Afghanistan Programmes Update January 2022

With operations having resumed in Afghanistan, we are now able to resume cash transfers to our programme participants. Thanks to your incredible generosity, in addition to the kitchen garden and poultry kits, we will be giving all the women in our programmes $50 to help with the urgent need for food, warm clothing and blankets during the cold winter months in Afghanistan. This is on top of the regular monthly training stipend. 

Despite having to adjust to new restrictions keeping male and female staff separate, our teams are energised to re-open our centres and start serving women again at such a crucial time. We are prioritising restarting our training sessions in Nangarhar province first and we hope to restart training in Kabul province shortly afterwards, followed by Parwan. Once we have welcomed back all the women who were in the programme when it was suspended back in August 2021, we’ll look at enrolling other vulnerable women too.  

There are millions of Afghans facing starvation as the country grapples with economic crisis and continuing conflict. After calling on the international community to do more, Women for Women International is pleased to see some countries promising to help but more aid and a lifting of sanctions is desperately needed to prevent a humanitarian disaster. 

This also means giving power to women in Afghanistan by including them in the decision-making process to rebuild the country. The last 20 years have demonstrated women to be powerful agents of change benefiting society as a whole – we cannot turn our backs on them now.