Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM

Children’s WorkIf children with disability are largely excluded from the education system, especially girls, not only due toprejudice and cultural rules, but also as a result of absence of adequate transport or accessibility of schools, asignificant part of them take on household tasks, farming or other income generating activities of the family,just like all children in Afghanistan.Figure 36 gives a general overview of children’s activities. 60.0% go to school and 76.6% help with allhousehold tasks: cooking, taking care of elders and younger children, fetching water and cutting wood, etc.20.0% also have a professional activity mainly in the agricultural sector: animals husbandry, fieldwork, etc.Days can be very long for children.Children with disability work less often than other children, especially in the fields; this is a direct consequenceof their general inability to do so. They also help significantly less within the house. This is also explained bythe physical demand of the work both in the field and in major household tasks such as fetching water,cleaning, cooking and cutting wood. This is why half the children with disability do not declare any kindof activity. Children, disabled or not, constitute a higher working proportion in rural areas. The differencebetween children with disability and non-disabled is statistically significant for household chores.Figure 36: Distribution of Afghan Children with Disability andNon-Disabled Aged 6 to 14 Years Old According to EmploymentSituationChildren withdisability workless often thanother children,especially inthe fields;this is a directconsequence oftheir generalinability to doso. They alsohelp significantlyless within thehouse9080• Children with Disability• Non-Disabled706050403020100Help in the House No Activity Help in the FieldOther WorkNote: Some children reported more than one activity, total not equal to 100%.Income from EmploymentComparing monetary income must be done with a lot of caution. Many active people, particularly children under14, do not receive an individual wage (26.5%). Children’s income is often included in the family income. The leftgraph in Figure 37 shows that many active people are not paid, especially the non-disabled (26.7%) comparedto persons with disability (16.4%). This can be explained by a higher rate of employment among non-disabledchildren who contribute to the family income by participating in a large array of activities, mainly field work, forwhich the head of household gets the income. Employing children often means having to pay a lower income.Adults with disability who earn no wage when they work are a higher proportion (9.3%) than non-disabledadults (5.9%). In high ranges of income (above 2000 AFAs), the graph on the right shows that the proportionof non-disabled adults is higher. But the level of disparity is not statistically significant for the highest levelof income; it is, however, significant for the lowest levels (less than 2000 AFAs). Consequently, a majority(51.7%) of active adults with disability earn monthly wages under 2000 AFAs (40 USD) while 32.7% nondisabledadults earn the same. The majority of non-disabled earn 2100 AFAs and above. The phenomenon iseven more noticeable for women: 91.7% of active adult women with disability earn less than 2000 AFAs amonth. This is the case for 58.7% of non-disabled active Afghan women.Employment of Afghans with Disability49