Bringing stability to the front lines
by Timothea Gibb, Embassy of Canada in Kabul

Embedded with the Canadian Forces is not the typical place you would expect to find a public servant, but a District Operation Coordination Centre in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province is home to Stephanie Duhaime.

A native of Sudbury, Ontario, Duhaime is one of Canada’s two stabilization officers helping to rebuild areas within Kandahar province – the focus for Canada’s engagement in Afghanistan.

Thirty-year-old Duhaime joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) as Afghanistan’s Operations Officer in 2005. Since that time she has worked in some of the world’s most challenging environments – Beirut, Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Kandahar.

Duhaime is one of DFAIT’s first stabilization officers in Afghanistan, and as such has been at the forefront of developing and implementing Canada’s new approach to stabilization of fragile or conflict-affected states. It is an initiative that has attracted a high degree of attention within the international community’s Afghan mission as a whole, and has been embraced by the NATO/International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the U.S. government as a template to be reproduced elsewhere in Afghanistan.

Duhaime works not only with Canadian military and civilian colleagues in Kandahar, but also with a number of American stabilization officers who have recently arrived in Kandahar as part of the U.S. surge announced by President Obama in December 2009. Together, they are helping community leaders identify needs of their communities, challenges they may encounter and ways in which those can be addressed.

“I’ve seen Canadian and U.S. public servants perform and support each other at their best – military, police and civilian,” said Duhaime.

When asked what her role brings to the mission, Duhaime describes it as learning about the area, understanding power dynamics and building the necessary close relationships between surrounding Afghan communities, local leaders and ISAF that are needed to help deliver governance and development projects that will have a sustainable impact on the community.

“It’s really about getting ground truth and connecting the dots,” remarks Duhaime. “I know it sounds simple but it is so incredibly important. We are helping the Afghan government to respond to the needs of the community in a way that works for the community.”

After six months working in Kandahar province – now at the halfway mark of her one-year posting – Duhaime is pleased to report that positive change is afoot.

“I wouldn’t be living in a tent with 14 soldiers having cold showers if I didn’t think that the contributions we were making here weren’t having a positive impact,” she says.

Helping to strengthen the Afghan government’s institutional capacity is key to bringing lasting change. Duhaime, a graduate from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, helps to build Afghan sub-national governance capacity by mentoring district leaders and other district-level government representatives on accessing and managing services for their communities. She does this through efforts such as helping community leaders work with government ministries, non-government organizations and other organizations in the area, in developing medium and long-term plans to provide for basic services to their community members.

While there is no such thing as a typical day in Panjawi, Duhaime is kept busy attending district Shuras (a version of a town hall meeting), mentoring local government officials on communication and management skills, and meeting regularly with village elders.

“As a foreign service officer everyday presents new challenges, new things to learn and an exposure to such culture and diversity,” she says. “In Afghanistan I have been fortunate to be at the forefront of developing and implementing Canada’s new approach to stabilization of fragile and conflict-affected states. As a stabilization officer, I have been privileged to see and experience the ‘real’ Afghanistan – the beauty and the generosity of its people.”

When asked what was next, with a smile Duhaime replied that she will return to Ottawa for two years of language training, after which she will take up her next overseas posting.


Incorporating culture and religion into a correctional environment
by Farhaan Ladhani, Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team

Kandahar may be a long way from the Fraser Valley, British Columbia but many of the lessons that Terry Hackett learned in his early days working for the Correctional Service of Canada have stayed with him. Today, Hackett is the director of the Correctional Service of Canada contingent with the Provincial Reconstruction Team based in Kandahar City.

As the senior Canadian correctional official in Afghanistan, Hackett is responsible for a team of three officers who mentor and train correctional officials in Kandahar. He works closely with Sarpoza prison senior management, assisting them in the development of a functional correctional institution that will complement other areas aimed at re-establishing security in Kandahar, a city that is considered to be at the heart of the insurgency.

On a typical day, he advises and mentors senior management through the myriad of challenges they face in operating a correctional facility in a conflict zone. No two days are alike, but the fundamentals remain the same, from human resources to security risk assessments.

“The real tangible outcome is not just about the facility but also about delivering skills that Afghans themselves can pass along to future corrections officers.”

Hackett’s story begins in small communities throughout British Columbia where he spent much of his time working with disadvantaged populations. In northern B.C., he worked with children at risk, adults on probation, and the families of children removed from their homes by social services. He was an important member of the community and worked closely with local Aboriginal leadership to find community-based solutions to community-based problems. These early experiences helped shape the way he approached his work in corrections.

Hackett says that virtually everything he has done in his professional career thus far has played a big role in preparing him for Kandahar.  

“Corrections is a very operational organization and we constantly deal with high stress, high stakes situations and these abilities are essential in this environment. My experience in areas such as security, programs, policy, reintegration and administration all come together here.”

He credits his two and a half years as the Warden of Kwìkwèxwelhp Healing Village for demonstrating the power of a community and culture to effect positive and lasting change in an individual.  

“Working with the Aboriginal community to find local and cultural solutions to crime in the area really helped to cement the importance of incorporating culture and religion into a correctional environment. The basic principles we are establishing at Sarpoza are not all that different. I recognize that my Afghan partners have a different way of approaching problems. What my life experiences have taught me is that it is critical to support the Afghans in transforming their ideas into solutions that meet international standards but in a way that respects their culture and beliefs. This is the only way to affect lasting change.”

While he recognizes that prisons are an unfortunate but essential component of communities, Hackett says that, “all too often they are s