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Support to Afghan Women
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-4320
2003-071
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2003
WASHINGTON, DC -- United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) Afghanistan program supports Afghan women through targeted grants, programs, and by combining smaller women's programs into larger, multi-year programs.
In the early stages of U.S. support to Afghanistan, USAID used small grants to help establish the Ministry of Women's Affairs, support women's NGOs, and provide women with income generation opportunities. USAID also integrated support for women into humanitarian programs, such as food aid. The current work focuses on establishing seventeen women's centers and providing funding for those centers. Future work supporting women will be through major, multi-year development programs.
PAST ACTIVITIES SUPPORTING AFGHAN WOMEN
Ministry of Women's Affairs: This was the first ministry to receive U.S. assistance. USAID assisted in the physical rehabilitation of the Ministry of Women's Affairs and provided the Ministry with furniture and supplies, two computers and a satellite phone. USAID's Gender Advisor provided extensive assistance in helping the Ministry develop its first National Development Budget.
Women's Resource Centers: USAID built and furnished the first Women's Resource Center. These centers provide computer training, Internet access, and a library of printed and video material on women's rights and women's health in Dari, Pashto and English. Plans are now to build seventeen more of these centers.
Daycare Centers: Seventeen centers have been built for Government ministries and offices to enable women to return to work.
Widow's Bakeries: USAID supports the World Food Program's (WFP) 121 Widow's Bakeries in Kabul, Mazar, and Kandahar. In Kabul, the bakeries provided 5,000 children with fresh bread in school. Overall, through employment and provision of subsidized bread, WFP reports that 200,000 urban vulnerable people benefited from this program in 2002. USAID support was over half of WFP's fiscal year 2002 budget in Afghanistan.
Education: USAID trained 1,359 teachers, including 907 women and printed 15 million textbooks for the 2002 school year. These activities contributed to a tenfold increase in girls' enrollment from 90,000 under the Taliban in 2001 to 900,000 in 2002. USAID reconstructed 142 schools, daycare centers, teacher training colleges, and vocational schools. In addition, USAID provides a food salary supplement to 50,000 teachers equal to 26% of pay.
Food-for-Education Program: Through WFP, USAID supports distribution of food to school children in several districts of Badakhshan Province, in northeastern Afghanistan. Approximately 27,000 children and 1,500 teachers and service staff in fifty schools have received a four-month ration of wheat flour. Under this program, girls receive five liters of vegetable oil every month as an extra incentive for regular school
attendance. The program increases school attendance, reduces dropout rates, and encourages families to send girls to school.
INCOME GENERATION FOR VULNERABLE AFGHAN WOMEN
Job Opportunities: USAID provides job opportunities for women in such areas as bakeries, farming, food production, and sewing centers. These activities not only provide wages and food for women, but products for sale and also opportunities for basic education, health education and job training.
Training Opportunities: Other opportunities, provided by various NGOs, include vocational training, managerial training and education to enable women to participate in the political process. Specific training opportunities also exist. For example, journalism training is provided in Kabul, where women filmmakers produced a movie about the experience of Afghan women during the Taliban period and their hopes for the future.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES SUPPORTING AFGHAN WOMEN
Women's Centers: USAID is currently engaged in building and providing programming for seventeen women's centers throughout Afghanistan. Three of these are currently under design in Jalalabad, Samangan, and Taloqan. The Ministry has recently identified fourteen more sites for USAID to build and furnish centers. In addition, USAID will fund programming for the centers, i.e., health education programs, daycare, etc.
FUTURE ACTIVITIES SUPPORTING AFGHAN WOMEN
HEALTH (REACH PROGRAM): One of the central goals of this three-year, $100 million program is to reduce the high maternal mortality rate. The program will accomplish this goal by building 400 new clinics and funding performance grants to NGOs to provide a basic package of health services, particularly in rural areas, where medical care is most scarce. A major component of this program will be to increase women's access to skilled birth attendants and essential obstetrical services through an extensive training program. This training program also provides job opportunities for women in rural areas.
EDUCATION (APEP PROGRAM): USAID's new education program will support accelerated learning programs for up to 60,000 children, mostly girls that missed education under the Taliban. USAID intends to rebuild between 1,000 - 1,200 schools, benefiting 402,000 students, over three years.
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL INCOMES (RAMP PROGRAM): Agriculture employs 70% of Afghanistan's labor force, and Afghan women play a large part in agriculture, especially in raising livestock. RAMP will improve the technical capacity of Afghans for raising livestock. RAMP will also provide women entrepreneurs with innovative opportunities for credit and business training. This activity will be particularly helpful for women-headed households, which are among the most vulnerable.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.
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