Kabul, 3 April 2018 – Kabul citizens launch a three-day campaign on cleaning, greening and painting the capital city of Afghanistan on the celebration of the traditional New Year holiday (Nawroz). With technical support from UN-Habitat, this activity intends to raise citizens’ awareness about the relevance of the sustainability of public spaces in our cities.

The main activities, adopted in consultation with the local communities, include community cleaning of streets; collection, segregation and transportation of waste; tree plantation for greenery and public paintings for the beautification of the city.

At the opening ceremony of the campaign, the Mayor of Kabul, Mr. Abdullah Habibzai, stressed that “it is impossible to clean and green the city without the participation of its residents… your participation in changing the face of the city into a modern and liveable Kabul is essential”.

The three-day campaign is part of the UN-Habitat Clean and Green Cities (CGC) Programme which is undertaking the same activities in other 12 cities in Afghanistan. CGC is a USAID and EU funded programme which creates jobs for more than 13500 people, including women, returnees, internally displaced persons and vulnerable populations.

Investing in public spaces is investing social cohesion, inclusiveness, job creation and improved quality of life.