The “Cultural Container Project” and its First Implementation in Ten Provinces of Afghanistan

Funded by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany

The aim of the “Cultural Container Project” was to strengthen civil society and promote social peace and social cohesion, which we and our teams in Afghanistan were able to implement very successfully for the first time in ten provinces in 2015 and 2016: Badakhshan, Balkh, Bamyan, Herat, Jawzjan, Kabul, Kandahar, Kapisa, Laghman and Nangarhar.

The project faced the same challenges that confront the Afghan population as a result of decades of armed conflict as well as multiple cultural contacts with Indian, Iranian, Pakistani, Russian and Western cultures and the impact of globalisation, which has set in motion a renegotiation of social roles and responsibilities. It also focused on promoting individual psychosocial skills as a basis for social participation and integration and it included sociocultural dialogues, events covering socially relevant issues as well as cultural and social identity issues, support groups as well as VBC psychosocial online counseling through our online platform www.ipso-ecare.com that was established in 2013.

We reached over 18,000 people through the project in 2015 and more than 85,000 people in 2016, with 3,600 people also participating in socio-cultural dialogues in 2015 and another 2,450 in 2016.

Publications:

• Peace and stability through cultural dialogue and psychosocial support in Afghanistan, 2013, describes the importance of psychosocial support and cultural dialogue for psychosocial peacebuilding using IPSO’s activities in Afghanistan as examples.
• Unity in Cultural Diversity. A 2014 exhibition catalogue issued as part of the ‘Cultural Container Project’ that was implemented in 10 provinces in Afghanistan.