As Afghanistan prepares for national elections, voting in recent years at the local community level has paved the way for thousands of small scale development projects.

In 2003, the new Afghan government that came to power in 2001 after the defeat of the Taliban, launched an ambitious rural development initiative - The National Solidarity Program or NSP - to improve the lives of millions of Afghans.

Founded on the principles of grassroots democracy, the NSP has channeled resources to communities to fund thousands of small projects developing irrigation, power, water supply and roads.