Policy Brief: Summarizing perception studies in Afghanistan

A total of 300 respondents from three categories with 100 each, namely:  people in the community with EUPOL trained police assigned in the area, stakeholders from implementing ministries, and police officers involved or who were mentored/trained by EUPOL.  

• Most of the respondents were aware of international actors involved in crisis response. However, it was noted that that people from the community with EUPOL trained police had lower awareness compared with the rest.  
• There was a general perception among stakeholders interviewed that EU officials, state officials, and the military disproportionately benefitted from the support of the EU crisis response.  Very few respondents reported that support was extended to population in need such as the minorities, poor people, disabled, migrants (refugees and IDPs), children, students, refugees, and orphans. It is also to be noted that more than half of the respondents who were aware of EU’s crisis response claimed that non-state armed actors are also benefiting from this support.
• Respondents gave a “neutral” answer when asked about their satisfaction with the EU support and almost half from the community answered that they “do not know,” or they cannot give an assessment.  
• The majority of the community residents where trained EUPOL police were assigned were not aware of EUPOL.
• Overall satisfaction of the pillars of the mission is modest. Implicit in the data is the high degree of ambivalence and or uncertainty by the respondents.  Across all categories of respondents, the percentage of “Don’t Know” is quite high in all six pillars of the mission.  

Policy Recommendations

• Invest in public awareness programs to inform people and dispel misconceptions of what the EU programme is all about.
• Establish if not enhance existing information, education and communication campaign towards the involvement of stakeholders at various levels, specifically at the community toward involvement in EU programs and projects.    
• Design long-term programmes rather than short-term ones with clear short-term and long-term outcomes.    
• Establish a strong mechanism of gathering evidence based-data prior to (baseline), during (monitoring), after the implementation (end-line) and impact of EU programmes and projects.