Helmand District, Afghanistan – April 4, 2010 - Today, due to the hard work of thousands of laborers on USAID’s AVIPA Plus program, the water in many canals in the south of Afghanistan runs fast and deep – bringing the promise of good harvests for the multitude of farmers who rely on the canals for irrigation. However, water is not the only thing the canals bring: mutual trust and reliance between the government and the population starts flowing with such projects.

In the remote areas of the country, communities gradually realize the meaningful benefits that come along with local government. Ordinary people come to rely on collaboration with governmental offices on major projects like irrigation systems rehabilitation or dam restoration. They see services, livelihoods, and standard of living improve due to these projects; most importantly, they see that working with the government may improve the services the government provides.

A small canal in the Khalach area, in Helmand’s Nawa district, runs parallel to the great Shamalan Canal. The work undertaken on this canal is a prime example how water, in its own quiet way, can be a connecting factor in building stable communities.

“The headman of this area heard about the canal cleaning projects AVIPA Plus is doing and brought the idea to clean our village canal to the Community Council. The Council approved the project and the District Governor confirmed it. Then, the project was taken to AVIPA Plus - and work began,” says one of the many workers who also owns a farm watered by the canal.

In this way, the canal is bringing not only life-giving water to farms but is also bringing villagers in direct contact with their representatives; the palpable benefits help foster trust in the government.

The section of the canal being worked on today runs through cool shade under the willowy branches of a row of young trees. Down in the canal, some men – young and old – stand up to their knees in the chocolate-colored water scooping out shovelfuls of mud. Others stand up to their ankles in rich sediment hacking out solid scoops of earth to deepen the canal. This canal waters between 1,500 and 2,000 jeribs of land where farmers grow wheat, corn, melon and watermelon. More than three hundred men from the Khalach area are working on the canal.

“All of these people could have gone to Iran or Pakistan as refugees or they could have even joined the Taliban. But now they are all here working with us. They are happy, and the fact that they stayed makes the community stronger,” says one of the elderly workers.