Peace Dividend Marketplace - Afghanistan :: Buy Local, Build Afghanistan

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 communications technology, and the general mistrust that many local businesses have in sharing information, we were able to gather some pretty impressive results.

From sixty-one reported contracts facilitated by PD
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It’s exciting to see the concepts behind COIN contracting (of which Afghan First is a vital part) starting to get more attention in the media and from senior leaders.  PDT and RC(S) (
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As most of you know, PDM-Afghanistan has recently re-launched our Business Portal, which we’ve been promoting far and wide. We took into considerations comments from users, and added in new features for buyers and suppliers More

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 Afghan companies are actively destrcutive to counterinsurgency efforts.  The howof spending money is every bit as important to the war effort as the where and the with whom.

Warfighting, historically, h
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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 “ US Indirectly Paying Afghan Warlords as Part of Security Contract“, “Two Afghan Companies Plead Guilty to Bribing Officials”, and the newly released report “Warlord, Inc. Extortion and Corruption Along the US Supply Chai
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As I mentioned in my last post, the Afghan First Outreach Event gave Afghan suppliers a chance to speak to USAID representatives about the obstacles they face in doing business with international buyers. Similarly, USAID pointed out the common deficiencies in proposals submitted by local suppliers as well as their common misconceptions about the USAID contracting process.

We know that lo
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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. So you can imagine our delight when USAID approached us because they wanted their different offices to meet not one but more than one hundred Afghan suppliers.

In support
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