SIKA-West Weekly Bullet Points No. 138: Dec 2-8, 2014

The completed water intake will provide water for 22,000 jeribs of farmlands. In the Sika-West region, a market day was organized in Kushk Rabat-e Sangi District, where 100 farmers communicated with six agricultural service providers. The service providers shared their available services and exchanged contacts with farmers for business. The Babai Saffron Company contracted 20 farmers to provide saffron bulbs, and the Holland Veterinarian Committee will provide vaccinations. The Kushk Rabat-e Sangi Education Department developed a guideline to speed up the process of obtaining an official school graduation certificate. The guideline provides detailed information about the steps and required documents for obtaining a certificate, which will enable students to apply for higher education institutions. The Shindand District Government Female Conflict Resolution Committee commemorated the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women. In response to high dowry payments, the CRC will lobby the Provincial Department of Women's Affairs to organize awareness-raising campaigns for district residents to have appropriate and reasonable dowry prices. Community gatherings were held to obtain feedback from communities on the effect of Sika-West programming. Farmers in Shor Abad village highlighted that the rehabilitated road enabled them to transport their agricultural produce to the Farah Provincial markets timely. Grants and subcontracts programming have been implemented in the Sika-West region. To date, 431 grant-funded projects valued at USD $9,694,066 have been identified and approved by MRRD and IDLG in the target districts. CDCs and DDAs are implementing 149 projects valued at USD $4,520,557. A total of 236 projects valued at USD $4,330,196 have been completed. Four projects valued at USD $194,081 are pending with the Vetting Unit for action.