Afghans will be chosen and trained to work with the circus. Of 20 Afghan trainees, eight will be chosen at a time to travel with the bus and work.

De Khanda Guday will be visiting all the main cities as well as distant villages and nomadic areas in spite of the poor road conditions. Taking the harsh climate of Afghanistan under consideration, the circus will pay visits to different parts of the country during suitable seasons so it could visit all parts of the country year round.

3. Objectives:

1. To establish and to support a touring mini-circus for Afghan children all over the country for three years that would provide year round education and training through entertainment.
2. To encourage, inspire, and train educators, caretakers, schools, and institutions in support of children being educated in the new methods of recreational, interactive, social education.
3. To provide possibilities and facilities for expansion and promotion of this mini-circus to a permanent, economically independent full-size national circus.

4. Activities:

4.1. The children:
Depending on the number of children and their needs in each area, the duration of each mobile playschool visit and their activities would be adjusted. For example, the mini-circus may spend one day in a small village, but spend 10 days in bigger towns. The circus has 12 different types of activities for youngsters depending on their ages, the number of children, the duration of the stay, the needs of the youngsters, weather, and the regional and social conditions. The activities will contain different combination of the following:
a. Performances:
Magic show, juggling (ball and club juggling, unicycle), clowns, gymnastic, puppet show, theatre, kite flying, soft fireworks, music, and sound effects.
b. Workshops:
Handicrafts:
Sewing juggling balls, dolls, and hand puppets; making devil sticks, juggling rings, stilts and decorative items; painting; kite making; and many more.
Training:
Ball and club juggling, gymnastic formations, elementary tightrope walking, kite flying, walking on stilts, and puppetry.
c. Games and competitions:
Playing games would encourage children to participate in peaceful, competitive fun and increase their social skills. Almost all the games will be traditional Afghan games, plus some well known and international ones.
Awards will be given to the best in games, kite flying, and in the workshops.

4.2. The institutions and schools:
At the end of each visit, the principals, teachers and other responsible people for children will be asked to evaluate the program. Then they will be invited to participate in a workshop to learn the new methods of teaching and offered guidance and training on how to provide educational, creative, interactive recreational facilities and services. They will also receive written material of the instructions and a recording of the playschool activities in their area.

4.3. The circus:
The first six months of the project will focus on physically equipping the circus, as well as training the artists, in order to achieve the required skill and makeup of the programs. After three months’ training, they will start preliminary performances and workshops for children in Kabul and the surrounding districts. Later their training will be followed by occasional workshops run by guest artists invited from abroad.

5. Coordination:

5.1. Afghan governmental organizations
In order to establish and maintain an integrated, sustainable, useful cultural project, and to receive support and assistance from Afghan governmental sectors, it is essential to coordinate with and receive guidance from the Afghan Government. Coordination with various relevant ministries (such as the Ministry of Information and Culture, the Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Women) will also contribute to the effectiveness of the project and to the maintenance of its Afghan social and cultural values.

5.2. Afghan and International NGOs and UN organizations
There are a large number of organizations working in Afghanistan specifically for children. Coordination with these organizations will be mutually beneficial and increase the effectiveness of the mini-circus project. For example, the following list of activities coordinated by Afghan and international organizations could be incorporated into the performances and programs thereby having an excellent social and educational impact:
1. Health education
2. Nutrition programs
3. Literacy education
4. Sanitation
5. Distribution of books and stationery (especially to remote areas)
6. Vaccination
7. Health check ups
8. Surveys
9. Rehabilitation
10. Solutions of regional social problems
11. Landmine awareness

5.3. Local authorities, organizations, institutions, and schools
Before each visit, the local and the regional institutes, authorities, and schools will receive a catalogue of the De Khanda Guday playschool and its activities. They evaluate their own concerns and needs and then respond with a date, place, and other details. After the final adjustments, the program would be publicized by circus material and posters through the local authorities in order to mobilize the maximum number of the children from the neighbourhood to participate in the program. A few days before the arrival of the circus, the circus coordinator will come to the location for final arrangements and coordination, preparation of the campsite, requirements of the circus, safety, welfare, and convenience of the children.

6. Administration:

6.1. Khanda Association:
Khanda Association is an open, non- profit association of individuals, government and non-government organizations, and institutions that are interested in educational entertainment for children of Afghanistan.
Khanda association runs De Khanda Guday project on democratic basis and makes decisions for all its programs and activities within the framework of the project and under supervision of the sponsors.

6.2. De Khanda Guday Circus structure:
The bus, trailer, motorbike, and other equipment will remain as property of the sponsors until the end of the project period (3 years). After a final evaluation of the project’s activities and its effectiveness, the sponsors will decide on the future of the circus property. The Khanda Association, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Information and Culture will be considered as possible candidates for the ownership and become the responsible party for the circus.

