Afghanistan
» Capital: Kabul» Population: 28.6 million
» Concern started work in: 1998
» Concern's annual budget: €3,254,543
» Concern staff: 373
» Life expectancy: 46 years
» Living with HIV&AIDS: <0.1%
» Literacy: 28.1
Empowering Afghan women through livelihoods
Wednesday, 30th May 2007
Concern’s Women’s Empowerment and Livelihood Development Program in District 16 of Kabul is providing valuable vocational training.
Concern’s Women’s Empowerment and Livelihood Development Program (WELDP) in District 16 of Kabul targets over 1,000 of these marginalised and vulnerable women, and their families. Women are trained and empowered in a group setting and then sent on to vocational training centers to learn skills such as tailoring or carpet making. After they graduate from the training centers they start their home based business, which can help to support their family.
Suraya’s story
Suraya 36, mother of 5, is a tailoring trainer in one of Concern’s new vocational training centers. She was a member of one of the women’s groups for two years and became interested in tailoring. She then joined a Concern class of 48 trainees in 2006 and after six months started a small business in her house, making dresses for women.
"I had only reached fourth class when I was a kid in my village in Gazni and for 20 years I could not open a book. Then thanks to the Concern programme that pushed me back to my literate life, I slowly started remembering what I had forgotten from my childhood. I was also interested in tailoring from the women’s circle."
Suraya was retrained with four other graduates of the tailoring class by Concern’s tailoring master trainer. She is now not just a tailor, but a tailoring trainer, who earns €60 a month as well as her tailoring.
When questioned about the impact of Concern’s programme on her life she said, “My husband was [asking] what benefit would this group give you and he was thinking that I am wasting time in the beginning when I was going to Concern group.” However, Suraya’s husband soon saw the benefits of Concern’s programmes: “Now as we have a happy life and I am in a position to cover most of the expenses of the house he is delighted and says he wished these circles were earlier established and we had this kind of life earlier.”
“It is my dream to have my children grow in a peaceful atmosphere and I myself have my own tailoring course in the future”, Suraya says smiling.
