Along with Somalia and North Korea, Afghanistan is nowadays considered as the world’s most corrupt country. A country where civil society’s clout is weak and divided; the economy is largely sustained by international aid; weak governance institutions have limited translucence and accountability mechanisms; and corruption potential is sustained by traditional norms and nepotistic underpinnings.

Subsequently, the Department of Development Economics has initiated a research project entitled ‘Corruption-Mapping in Afghanistan,’ which seeks to map corruption by sector and province in the targeted thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. The main objective is to fight corruption through the design and implementation of a visual map that will engage the efforts of the civil society – particularly through the involvement, education and empowerment of youth –to mobilise and act as the driving force against corrupt practises. Charting and understanding Afghanistan’s political context and understanding current government programmes and policies is therefore of vital importance for the success of this research project.