ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 359

health and education sector in Bamiyan. After its reconstruction, Bamiyan University currently
supports four faculties: Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Social Sciences, Education, and
geology. 358 students graduated from Bamiyan University in 2013 (Hazara 2014).
b. Promoting the Culture of Peace
Inspired by the UNESCO Culture of Peace program (UNESCO 2015), the following strategies are
proposed:
Short Term Strategies
• Promoting the culture of peace through education is a very effective tool since most of the
conflicts that are caused by hatred and discrimination are a symptom of ignorance. Through
the educational curriculum, Culture of Peace principles such as freedom, human rights, solidarity, and tolerance can be taught and promoted.
• Celebrating cultural and ethnic diversity of Bamiyan and develop a sense of belonging through
organizing community events focusing on the tangible and intangible heritage culture of
Bamiyan.
• Fostering creativity in primary education is considered essential to peace building and laying
the foundation for a coherent society.
Long Term Strategies
• Festivals are a very important factor contributing to social and economic development of any
country. There is often a misconception that festival and events are only relevant in developed
countries. However, a report published by the UNESCO suggests that festivals are of a great
importance in developing countries, and that such local events have a great influence on the
hosting societies on different levels. Currently, there’s one annual festival that takes place in
Bamiyan, The Silk Road Festival where traditional sports and music are celebrated.
Economic Sustainable Development Strategies
Proposed strategies in this section present solutions towards cultural and eco-tourism revivalism.
a. Agriculture
Bamiyan is a rural area, and its people are highly dependent on agriculture as a source for food
and income. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),
investing in agriculture is one of the, if not the most, effective solutions to fight poverty in rural
areas similar to Bamiyan. FAO developed strategies to promote such investments, which can be
adopted in Bamiyan to enhance agricultural investments in terms of quantity of production and
secured management of the process as follows:
Short Term Strategies
• The focus of the first development phase of agriculture should focus on farmers since most of
the investment in agriculture comes from farmers rather than governments or private sector
investors (FAO 2015).
• The use of agricultural products to enhance the nutrition of the people and strengthen food
security must be considered a priority..
• Support farmers to gradually improve their irrigation systems and replace old technologies
with newer more efficient ones. This solution also contributes to water resource management.
Long Term Strategies
• Secured legislation and policies must be revised to encourage public and private investment.
• Authorities are advised to recognize the right of land prior to any negotiation process with

Post-conflict sustainable development of Bamiyan city in Afghanistan

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