Securing Life and Livelihoods in Rural Afghanistan: The Role of Social Relationships

This paper provides evidence of the importance of social relationships to Afghan rural life and livelihood outcomes. This is an understanding of rural life not generally reflected in programme design and implementation. The paper draws from recently completed qualitative research on rural livelihood change in Kandahar, Badakhshan, Sari-Pul and Faryab provinces. Data was collected in 11 villages across the four provinces through in-depth interviews with eight case households in each village.1 The household data clearly demonstrates the various ways in which social relationships are important to livelihood security.