GENDER EQUALITY PROJECT - UNDP Afghanistan

sub-national institutions
Community Development Councils) and implementing activities for the socio-economic
empowerment of women.
A number of trainings on basic management skills for PWDC members and officials from the
DoWA and Department of Justice from Herat, Balkh, and Nangarhar were conducted to improve
their service delivery. The training content focused on results-based management techniques and
project/program cycles. However, the training will expand in the future as the PWDCs in Bamyan.
Balkh, Herat, and Nangarhar identified new areas for capacity development which include
entrepreneurship development skills and localization and globalization.
As a result, during the quarterly PWDC meetings held in the four provinces: Bamyan, Balkh, Herat
and Nangarhar, the participants identified new areas for capacity development of the target
groups and prepared a quarterly plan of action for implementation. Some of the new areas
included are as follows:
information relating to localization and globalization, market access and other related issues.
GEP complemented PWDC trainings with a number of other initiatives in order to promote the
socio-economic empowerment of women. One of those initiatives was gender sensitive media
advocacy and public outreach. GEP helped design and implement training for local media
personnel in Balkh and Bamyan. The emphasis on the training was on balanced reporting
of those techniques
across different media channels
In Q2, GEP continued to deepen the collaboration with religious leaders through two new
innovative initiatives. The first was the organization of inter-district-exchange visits for 100
mullahs who have been trained by the
previously organized religious
training programmes from Shindand and
Gulran districts in Herat to Guzara and
Zindajan. Given the influence that mullahs
have over the communities, GEP has
mobilized them to raise awareness of
to be an effective channel. The second
activity was the organization of a joint
program with DoWA and DoHRA involving
twenty-five religious leaders and twentyfive
women activists who shared a common
platform to debate issues relating to gender
equality within the overarching umbrella of
Islamic principles. This was the first time
such a public event was held with
representatives from both sides for the
debate. During this event, both sides were
able to share the view points that marked a
Figure 3: Religious leaders during a working group
session on gender equality issues.
Photo Credit: Shaima Siddiqi
h towards
socio-economic empowerment of women. The key topics discussed included issues relating to:
early marriage, forced marriage
Another initiative is the Legal Help Centres (LHCs) which provide women access to the justice
system when exposed to gender-based violence and raise awareness among women and
in
collaboration with the DoWA ad DoJ in Injil and Kohsan districts. These were opened in response
to a special request by the community who heard about the support being provided by the LHCs
in other districts. There are now 22 LHCs operating in the four provinces.
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