Afghanistan

Real lives

UNICEF-supported income generation project flourishes

© UNICEF Afghanistan/Zaidi

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Karin Sham Poo speaks with a participant at a UNICEF-supported income generation project in Kabul.

Women from low-income households in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul are benefitting from new training and educational opportunities, thanks to a joint project between the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs, UNICEF and the non-governmental organization, BRAC (formerly known as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee).

Today, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Karin Sham Poo saw first hand how the income-generation project is assisting several hundred women when she visited one of three centres in Kabul. Based in a renovated house in the city’s District Nine, the project is providing vocational training in bag production, along with literacy classes for widows, women heads of household and women living on low incomes.

The women are taught the necessary skills of bag production – including cutting patterns, stitching and finishing – by a team of craftsmen, and are paid for every bag they produce.

UNICEF and the Ministry of Health are purchasing bags for their own programmes. The project is increasing the range of products manufactured at the centres, and will shortly start producing a range of laptop computer bags.

Karin Sham Poo was joined by the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Her Excellency Habiba Surabi on a tour of the centre, and took the opportunity to talk to the women trainees.

Helping women become economically independent

The money earned by the sale of these bags will provide a vital source of income for some of Kabul’s most vulnerable women. In Afghanistan an estimated 30 per cent of women are head of households, and economic opportunities are limited. This UNICEF assisted project may be a lifeline for many women, who might otherwise have a difficult time supporting their families.

Mothers are welcomed at the centre, which offers a free child care facility. Courses last for several months, enabling the women to learn all the required skills and also learn about quality control and basic management skills. The project aims to produce up to 100,000 bags in 2004 and is looking at ways of expanding its markets so that more women can participate outside of Kabul.

For many of the course participants, this is the first opportunity they have had in years to earn their own income, and learn new skills. Some of the young mothers attending the programme have enrolled just so that their children can attend school. They use the money earned from the bag production to supplement their household’s income, instead of relying on their children to generate income.