1st Capacity Building Program for

the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Formulate

the National Strategy & National Spatial Plan (NSSP)

Theme: Capacity Building on the Fomulation of the Afghanistan NSSP

Date: September 2(Wed)-23(Wed), 2020

The Global Development Partnership Center (GDPC) at the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) hosted the 1st Capacity Building Training Program for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Formulate the National Spatial Strategy & National Spatial Plan (NSSP) with the Ministry of Urban Development and Land (MUDL) and the World Bank (WB) from September 2(Wed) to 23(Wed) virtually with pre-recorded lectures and real-time discussion through the video conference.

Due to COVID-19 global pandemic the training program had been transferred from the face-to-face training to a virtual training (mixture of recorded lectures & real-time discussion session through video). The lectures were prepared as a pre-recorded video lecture (PPT with lecturer's voice) along with various reference documents. The participants were given one week per each PART (PART 1: NSSP General/ Part 2: NSSP Sectoral) to self-study recorded lectures and provide questions and comments. Also, four real-time discussion sessions were prepared with the aim to seek broad questions and identify critical issues in territorial development from the Afghan participants through intimate discussions with KRIHS team and the lecturers.

This training program was targeted for high- and middle-level officials of the central governments such as Ministry of Urban Development and Land (MUDL), Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) that can establish territorial development policies and implement spatial planning in national level based on the knowledge obtained throughout this training program. 14 Afghanistan participants participated in this virtual training to improve their understanding of role and effects of national spatial strategies and planning and to identify critical issues in the context of Afghanistan in relation to the global best practices presented and outline a consensual approach to the issues.

The main goal of this training program was to construct a framework of future works and to improve basic knowledge of the Afghan officials in charge of territorial development and spatial planning to determine directions of the Afghan NSSP. And the mian outputs were enchanced knowledge and deepen understanding of Afghan officials related to the Afghan NSSP on international cases of territorial development and spatial planning.

This training program is considered as a meaningful opportunity for Afghan participants to learn and understand Korea's successful experience and expertise on Economic Development and National Territorial Planning, and it is expected to employ participatory and customized approach to identify best suitable options of solutions for Afghanistan.