26 May 2022 Washington D.C.

It is an outstanding accomplishment for Aseel to secure the finalist title for the second year in a row at the Society for International Development United States (SID-US). This is an impressive feat for any organization, especially Aseel, as it is a fraction of the size of large-scale international organizations that usually end up as finalists. Aseel consists of a team of 40, and suffice to say this is a 'one for the books' achievement for all team members.

The annual conference of the SID-US was held at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, on May 26, 2022. The conference keynote speaker, Samantha Power, the administrator for the US agency for international development (USAID), stated that we need to be honest about the constraints of thinking about development, mainly in terms of our programming, and be far more ambitious in expanding who we work with and changing how we work with them so that we drive the sustainable, lasting change that we seek (Video Link).

This year Aseel highlighted its Emergency Response (ER) . This transparent and efficient tool has addressed the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan since August 15, 2021, fall since the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan. From developing internal ID systems and dual verification processes to eliminating most of the typical administrative costs other programs have, Aseel showed its innovative approach. Of note, Aseel was the only innovation finalist represented by a woman, Zahra from the Aseel team, who joined the conference virtually from Kabul, while our founder, Nasrat, joined the conference in person in Washington DC.

Aseel has been able to bring a level of efficiency to humanitarian aid that has not been seen before. Aseel can get 89% of every donation to those in need. Further, that 89% is spent with local food vendors in the country instead of shipping large food packages into the country, which starves the economy of that much-needed investment. Considering most of the Aseel staff involved in their Emergency Response Program are based in Afghanistan, upwards of 95% of funds donated stay in Afghanistan. Aseel is looking to expand this program to additional countries in the coming months.

Since the collapse of the Afghan government on August 15, 2022, Aseel has supported over 225,000 Afghans with food packages in 24 provinces and operates with a network of hundreds of volunteers, allowing them to quickly respond to any crisis, as they recently did on June 22. Within hours of the earthquake in Paktika and Khost provinces of Afghanistan that claimed over 1000 deaths, Aseel was working to raise funds by enabling crowdfunding campaigns and getting our team to the earthquake sites. Within 72 hours, they were handing out packages. Aseel was the only organization allowed to deliver packages directly to those in need in the first days after the earthquake. Aseel also supported multilateral institutions such as UNICEF.

Aseel will continue building on its success as it looks to continue bringing innovative approaches to the development sector's challenges.