About TLO

The Liaison Office (TLO) is an Afghan non-governmental organization that seeks to improve local governance, stability and security through systematic and institutionalized engagement with customary structures, local communities, and civil society groups. Our mission is to facilitate the formal integration of communities and their traditional governance structures within Afghanistan’s newly emerging peace, governance and reconstruction framework. TLO’s three main areas of activity are: Research and Analysis; Peacebuilding and Mediation; and Natural Resource Management.

Core objectives

  • Improve knowledge and understanding of Afghanistan and its communities through targeted research;
  • Provide a platform for  dialogue among communities and between communities and the Afghan government and international stakeholders;
  • Support the Afghan government’s ability to carry out its responsibility to protect (R2P) its citizens from violence, by promoting peace and improving human security;

 TLO emphasizes

  • A participatory approach to peace- and state-building;
  • Forms of engagement that take into account local realities, so as to make a contribution to an inclusive state building process where change can progress at a pace and direction which suits the stakeholders involved;
  • A do-no-harm and reflecting on peace practice approach that leads to informed programming;
  • Contribution to conflict resolution through research, dialogue/mediation and livelihoods projects.
 
TLO emerged at the end of 2003 as a swisspeace pilot project (supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation) on good governance after the organization was approached by community elders requesting assistance for participation in the peace and reconstruction process in their southeastern communities (Read more). In the six years since its establishment, TLO slowly expanded from the Southeast into the South (2005) and East (2008) mainly through research and analysis and the facilitation of a series of peace and stability jirgas. Though TLO is currently focused on the Southeast, East and South, but has begun to expand to northern and central provinces as well. The long-term vision is to expand activities across all of Afghanistan. Regional and provincial offices are mostly staffed with individuals from the area. TLO has a staff of 150, with offices in the following locations:
  • Headquarters: Kabul
  • Southeast Regional Office: Gardez, Paktia
    • Provincial Office: Khost-city, Khost
    • Provincial Office: Sharana, Paktika
    • Provincial Office: Ghazni-city, Ghazni
  • Regional Office East: Jalalabad, Nangarhar
  • Regional Office South: Kandahar City, Kandahar
    • Provincial Office: Tirin Kot, Uruzgan
    • District offices
      • Kandahar: Spin Boldak
      • Uruzgan: Deh Rawud; Chora
  • Regional Office North: Kunduz-city, Kunduz

 

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