Afghanistan
Real lives
Afghanistan’s former child soldiers are eager to embrace the future
NANGARHAR, 16 August 2004 – The bulky military uniform hangs around Abdul’s skinny body. (Names have been changed to protect children depicted in this story.) He hasn’t reached 5 feet in height and his shoulders are slumped. When speaking with others, Abdul usually stares at the floor and rarely smiles. This twelve-year-old Afghan boy is the youngest among 290 former child soldiers, who were demobilized under a UNICEF-supported programme in Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border in early 2004.
UNICEF and Radio Afghanistan spread unity through the airwaves
UNICEF and Radio Afghanistan in Kabul have partnered to bring messages on children’s rights, education and women’s rights across the country via the airwaves.
UNICEF-supported income generation project flourishes
Women from low-income households in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul are benefiting 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).
UNICEF sees gains made in education, health and children's rights
Wednesday, 24 March was a day all about new opportunities for the children of eastern Afghanistan as UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Karin Sham Poo paid a one day visit to the province of Nangarhar.
Afghan school children benefit from nationwide deworming programme
Up to four million Afghan school children will no longer face the risk of contracting worms thanks to a new programme launched today (Tuesday March 23) in Kabul.
Prizes for top Afghan students as new school year begins
UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Karin Sham Poo began a seven day visit to Afghanistan on Sunday (March 21) by joining President Hamid Karzai, Minister of Education Yunis Qanooni, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Jean Arnault and hundreds of teachers, students and other guests to officially launch the start of the new academic year.
Afghan schools open their doors to millions of children as the school year begin
This weekend, up to 5.5 million children are expected to return to their classrooms in Afghanistan, as the nation prepares for Back to School celebrations on Sunday 21 March, 2004. Last year, enrolment in schools rose to over 4 million children; 1.2 million of those students were girls.
Afghan girls continue to re-enter the classroom
It is eight o'clock in June 2003, and the Maleka Jalaly High School for Girls in Herat City, western Afghanistan, is in session.
UNICEF and Afghan Ministry of Health combat disease by recruiting women to teach
Arzow Saadat is a woman with a mission. As a health education supervisor in Herat, her job is to make sure that the four female educators in her charge understand everything there is to know about health and hygiene and that they pass their knowledge on to some 2,000 people spread across the region.
The nomadic Kuchis children get a head start on their lessons
Each winter, a community of Kuchis, or nomadic farmers, return from their summer grazing grounds to spend three months wintering in the village of Namokab.
Hora Jalali Girls’ School opens its doors to more students in 2003
Not long ago, the Hora Jalali Girls’ School in Charikar, a town 35 kilometres north of Kabul on the edge of Afghanistan’s battle-scarred Shomali plain seemed a relic of the past. It was shut down under the Taliban regime and fell into disrepair. Few ever thought the school would operate again.
Women work to tackle illiteracy in Afghanistan
After seven years of fundamentalist rule in which the Taliban government denied women the right to an education, an estimated 79 per cent of women and girls in Afghanistan cannot read.
Afghanistan: water and sanitation services under fire
With over 35 years of work on the ground in Afghanistan, UNICEF has built trust within communities and is able to provide emergency water and sanitation services under extreme circumstances.
A matter of life or death
UNICEF’s ultimate concern remains ensuring the survival of the most vulnerable children and women in Afghanistan through life-saving humanitarian assistance.
Immunization saves lives
As work begins on long-term support to the health system to make sure basic immunization is revitalized, UNICEF and WHO are working with national and local health officials on two major vaccination campaigns to protect children from crippling and deadly diseases.
