Introduction
Integrity Watch Afghanistan is an Afghan civil society organization that promotes transparency, accountability, integrity, active citizenship, and community participation in the monitoring of public services and development projects.
History and Background
Integrity Watch Afghanistan was created in October 2005 and became an independent civil society organization in 2006. Its head office is located in Kabul.
The organization has maintained programmatic outreach in provinces including Balkh, Herat, Kabul, Kapisa, and Nangarhar while working in additional areas through local partner organizations.
Integrity Watch Afghanistan was established in response to concerns about corruption, weak accountability, limited citizen participation, and the use of public and international development resources in Afghanistan.
Its work has developed around three principal areas: community-based monitoring, independent research, and evidence-based advocacy.
Mission and Purpose
Integrity Watch Afghanistan is committed to increasing transparency, accountability, and integrity throughout Afghanistan.
The organization seeks to empower citizens and communities to monitor public services, identify problems, engage with authorities, and participate in decisions that affect their lives.
Its research activities generate evidence on corruption, public finance, aid effectiveness, education, healthcare, infrastructure, extractive industries, justice, security, and governance.
Its advocacy work uses research findings and community experiences to encourage informed public debate, influence decision-makers, and promote responsive institutions.
The organization also supports dialogue among communities, government institutions, service providers, donors, civil society organizations, media representatives, and other stakeholders.
Governance and Structure
Integrity Watch Afghanistan is governed according to its organizational bylaws. Its governance structure includes a General Assembly, Board of Directors, Executive Director, and Executive Committee.
The General Assembly has the authority to elect members of the Board of Directors and approve changes to the organization’s bylaws.
The Board recruits the Executive Director and approves the organization’s annual plans and budgets. The Executive Committee, led by the Executive Director, manages programmatic and operational affairs.
Its program structure has included teams working on community monitoring, research, advocacy, communications, operations, and engagement with provincial communities and partner organizations.
Community volunteers are central to the organization’s model. Integrity Watch identifies, trains, and supports residents who monitor public facilities and projects within their communities.
Funding and Grants
Integrity Watch Afghanistan is primarily an implementing, research, and advocacy organization rather than a conventional grant-making foundation.
Its activities have been financed through project grants, institutional partnerships, and support from international development agencies and other organizations interested in governance, transparency, social accountability, public services, and aid effectiveness.
For example, the organization has worked with the United Nations Development Programme and the former United Kingdom Department for International Development to facilitate community monitoring and social audits of healthcare facilities.
Its Reconstruction Assessment Program collaborated with the United States Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction to conduct independent assessments of public facilities financed by the United States Government.
Funding received by the organization supports activities such as volunteer training, field monitoring, social audits, engineering assessments, surveys, research reports, policy briefs, stakeholder dialogues, advocacy, and institutional operations.
Organizations and individuals should not assume that Integrity Watch Afghanistan maintains a permanent public grant program. Any funding opportunities, partnerships, or calls for participation would be subject to separately published requirements.
Major Programs and Initiatives
The Community-Based Monitoring program mobilizes local residents to monitor public services and infrastructure projects. Volunteers compare implementation with commitments, document deficiencies, raise concerns, and work with communities and authorities to identify solutions.
Community-Based Monitoring of Schools was introduced in 2014 to strengthen cooperation between communities and education authorities. It seeks to improve transparency, accountability, and education quality through monitoring, information sharing, dialogue, and collaborative problem-solving.
Community-Based Monitoring of Health promotes social accountability through community mobilization and social audits of healthcare facilities. The program began in 2018 with ten communities in Kabul and subsequently expanded to other provinces.
Health-monitoring volunteers examine the condition and performance of clinics, document service-delivery problems, submit complaints, and participate in sectoral monitoring groups involving public officials, civil society, media, and aid actors.
The Reconstruction Assessment Program was established in August 2015 to examine corruption, fraud, waste, poor construction, procurement weaknesses, and maintenance problems affecting public infrastructure.
The program conducts engineering assessments, physical inspections, surveys, and independent evaluations of facilities such as schools, clinics, and other publicly financed construction projects.
Integrity Watch Afghanistan’s research program has examined public finance management, national budgets, access to information, aid effectiveness, public healthcare, education, mining, security, justice, infrastructure, and general corruption risks.
Its advocacy program translates research and monitoring evidence into policy recommendations. It also promotes aid transparency, public access to information, citizen participation, and stronger oversight of humanitarian and development assistance.
Impact and Examples of Work Funded
Integrity Watch Afghanistan reports that 4,844 volunteers have monitored more than 2,308 public-service sites through its community-based programs.
Its health-monitoring program reported that approximately 70 healthcare facilities had been monitored by 70 trained Integrity Volunteers in Kabul, Kapisa, Nangarhar, Herat, and Balkh since 2018.
Social audits conducted in Balkh and Kapisa brought community findings to public health officials. Following one audit, the Balkh public health leadership agreed to involve the provincial integrity network in health-sector planning, while hospital representatives reported service improvements.
In its school-monitoring work, Integrity Volunteers examined hundreds of schools, raised problems with education authorities, and mobilized local contributions. In 2017, the organization reported that 1,905 of 2,702 identified problems were resolved across 251 monitored schools.
At one Kabul school, a trained volunteer mobilized donations to repair classroom ceilings, furniture, and desks. Engagement with the Afghan diaspora also generated US$2,000 for a drinking-water facility serving students.
Integrity Watch inspected 184 public clinics and hospitals across eight provinces to assess facilities built or operated with donor funding. Its findings highlighted structural, maintenance, hygiene, sanitation, and management problems requiring attention.
Its “Education Compromised?” research examined 276 donor-funded schools in ten provinces. The study assessed infrastructure, school operations, gender representation, teacher qualifications, learning resources, security, and community perceptions.
The organization has also published national corruption surveys, open-budget assessments, public-service reports, mining-sector studies, access-to-information research, policy briefs, manuals, and social-accountability resources.
Conclusion
Integrity Watch Afghanistan combines community monitoring, independent research, and policy advocacy to promote accountable governance and improve public-service delivery. By training citizens to monitor schools, health facilities, infrastructure, and public resources, the organization helps communities identify problems, engage decision-makers, and seek practical improvements.
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