{"id":34812,"date":"2024-05-18T08:04:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T06:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=34812"},"modified":"2024-05-18T08:05:32","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T06:05:32","slug":"un-women-rebuilding-the-womens-movement-in-afghanistan-one-organization-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=34812","title":{"rendered":"UN Women: Rebuilding the women\u2019s movement in Afghanistan, one organization at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .<\/p>\n

An article from UN Women<\/a><\/p>\n

After the Taliban takeover, former magazine-owner Siamoy* redirected her work towards women\u2019s empowerment and capacity-building. Focusing on the most vulnerable women, including illiterate women and women with disabilities, her NGO now provides training and start-up funding for women-led businesses in five provinces.<\/p>\n

\u201cUN Women gave us hope \u2013 the kind of hope I had lost after the Taliban takeover,\u201d says Siamoy. \u201cI was in a deep depression. I thought I would go crazy. I had lost everything. \u2026 But now, thanks to UN Women, I have an office and employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hers is among the 113 women\u2019s organizations being supported across 19 provinces through the \u2018Rebuilding the Women\u2019s Movement in Afghanistan\u2019 programme. Launched in mid-2022, the UN Women programme provides tailored training, skills-building and seed funds for small-scale initiatives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nUN Women\u2019s support includes a comprehensive set of training to help women\u2019s organizations improve the way they operate. Photo: UN Women\/Sayed Habib Bidell<\/center><\/p>\n

Women’s rights and employment in Afghanistan\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0International Labour Organization data, women\u2019s employment rate was 25 per cent lower by the end of 2022 compared to before the Taliban takeover in 2021. With women also banned from working in national and international NGOs as of December 2022, and allowed to pursue a limited number of professions and run home-based small businesses, this programme is providing an essential lifeline for women to build their skills for future work and restore their hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this difficult situation, UN Women is standing with us,\u201d adds Siamoy. \u201cWe will get stronger through this support. If we support 20 women, those women will help another 20 women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since partnering with UN Women in October 2023, Siamoy is now able to pay seven full-time employees. They\u2019ve also received five training sessions on strategic planning and project management.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe training on project management is one of the best I\u2019ve ever received,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve changed some of my goals. I don\u2019t want to work for just 20 or 40 women in Faryab anymore. I want to work for 500 to 1,000 women across Afghanistan. I don\u2019t just want to give them tailoring machines. I want to build a factory for them to have a lifetime source of income. I\u2019m dreaming big now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a village in Ghor Province*, 43-year-old Bita* secretly surveys women to find out who are most in need. She established a local organization in 2011 that ran projects for elderly women but had to cease its activities. It wasn\u2019t until 2022 that she was able to revive it, after partnering with UN Women.<\/p>\n

(continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Questions for this article<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

\n

Does the UN advance equality for women?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(continued from left column)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we established our organization, we had just a few members, no formal policies, plans or real structure,\u201d Bita admits. \u201cBut a UN Women colleague supported us with developing a policy. Another colleague helped us devise our organization\u2019s structure. \u00a0\u2026 This has boosted our confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building skills, capacity and hope for women in Afghanistan<\/p>\n

In Mazar, Balkh Province, 30-year-old Najiba* had established a women\u2019s organization in 2019 and was working as a manager at a private company. But after losing her job following the Taliban takeover, she decided to focus her energy on her organization.<\/p>\n

With support from UN Women since January 2024, Najiba can now pay her 10 employees, who hadn\u2019t earned any income since joining. She says training on management, monitoring and proposal-writing have all been extremely helpful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have a lot of information, which has opened a window of hope for us, especially on safeguarding [beneficiaries from risks] \u2013 a topic we learned about for the first time. Trainings on how to make policies and define our goals have also helped us refine and make ours more professional,\u201d says Najiba.<\/p>\n

In Baghlan, 23-year-old former medical student Kamela* is a programme officer with a women-led organization dedicated to capacity-building for women and youth, who also received training from UN Women on project management.<\/p>\n

\u201cA key lesson I took from the training is my value as a programme manager. Employees have power and I must recognize my power and that what I am doing is really important,\u201d says Kamela.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe training motivates us to do more. \u2026 we\u2019re starting from the ground-up to help each other. UN Women is so supportive, regularly coming to our office to coach us. They tell us that we are doing good, then tell us how we can do things even better. They tell us how to be more impactful with our actions and guide us step-by-step and face-to-face. When we go to the UN Women office, they convey knowledge in a way that really motivates us.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan Alison Davidian, supporting women-led grass-roots organizations is not only helping to keep them afloat but preparing them for future larger-scale work: \u201cThis is UN Women\u2019s value added \u2013 our commitment to investing in women\u2019s organizations, not only financially but through long-term, consistent technical investment and capacity-building to ensure their success, motivate them and promote their sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of May 2024, the \u201cRebuilding the Women\u2019s Movement in Afghanistan\u201d flagship programme has partnered with 113 organizations in 19 provinces and supported at least 515 women earn salaries. This programme is made possible through the generous support of donors including: the Governments of Austria, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

* Names, locations, and details changed to protect the identity of the protagonists. They are also not shown in the accompanying photos.<\/p>\n

– – – – – –<\/p>\n

If you wish to make a comment on this article, you may write to coordinator@cpnn-world.org with the title “Comment on (name of article)” and we will put your comment on line. Because of the flood of spam, we have discontinued the direct application of comments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY . An article from UN Women After the Taliban takeover, former magazine-owner Siamoy* redirected her work towards women\u2019s empowerment and capacity-building. Focusing on the most vulnerable women, including illiterate women and women with disabilities, her NGO now provides training and start-up funding for women-led businesses in five provinces. \u201cUN Women gave us … Continue reading UN Women: Rebuilding the women\u2019s movement in Afghanistan, one organization at a time<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,93,12],"tags":[31,94],"class_list":["post-34812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-south-asia","category-united-nations","category-women","tag-south-asia","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}