Over the past year, DACAAR's 1,000 locally employed Afghans have done impressive work in difficult circumstances. Now that work has been appreciated with the honorary award "People's Aide of the Year 2022".

The prize is awarded by the NGO Danish People's Aid. DACAAR receives the award not only for the past year's work, but also for the 38 years of relief and development cooperation in Afghan civil society. DACAAR is also awarded the award for advocating for a strong civil society and working to ensure Afghans' access to education and social services so that they can improve their quality of life and withstand poverty as a result of 40 years of armed conflict.

• The honorary award falls on dry ground at a time when the recognition of civilian relief work in Afghanistan is in dire straits, when you look at the international community's hesitant willingness to continue helping Afghanistan's vulnerable civilians, says DACAAR's head of secretariat in Copenhagen, Klaus Løkkegaard.
• On behalf of DACAAR's employees, I would also like to say a big thank you to Danish People's Aid for appreciating the efforts of our employees. The reason DACAAR continues to exist in the first place is solely the merit of our employees. They stayed there during the decisive fighting before the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last August. And they stayed there even after the new regime took office. The reward is that we can now work for poor, vulnerable civilians also in areas in Afghanistan where we could not be before due to fighting, says Klaus Løkkegaard.

DACAAR is also honored for empowering local communities to determine and manage their development, eradicate poverty and help refugees and internally displaced persons to return home and integrate into society and have access to education and a well-functioning civil society.

The award "People's Aider of the Year 2022" was presented to Klaus Løkkegaard at the annual meeting of Danish People's Aid in Denmark. In the picture, he is flanked in the middle by Secretary General Klaus Nørlem (right) and Chairman Thomas Egesborg Pedersen (left.)

Klaus Nørlem justified the award by mentioning DACAAR's work in the Afghan rural areas through an effective and sustainable approach to involving local resources to improve living conditions through water projects, improvement of sanitation and hygiene, agricultural development and nature restoration in the event of natural disasters, development of small local businesses, improvement of the conditions of Afghan women and DACAAR's persistent work for the construction of Afghan civil society.

In addition to the title and the honor, the People's Helper of the Year receives a sculpture for approx. DKK 15,000 and a diploma as a symbolic thank you for the special effort.

DACAAR's board of directors will soon visit Kabul for an annual meeting, and here the sculpture will of course be placed at the head office for the pleasure and daily recognition of all our employees, Klaus Løkkegaard says.