UN Women offers a variety of support and training to 113 women’s organizations. UN Women helps Afghan women believe in a better future Women
After the Taliban seized power in 2021, the former owner of a popular magazine in Afghanistan refocused her work on empowering women and building their capacity. Focusing on the most vulnerable in Afghan society—the illiterates and the disabled—the Siamese-owned NGO trains and provides seed funding for women-led small businesses.
“After the Taliban came to power, I was deeply depressed,” says Siamoi. -I thought I was going crazy. I lost everything… But now, thanks to UN Women, I have an office and staff.”
Siamoi
NGO Siamoi is among 113 women’s organizations receiving support under the Restoring the Women’s Movement in Afghanistan program. Launching in mid-2022, the program provides personalized training, professional development and seed funds for small initiatives.
By the end of 2022, women’s employment rates in Afghanistan were 25 percent lower than before the Taliban took power, according to the International Labor Organization. From December 2022, women are prohibited from working in national and international NGOs, but they can still run small businesses from home.
If we support twenty women, those women will help twenty more
“With the support of UN Women, we will become stronger . If we support twenty women, those women will help twenty more,” says Siamoi. working full time. All of them completed a series of trainings on strategic planning and project management.
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“Project management training is one of the best,” says Siamoi. “Thanks to him, I adjusted my plans. I don’t want to work with twenty or forty women in Faryab anymore. I want to work with 500-1000 women throughout Afghanistan. I don’t want to just give them sewing machines. I want to build a factory so they can have a long-term source of income. Now I dream of more.” with women to find out which of them needs help most. In 2011, she created an organization that worked on projects for older women, but then she had to stop her activities. Only in 2022, Bita managed to revive her work thanks to cooperation with UN Women.
“When we created our organization, we had only a few employees. There was no official policy, no plan, no real structure,” Bita recalls. “A colleague from UN Women helped us develop a policy. Another colleague helped us think through the structure of our organization. This has strengthened our confidence in the future.”
Najib
In 2019, in Mazar, Balkh province, 30-year-old Najiba, working as a manager in a private company, created a women’s organization. Having lost her job after the Taliban seized power, she decided to focus all her energy on supporting her own business.
Since January of this year, thanks to the help of UN Women, Najiba has been able to pay salaries for ten employees who previously had no income at all. She says the training on management, monitoring and project writing has been very helpful.
“These courses have helped us improve our operations and make our work more professional,” says Najiba.
Kamela
In Baghlan, 23-year-old former medical student Kamela works for an organization that builds the capacity of women and youth. She also received project management training.
“The main lesson I learned from the training was that I myself have a very important role as a program manager,” Kamela says. – The training motivates us to do more. We start from scratch, we learn, and then we start helping each other.”
According to UN Women Special Representative for Afghanistan Alison Davidian, supporting grassroots organizations led by women, not only helps them stay afloat, but also prepares them for future, larger-scale work.