The Khanda Association and the mini-circus are bound by the framework of the project and cannot use the facilities for unspecified purposes.
The director of the circus will provide reports and photos of all activities, and documentation from the authorities and from institutions in the visited regions on regular basis. After evaluating these reports and others supplied by outside sources, the sponsors would consider refinancing the mini-circus for each next four-month period.
In the beginning of the second year of the project, the circus will implement a policy of gradual economic independence, which is made by the Khanda Association and approved by the sponsors. By the end of the third year, it must be economically independent.

7. Staff:

The staff is chosen by the Khanda Association in cooperation with the Ministry of Information and Culture from the best known Afghan artists. They will be trained for the mini-circus productions. The magicians, jugglers, acrobats, clowns, actors, musicians, puppet show players, sparkler, and driver will work closely together in the playschool. The same staff will run the workshops as well. There are many practical tasks, such as preparation of the camp and tents, cooking, and washing, which are shared by the same staff as part of their job descriptions.

These Afghan artists have different ethnic backgrounds and will reflect the multicultural and multiethnic makeup of Afghanistan.

Circus director:
He is in charge of organizing the staff and will be responsible for administration correspondence, and financial management. He, like all the other staff, will participate in other activities, such as entertainment and workshops.

Circus coordinator:
He is usually up to three destinations ahead of the circus and maintains contact with the circus director by mobile phone. The motorbike is mainly for his transportation to visit the places for all necessary coordination with local authorities and organisations. He is also responsible for circus supplies.

Driver:
Besides his main function of driving the circus bus, he is a technical assistant in charge of the backstage light, sound, and other systems.

The rest of the staff:
They are six artists, each one with at least one major circus skill, such as clown, magician, acrobat, puppet show player, theatre, and kite specialist. They are trained in each others’ fields, in order to support each other and be more successful as a group. For example, they all will be clowns or gymnasts, but only the best one would be performing the main part of each performance.

Note:
There will be 20 trainees, with 12 of them as reserve staff ready to substitute or add in as required.
The staff and the trainees in the first two years of the project will be temporary. Gradually the talented and enthusiastic artists will be identified during the circus tours, for further training and encouragement for later recruitment as staff to improve the service quality of the circus.

8. Maintenance and Supervision:

To maintain and supervise the cultural and social values as well as artistic and technical qualities of the whole project, there will be regular consultations and coordination with the relevant organizations and institutions.
A web-cam, which is installed in the bus through the computer and the mobile phone, will be uploading pictures from the activities and the tours to the sponsors and/or the circus web-site. Depending on the technical availabilities, anyone anywhere in the world can observe the live activities of the circus minute by minute and have a look at the archive photos of the previous activities day by day.

9. Equipment:

9.1. Major pieces:
Bus, trailer, motorbike, carousel.

9.2. Minor pieces:
Small and large tents, two satellite telephones, costumes, performing equipment, one computer with printer and web-cam, power generator, video recorder and TV, sound and light equipment, tools for the workshops.

10. Materials:

The materials include paper, glue, wood sticks and branches, tire rubber, new or used textiles, paint, string, sand, and recycled items. All the materials are for the use in the workshops and would be given to the children for free. Most of the materials are free from the environment and the remainder can be purchased inexpensively in any local market.

11. Future Plans:

During the three years of the project, circus arts will be introduced and promoted in Afghanistan, resulting from the circus tours and activities. This introduction and promotion of circus arts, plus the training, the workshops of the guest artists invited from abroad, and the cooperation with other cultural institutes, will further develop the project into a large, full-size Afghan touring national circus in the future.

12. Initial steps of the project:

12.1. Phase 1:
The first phase is three months long when the project is stationed in Kabul Province to focus on training the entire staff (including the reserves), study and preparation of the programs, and preparing the major equipment of the circus as follows:

1. To train the staff and rehearse the program.
2. To purchase the bus, trailer, and motorbike.
3. To customize and decorate the bus and trailer, construct and install the carousel and the light and sound system.
4. To buy, order, and make the tools, juggling supplies, workshop equipment, and costumes.

12.2. Phase 2:
In the second three months, while the activities of Phase 1 continue, the project begins its Phase 2 preliminary performances and other activities for children in Kabul and surrounding districts. In this phase the circus will consult closely with all concerned educational, cultural, and health organizations, institutes, relevant governmental sectors, and representatives of the sponsors, in order to receive feedback on the activities and to finalize production of the circus.

12.3. Phase 3:
From the beginning of the seventh month, the circus will be touring Afghanistan based on the final adjustments, the program, and the tour calendar.
In the 30 months of Phase 3, the circus will gradually improve and develop itself to a sustainable, economical, independent circus for further expansion in the future.