AABRAR

Afghan Amputee Bicyclists for Rehabilitation And Recreation (AABRAR) is an Afghan non-governmental, non-political and not for profit organization dedicated to the social, civic and economic integration of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups as well as to the social and economic development of the civil society in Afghanistan. Established in 1992, AABRAR’s first official service endeavor was a bicycle training program, the first such training offered in Afghanistan to help persons with disabilities enhance their mobility and ride bicycles to and from their work places which had a two-fold effect of improving their health conditions and saving them transportation costs to help them support their despondent families.

Observing desperate hopes and increasing problems of persons with disabilities due to loss of precious parts of their bodies, AABRAR decided to extend its scope of work and include other rehabilitation programs that would better help in healing the wounds of persons with disabilities and their families. AABRAR therefore started consulting national and international donor agencies as well as the government of Afghanistan for starting new initiatives to better help persons with disabilities and their families. At this stage, AABRAR with the help of its respected donor agencies was able to start physical rehabilitation, physiotherapy and vocational training programs that would help people with disabilities learn and practice vocations and by that means earn bread for their families. With almost 3 decades of war and ethnic conflicts, Afghanistan is assumed to have left with almost a million persons with different kinds of physical impairments and in most cases the disabled person is the bread earner to the family. The vocational training programs helped in preparing disabled persons to learn and practice different kinds of vocations such as bicycle repair, carpentry, cobbler, tailoring, embroidery, football and volleyball making etc. that helped them run their own small businesses on daily basis in the local bazaars and earn and support their families. Thousands of persons with disabilities who have received such trainings from AABRAR are happily living their lives with their families while practicing their earned skills. With success and achieving fruitful results from the above-mentioned activities, AABRAR expanded its services to other provinces of Afghanistan to help those in need and by the end of 2016, AABRAR had active presence in 24 provinces of Afghanistan, implementing different kinds of programs for the people of Afghanistan.

Since the expansion, AABRAR’s scope of work has greatly enhanced and presently AABRAR offers services in a variety of areas that include but are not limited to civic education and democratization programs and trainings, peace building trainings, conflict resolution trainings, institutional capacity building workshops, literacy and numeracy programs, political awareness raising programs, HIV/AIDS awareness raising programs, physiotherapy and health care, bicycle training, vocational trainings in 30 different vocations, ramps construction, honey bee-keeping trainings, university entrance test preparation trainings, local government capacity development trainings, CSOs capacity development trainings, advocacy, gender equality trainings, capacity development trainings of CSOs in the policy reforms of our country, various sporting activities that include activities for both able persons and disabled persons and a series of other activities.

In the last 31 years of painstaking service to the people of Afghanistan, AABRAR has played a major role in helping the civil society of Afghanistan. It has provided various types of services to more than 4, 00, 000 persons in different provinces of Afghanistan. AABRAR has registered more than 60 Civil Society Organization (CSOs), disabled persons’ organizations and other local organizations through its different projects that include United States Institute for Peace (USIP)’s Youth Legal Education Program, Civil Society Support Centre (CSSC) in Paktia Multi-Media Production Centre (MMPC) in Nangarhar province. AABRAR, on regular basis provides capacity building trainings to these CSOs, disability related and other local organization in the areas of organizational development, advocacy, civic education, conflict resolution, media, policy formation, gender equality, proposal writing, financial management, human resources management, communication, research, National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA), Afghanistan National Disability Action Plan (ANDAP), United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), office management, report writing, fund raising etc. to help develop their capacity to perform better and deliver on their commitments made to the civil society of Afghanistan. AABRAR has also provided these CSOs and other organizations as well as youth, men, women and students with free access to any of the three established Resource Centers situated in the provinces of Nangarhar, Paktia and Parwan to have easy and free access to information, register for training workshops, access to internet, benefit from the educational environment, access to library and many more services that these resource centers offer.

AABRAR has active presence in the local communities through its community mobilizers who hold regular sessions with the people of local communities to find out their problems and issues and then bring it forward to AABRAR for further discussion with the respected donor agencies to seek assistance to address those problems. Throughout its official life, AABRAR has helped a large number of people in the local communities that include Persons with Disabilities, Men, Women, Youth, Islamic Scholars and Mullahs, Village Chiefs (Elders), Tribal Leaders, CDC Members, Members of Local Councils, School and University Teachers and Students, Vulnerable Fighting Aged Males, Minorities, Families of Disabled persons,  Victims of Natural Calamities, Internally Displaced Persons, Provincial, District and Local Government Employees etc.

AABRAR as local non-profit organization has proven its capacity in effective implementation of rehabilitation programs across Afghanistan and is proud of its 31 years of honest and sincere service to the larger Afghan community and its war-torn country, Afghanistan. Involved in sustainable development and implementation of projects across Afghanistan this local grass-root not for profit organization has proven its capacity in the planning, designing and productive implementation of capacity development and rehabilitation projects. AABRAR, as a local, not for profit organization in Afghanistan, does require on-going funding from external donors in the foreseeable future to remain viable and to ensure that its services’ benefits can be sustained for a longer period.

AABRAR’s Vision

AABRAR’s vision is to see Afghanistan free of violence, prejudice and discrimination where everyone has the right to basic needs, education, social justice and equality.

AABRAR’s Mission

AABRAR’s mission is to be a non-profit organization that facilitates the on-going development initiatives across the country while offering its services to develop capacity of the civil society organizations, promote human rights and gender equality, ensure economic sustainability of vulnerable people and mitigate insecurities through awareness rising and pave way for the citizens of Afghanistan to live peacefully.

AABRAR’s Core Values

The core values of AABRAR are as follows:

• Equal rights, equal opportunities and non-discrimination
• Human dignity
• Consultation and participation
• Professionalism
• Dedication and commitment
• Transparency and accountability
• Mutual respect and understanding
• Honesty and Integrity