The BBC World Service Trust was created in 1999 as an independent charity within the BBC World Service to promote development through the innovative use of the media in developing countries and countries in transition. Through the World Service, the Trust has access to an unparalleled resource to provide trusted information to millions of people around the world. The Trust has produced a series of ground-breaking and thought-provoking projects in many of the world’s poorest countries, developing the capacity of local and national media, building civil society, providing training in media skills and developing health and educational campaigns. The Trust operates in a wide range of geographical areas, with a focus on South and South East Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. It currently employs more than 200 project staff in 12 countries in these regions, and has worked in 23 countries worldwide since 1999. The Trust's media training projects are dedicated to delivering journalism and technical training around the world. These projects are funded by international development agencies and charitable foundations, and are delivered mainly to countries in transition or in crisis. It works with local organisations in these countries to design strategies that create sustainable outcomes. This enables local broadcasters to continue best practice training after the Trust's involvement has ended. Building on its previous work in Central Asia, the Trust and the BBC’s Afghan Education Projects in Peshawar commenced a series of 15-minute 'lifeline' programmes in November 2001, targeting refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Afghanistan. These programmes were broadcast twice daily in Pashtu and Persian on the BBC's Pashtu and Persian services and were also supported by DFID. The Trust has recently developed a series of proposals for a more extensive project addressing technical rehabilitation, regulatory frameworks, training of journalists and educational and other programming in Afghanistan and in the region, which it hopes to deliver over a three to five year period. As the first stage of planning for the current project, a BBC team took part in a needs assessment mission in Afghanistan under the auspices of the UN’s Department of Public Information in early January 2002. The BBC team included a range of expertise from BBC Technology, BBC Public Policy (for regulatory frameworks), the World Service Pashtu and Persian services, the Afghan Education Projects and the Trust. They met with Hamid Kharzai and leading ministers in the interim government, Afghan broadcasters, journalists and UN agencies. The mission's findings were incorporated into the ‘Preliminary needs assessment for recovery and reconstruction in Afghanistan’, which was presented by the World Bank, UNDP and the Asian Development Bank to the recent donor’s conference in Tokyo.