- The Kaifiat Project
The objective of the Kaifiat project is to improve aid actors’ capacity to conduct analyses and operations, and manage knowledge in order to improve the quality of the service provided to the Afghan population.
- The PMIS (Participative Management of Irrigated Systems) Project
The PMIS project, almost totally funded by the European Union, is a three-year research-action project (2005-08) run by the Agha Khan Foundation (AKF) for Afghanistan and Groupe URD. Groupe URD is in charge of research into agrarian systems and participative management of water in 4 canals in Baghlan and Takhar provinces
- Study of chronically poor women
JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and GTZ (Deutsch Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit) chose Groupe URD to carry out a five-month research project (March - July 2007), which aimed to help the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to develop policies and programmes to improve the condition of chronically poor women and widows with families to support, in order to achieve the objectives fixed by the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (A.N.D.S.).
- Real-time review of selected food aid programmes implemented in Afghanitsan and implications for emergencyfood security assesments
Series of field visits for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan , in Colombia and in Laos to look into how needs were assessed and how this affected decision-making.
- Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development in Afghanistan (2005 - 2007)
From June 2004 to January 2007, Groupe URD conducted research into the links between relief rehabilitation and development in Afghanistan. Funded by the European Commission, the project was conducted using a multidisciplinary approach analysing six sectors: rural development, water/irrigation, nutrition, town planning, health and education.
- Wars in cities and cities in wars
This project ran from April 2002 to 2004 as part of a large-scale project called PRUD (Programme de Recherche Urbaine pour le Développement)
- The Global Study on Consultation and Participation of Affected Populations in Humanitarian Action
The global study of ways in which affected populations are consulted and participate in the design, management, follow-up and evaluation of humanitarian programmes was carried out by Groupe URD for the ALNAP network.
- Quality in humanitarian action (1999 - 2003)
From 1999 to 2003, in partnership with NGOs, Groupe URD worked on the Quality Project, operational research into quality in humanitarian action.

- Evaluation of the WFP "Oil for Girls" programme
Since 2001, the education sector in Afghanistan has become considerably more structured. Different reforms have been put in place to improve teaching conditions and give young Afghans access to primary and secondary education. The schooling of girls remains a problem with only 40% attending school, compared to 70% for boys. In certain regions, and particularly the south of the country, the percentage of girls who go to school is below 10%. Several programmes implemented by NGOs and UN agencies aim to increase the percentage of children in education, and particularly the percentage of girls. For several years, the WFP has been running a programme called “Assistance to Girls’ Primary Education” in provinces where food insecurity prevails. In the Kabul zone (regions in the center and south-east of the country), vegetable oil is distributed to girls who go to school more than 22 days per month in order to encourage families to send them regularly.
The WFP asked Groupe URD to carry out an evaluation in three provinces (Pakta, Parwan and Dai Kundi), in order to evaluate the impacts of this programme and to make proposals to improve its quality. Interviews with families who send their girls to school and with others who don’t made it possible to analyse the different factors which prevent or hold back girls from going to school. The conclusions of this research are not available to the general public for the time being.
- Enhancing women’s roles in the household economy : Lal district (Ghor province) – Oxfam
From 19 to 29 November 2005, Peggy Pascal, Cécile Duchet and Jean-Christophe Duchier carried out evaluations in five villages of the Ghor province of Afghanistan regarding a programme by Oxfam dealing with means of subsistence, food security and, more specifically, the role of women in the household economy.
Evaluation Report
- Evaluation of a water and sanitation project in the north of Afghanistan for CORDAID (the Dutch branch of Caritas).
The project that had been run by one of CORDAID’s partners, an Afghan NGO, NPO-RRAA, in 2005 and 2006. The Franco-Afghan evaluation team spent a week in Balkh province, near Mazar-e-sharif, visiting wells and latrines built during the project and focusing particularly on the impact that the project had had on women.
- Evaluation of ECHO – ICRC Partnership (2006)
François Grünewald, Véronique de Geoffroy and Hugues Maury carried out four field visits (Rwanda, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, and Sri Lanka) between January and September 2006 to evaluate the partnership between ECHO (one of the most important funding agencies in the sector, and no doubt one of the staunchest defenders of humanitarian space) and the ICRC (the defender and promoter of International Humanitarian Law).
Evaluation report
- Multi-sector evaluation of European commission funded activities of the DACAAR consortium (DRC, SCA, HNI, GAA)
This evaluation took place between November and December 2004. It analysed the work carried out by the DACAAR consortium in Afghanistan.
- Evaluation of FAO’s emergency programs

- L'espace humanitaire en danger? François Grünewald, Véronique De Geoffroy and Peggy Pascal, les Nouvelles d'Afghanistan n°120, February 2008, pp.12 -15
- Kaboul, le processus de reconstruction, Béatrice Boyer, 'les Nouvelles d'Afghanistan' n°117, June 2007, pp.3 à 7
- Afghanistan : le retour du chaos? Peggy Pascal and François Grünewald, Diplomatie, number 23, November - December 2006, pp. 36-41.
- Afghanistan. Opium, sécurité alimentaire et construction politique, François Grünewald, 'Diplomatie', number 15, July - August 2005, pp. 30-37.
- Villes en guerre et guerres en ville : Pratiques humanitaires en questions, François Grünewald et Eric Levron (sous la direction de), 2004
- The whole LRRD Project publications (2005 - 2007)

- Participation and presentation of the Quality COMPAS at the "Quality and Accountability" conference organised by HAP and Sphere in Islamabad, 30 October 2007
- Training / support - ICRC Pakistan. 'Assessment", "Project Management" and "Evaluation" modules

- Evaluation of ECHO – ICRC Partnership (2006)
François Grünewald, Véronique de Geoffroy and Hugues Maury carried out four field visits (Rwanda, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, and Sri Lanka) between January and September 2006 to evaluate the partnership between ECHO (one of the most important funding agencies in the sector, and no doubt one of the staunchest defenders of humanitarian space) and the ICRC (the defender and promoter of International Humanitarian Law).
Evaluation report