ACSFo established in partnership with Afghan civil society actors and “Swisspeace” (a Swiss private foundation for the promotion of peace) at the request of 76 participants of the first Afghan Civil Society Conference in Bad Honnef, Germany in 2001. ACSFo envisions “a democratic, dynamic and vibrant society based on citizenry values. ACSFo mission is “to facilitate the process of citizen building and state building through advocacy,
capacity building and coordination”. Since its inception, ACSFo has been implementing projects around four thematic areas i.e. advocacy and coordination, capacity building, public outreach, media and rule of law. The first nationwide project on literacy educated 15 million citizens from 2003 to 2005. In 2004, the organization established first National Youth Advocacy Forum by setting up more than 180 youth advocacy committees in northern, eastern and western provinces. These committees facilitated the establishment of national advocacy groups and forums leading to the implementation of the first ever project in Afghanistan on homebound women in Paktia and Kandahar provinces benefitting 120,000 women. To improve and strengthen good governance and accountability, ACSFo conducted survey on the role of government in basic social service delivery by documenting the issues/challenges in the sector and shortcomings of the government. ACSFo has implemented good governance project in Ghor and Samangan wherein the areas of interests for advocacy were identified and a network of civil society organizations was established for the advocacy purpose. ACSFo has also conducted research on “state building in fragile situations”, cost of war” and “people’s definition of violence in Afghanistan”.