01 November 2010 - PRESS RELEASE - Ecorys has won a ground breaking project in Afghanistan, aimed at assisting the most excluded and disadvantaged people in the country. The project is funded by the European Union, has recently started and will run for 18 months and has a budget of just under € 2.4 million.

Ecorys will support the Afghan government set up a sustainable, strategy-based and coordinated system of social protection services. This system should reduce the vulnerability and improve living conditions of extremely marginalised groups of Afghan society, including children with no families, women and people with disabilities including those injured in the fighting. In this project Ecorys experts will be working together with the Afghan Ministry of Labour Social Affairs Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD).

Currently, there are many international NGOs and donor organisation delivering services and assistance to vulnerable groups in the country. However, it is important that the government of the country is better able to coordinate such actions and to ensure that they reflect national strategies and priorities in this field.

The project team includes three international experts who have many years experience of working in the country and in working on social protection in challenging environments.  The project will also include a strong contribution from Afghan experts who will be essential to the project. Leading the project for Ecorys will be David Jepson, who has managed many international projects over 20 years. The success of the project will depend on building a strong relationship with our counterparts in the Ministry.. The track record of Ecorys of working in Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East as well as in Afghanistan will provide a sound basis for this. During the inception phase, which is now underway  the detailed work programme for the project will be developed over several weeks of intensive work.

David Jepson: “Ecorys is very pleased and honoured to win this assignment which is aimed directly at improving conditions for very disadvantaged people in Afghanistan. Our aim will be to ensure that sustainable capacity is put in place which will benefit the people of the country long after we have finished our work. Of course this will be a challenging project but the knowledge of our team and the depth of experience that Ecorys can contribute make me confident that we will succeed.”

For more information, please contact:

Robert Eijkelestam
Head Dpt. Marketing & Communication
T  +31 10 453 88 57
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