear to have committed themselves for a future free from rule of the gun but governed by the rule of the law.

UNDP Staff Also Visit the Assembly

Shukria Barakzai MNA from Kabul briefing  UNDP staff on the functions of the  Assembly

On the day the Ansari secondary school students were at the Assembly, the staff of the UNDP Country Office in Afghanistan also had the chance to visit the country’s first legislative body after almost three decades.

Thanks to the efforts of the SEAL team, the visit allowed the UNDP staff to see and feel pride with their contribution to the establishment of Afghanistan’s first law-making body after three decades of war and destruction.

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